May 35, 1898.] 



FOREST AND . STREAM. 



4SB 



you damn the secretary and tlie president for it. So T 

 say that under the present administration there is one point that 

 ought to he considered, and that is that you change the present form 

 of government. You elect thirteen men. It is a small hody. You can 

 meet in New York, you can meet in Chicago, you can meet in Syra- 

 cuse or wherever you please. I think it would be most admirable to 

 take that point, i think that point ought to weigh very heavily. We 

 ought t'j have the meetings of the executive committee where the 

 clubs can he represented as they ought to be. For instance, I would 

 urge as very important that one meeting of tJie executive committee 

 should he held in Chicago every year. You might go further South, 

 but at least have one meeting in Chicago, and then the clubs in and 

 about there can send their representative men of their own selection. 

 There are many other reasons why this new form of government is to 

 be preferred. You take twelve men with a president. You select 

 three men for the first three months. These men are praticaUy ad- 

 visory. All matters of detail that occur, and all matters that come 

 up that are not of sufficient importance to refer to the entire com- 

 mittee can be referred by the secretary to them. They render a de- 

 cision. That goes to the president. The president decides in that 

 matter, and in that way you relieve the president and secretary of the 

 responsibility and put it where it belongs. Within the next three 

 months there is another special committee of three, and so for every 

 three mouths we would have a special committee which would be 

 practically an advisory committee. If there is a matter of importance 

 every matter is intrusted to them and they will decide whether it is 

 sufficient to bring before the entire committee, or whether it should 

 be decided then and there. Very many matters require decision as 

 soon as possible. So that is another point which I think suggests 

 itself to show the advisability of this new form of government. 



It is not pleasant to consider the condition of affairs to-day as it re- 

 lates to the Aiuerican Kennel Club, but it is right that vs^e should. Let 

 us take and consider them fairly and honestly. Is the American Ken- 

 nel Club popular with dogmen? I do not believe that any one will 

 maintain that it is. I was at Boston at a very lai-ge show, aa you 

 know, and I spent four days in that building, I went quietly from 

 one to another dogman, exhibitors and breeders, men whose opinions 

 ware valual;ile; I went to them and quietly discussed the matter. Of 

 course I did not go to them abruptlj^, and I am wiUing to say that I 

 went to them somewhat diplomatically, but it is an honest f act that 

 among all the exhibitors and breeders at Boston there was but one 

 man who had a good word for the American Kennel Club, I am tell- 

 ing you the actual truth; there was one man that spoke for the Amer- 

 ican Kennel Club, and that man was so identified with the manage- 

 ment of the Ajnerican Kennel Club that he has a personal and pecuni- 

 ary interest. 



Now there is another thing I did. I do not hesitate to say that I 

 sought the election of delegate, but also sought the office of a member 

 of the advisory committee. The office did not seek me, I sought it. I 

 want that fact understood. Why? I saw there was trouble for the 

 American Kennel Club. I am ffi-st, last and always for that club. I 

 want to see iieace and harmony go with it, and I want to do all I can 

 to create that feeling. In pursuance of my purpose I corresponded 

 with a great many clubs in this country. I vfent particularly into the 

 West. I went South. They were men who gave me theu' opinions 

 very f ranlily. They knew, of course, that it was a matter of confidence. 

 I pledge you my word and honor that I have not had one single letter 

 from a member of the Ajnerican Kennel Club that spoke a kind word 

 for the club. There is the testimony of individuals and the testimony 

 of clubs. There are men that will 'say 1 am exaggerating. You will 

 say "There is no trouble here." I know that to-day the American 

 Kennel Club is threatened. I know that the American Kennel Club, 

 unless you do lake some radical step, is sure to split in two, if not go 

 entirely to pieces. I know that to be a fact from my personal investi- 

 gation. You have got to take some radical step and start anew, or 

 the American Kennel Club is gone. You tell them in Chicago that It 

 is only a few hot heads that have started the trouble. They wUl snap 

 their fingers at you and tell you, "You be damned.'" We don't want 

 anything of that kind. There has been a good deal of it in the Ameri- 

 can Kennel Club. Here is a letter from a man whose name if I gave 

 it to you— he is a man I do not believe has an enemy in the world. He 

 is a man that you cannot say one single word against. I consider him 

 to-da.y one of the most popular men in dogdom; one of the fairest 

 and mildest dispositioued of men, and one of the very best men I 

 know. 1 wrote to him, for I knew he would be honest in Ids opinion, 

 and asked him to make a careful canvass in Chicago and tell me the 

 truth. He did so. I will read you verbatim an extract from his letter: 

 "There is a strong belhgerent feeUng throughout the West toward the 

 American Kennel Club, and if it once gets started it may develop into 

 a land-shde. There is a feehng that the American Kennel Club is ex- 

 tracting vmnecessarily large revenue from the dog world, which 

 is the fact, and there is a feehng that it is unnecessarily meddlesome 

 in matters with which it has no concei'n." To that I wffi say, that is 

 & fact. (Continuing reading) "There is also a feehng that' salaries 

 should be paid to those who actually work, and that the salaries should 

 not be so far in excess of the service rendered. There is a big storm 

 brewing for the American Kennel Club that wiU take wise leadership 

 to avert disaster." 



I think this is the second time that I have been on my feet in this 

 halL The first time was when I asked j'ou not to disqualif,y Peshall. 

 I told you that you should not do it, and that if you did it would cause 

 no end of trouble. It is no satisfaction to me to say that "I told you 

 so.'" I merely mention this simply to give weight to my words now. 

 I tell you that unless we change the form of go vernmeut'the American 

 Kennel Club will go to pieces. That is my opinion. The only remedy 

 that I can see is to change yom- form of government. Re-organize, if 

 you will, and start anew. The purpose of that is apparent; even if 

 you do not accomplish very great things, you are going to arrest this 

 landshde, these soreheads, as you may call them; these men who will 

 say to themselves, "Here is a radical move, possibly it is unwise for 

 us to interfere now; we will wait and see what the American Kennel 

 Club will do." That would become a consideration, aud I thmk we 

 should have peace and good will in the Amei-ican Kennel Club. 



Mb. H. B. Cbomwell— 1 think that this club has been run very suc- 

 cessfully for a number of years under its old constitution. We have 

 been accused of being a clique, the "44 Broadway Clique." My name 

 has never been mentioned, but my office is right back of this one. I 

 must be one of the clique, but 1 ask all you gentlemen who ai'e here, 

 liow often have 1 spoken In a meeting of this kind? I have been a 

 delegate for two years. 1 have voted, but I do not think I have ever 

 spoken at all. Now we propose to have twelve men rule this club. I 

 believe in a broader and more democratic spirit. We are accused of 

 being a clique now. We would be a greater clique with twelve men 

 and the president ruling this club. Who would we have? We would 

 have to have New York men. Would not the accusation be a great 

 deal truer that we were a clique in that case than now? We nave 

 twenty men now who are at this meeting who, if they are opposed to 

 the Broadway clique, can vote us down. I think we have done vejy 

 well, and I want to disagree with Dr. Pei-ry. I do not think that the 

 American Kennel Club has been meddling in business that is not its 

 own, aud I oppose any change in the situation. 



aiB. G. Mcss-Aknolt — I agree with Ml'. -Cromwell to the extent that 

 we ought to have a democratic ruling of this club. If the new rule 

 would give us an assurance that the members of this committee of 

 twelve or thirteen would be reaUy attending members and wotdd 

 attend to the bu-siness, that might be a benelit. We will have only 

 New York members, of course. I have been four years a member of 

 this body and have seldom spoken except on business of my own club, 

 and I cannot see how any club can be hurt except by soreheads. If 

 they do not send a delegate to us, it is their own fault. The business 

 has to be attended to by those pi-eseait and not by the absentees. 



Mr. F. S. Webster — 1 ask if Iir. Perry wUl be so kind as to submit to 

 this club some of the reasons why there is so much dissatisfaction, as 

 he Slates, throughout the United States with reference to the Ameri- 

 can Kennel Club? AVhat causes this dissatisfaction? What are the 

 reasons? If we know these reasons, this organization can take some 

 action upon them, and then we can amend our constitution accord- 

 ingly to meet these necessities and these great obstacles that stand in 

 the way of a proper administration of the laws and good wiU of dog- 

 men in' general. 



The pRKsrDBNT — With reference to what the last gentleman has said, 

 I would like very much to have Dr. Perry inform us if there is any- 

 thuig he desires with regard to the personahty of the management 

 that we should be very happ.v to hear him say so, and not to hesitate 

 to speak very freely on the subject. 



Dr. Perky — The president asks if there is anything I wish to say as 

 to the present personnel, and to speak freely. I notice that Mr. Crom- 

 well spoke of a clique, and of the idea that the American Kennel Club 

 was a chque. I woffid like to sai' a word with regard to that. It is one 

 of those radical absurdities which exists Uke many of the delusions of 

 medicine. \ on could not drive it out of peoples' heads with a club. I 

 have been ou the advisory committee for two years or a little more 

 than two years. If thei e. was any eUque 1 should have seen it. I have 

 never seen the faintest trace, of it, aud 1 can say here with ah honesty 

 that I have not found a man connected with the American Kennel Club 

 that was not, in my opinion, perfectly sincere and honest in every- 

 thing that he did. There never vvas a more damnable absurdity than 

 that. Here is Mr. Terry. He is on the advisory committee, and a 

 fairer, squarer man does not stand in dogdom to"day. I never knew 

 him to propose a measure that had the slightest bearuig toward the 

 Westminster Kennel Club, aud we have had many very marked differ- 

 ences. Of course, in this conimittee we have disagreexl once in a 

 while, but it was only on minor matters, and I have always found Mr. 

 Terry on the side of right; yet people will say that the Wesminster 

 Kennel Club runs the American Kennel Club. You have got to eradi- 

 cate that, but I don't know how you will do it except, as I say, to re- 

 form your government and take away possibly that feeling, even 



though there mav not be a trace of truth in it. As regards the per- 

 sonnel, as I render that— I may not render it rightly; if I do not you 

 will pardon me— I have been associated for a long time with you. Our 

 introduction was not the most pleasant. We had little differences. 

 From that dai' to this no man could have been treated more courteously 

 or con,siderately or more honestly than I, and the president of the club 

 has no better friend tha,n I am. 



The Pbbsident — I wordd like to ask the privilege of the association 

 to say a few words on this subject, if it is proper for the Chair to do so. 



On Dr. Cryer's motion it was ruled that the Chair be heard. 



The President — I would Uke to preface what I am going to say with 

 this one general principle, which has always guided me and governed 

 me in whatever I have ;had to do with the club or associa tions of any 

 kind. I have always be«n a firm believer in the most democratic form 

 of representation in government. I have always been opposed to 

 dose corporations, as contrary to the spu-it of the constitution, and 

 as contrary to the spirit of the people not only in political matters but 

 in clubs everywhere, I have had a great deal to do with clubs ever 

 since I have been in New York, and with corporations, and I have 

 always believed in the same principle. I am opposed to the concentra- 

 tion of poiver. I have always maintained that if the underlying 

 principle of the government, under which we have all been brought 

 up, was appUed to everything, corporations, clubs and every associa- 

 tion or institution which we had, they would be successful. It is a 

 peculiarity of American character that it will delegate more power to 

 those that control and govern them than an.y other nation on the face 

 of the globe, but it must have the reserve and power in its own hands 

 to correct it, if it is abused. That priuciple was one which Mr. Vreden- 

 burgh and I had in view when we were appointed to draw up this new 

 constitution, and the reason was that the American Kennel Club, as 

 it was started, was not democratic enough, and the National Dog Club 

 was not democratic at all ; and the result in both instances was that 

 the government was slipping absolutely into certain hands, and it 

 could not be got out. The burden of my arguments with Dr. Perry 

 was based upon that. The burden of my arguments against the Na- 

 tional Dog Club was that they could not reach their governing officers. 

 It would result in a smaU concentrated management that could never 

 be reached. In the same way with the American Kennel Club. This 

 new departure will do precisely that very thing. 



Mr. Watson— May I ask what change you mstituted when you and 

 Mr. Vredenburgh were on the committee in enlarging the scope of the 

 executive power? 



The President— We had a connecting Imk between the representa- 

 tives, the executive and the advisory committee, and added to that 

 the association membership which gave the reserve power. 



Mr. Watson— Is it increasing the reserve power to talje it out of the 

 hands of the large executive committee and place it in the hands of 

 an advisory committee of flvef Is that democratic? 



The President — ^It is, because the.y had the review of everything. 

 There is no power given to the advisory committee that is not subject 

 to review by the executive committee. They may by a vote refer a 

 matter to the advisory committee with power, but the advisory com- 

 mittee cannot take definite action without its being subject to the re- 

 view of the executive committee when it meets. 'So, too, the action 

 of the president is limited in that way, and in every instance— in yom' 

 own case, when you asked me under Rule 85 when I was passing to 

 have a member disqualified on account of a personal altercation with 

 j^ou, I removed that disqualification and referred it back to the asso- 

 ciation where it occurred. 



Mr. Watson— You had no right to do that. 



The President— I believed I had, and I hope the matter will come 

 before the association, and that my ruling in that matter wUl be sus- 

 tained. The occurretice was during a show, and all the discipline 

 should have been exercised there, and faiUng in that, to go to the 

 American Kennel Club, find a meeting of the American Kennel Club 

 executive committee or the advisoi'y committee to deal with the presi- 

 dent. That was all very well, but that was not the case. You went 

 straight under Rule 25 to the president and asked him on ex parte evi- 

 dence to disqualify a member. I did not pass upon the merits of any- 

 thing at all. I simply referred it back. 



Mr. Watson— That is not the question before the house. 



The President— I do not beheve that I am discussing its merits. I 

 am trying to show the operations of the regulations of the American 

 Kennel Club as bearing upon certain questions. This is not through 

 prejudice or otherwise. 



Mr. Watson— You have introduced a subject that has nothing what- 

 ever to do with the question at issue. 



The President — I will ask the gentlemen present whethex it is not 

 pertinent. I do it as illustrating what has been the intention of Mr, 

 'i^'redenburgh and myself in dra\N'ing up that constitution. We will drop 

 it then. I think the association understands jierfectly well the mean- 

 ing, and I do not believe they have taken the meaning that you have. 

 One or two attempts had previously been made to pack the meetings 

 of the American Kennel Club, and I suppose some of us established 

 rules — ^that was prior to my becoming president of the club — to pro- 

 tect the club against that, and we organized the advisory committee 

 so that action could be taken in between meetings, and that a subject 

 coming up would receive free ventilation and the club would no be 

 without government up to the time of the meeting of the executive 

 committee, which might or might not, under certain circumstances, 

 be thoroughly representative of the club. When the advisorj' com- 

 mittee has matters brought before it it acts upon them and those steps 

 become generaUy known, and if it is important enough it brings aljout 

 a w-eU attended meeting. That meeting is forthcoming, and that has 

 always been the case. A very large and thoroughly attended meeting, 

 with weU thought out plans, has been the result. The trouble was 

 always to obtain not a representation so much as an imbiassed gov- 

 ernment which could not be reached. If long terms of service and 

 elections once a year by parties never meeting, etc., was the plan upon 

 which the club was to be run, the result would be simply concentrating 

 into a few hands the government of the club, so that actually it could 

 not he very well reached at all. Ballots would be sent out, as is not 

 done in the present case. There are no baUots sent out. The associ- 

 ate members are elected simply from Usts which ai-e marked, and if 

 a person does not vote that is his fatdt. There is no suggestion from 

 the government as to tnat, 



Mr, Watson— There are suggestions, because the committee may 

 suggest at the last meeting before the election. The committee 

 ma.y suggest the associate members for election at the last annual 

 meeting. 



Mb. Mortimer— I think the president should be aUowed to proceed 

 OTthout interruption, and if 3Ir, Watson wants to say anything after- 

 ward he can do so. 



The President- In the case of the National Dog Club, we thought 

 then and maintained then that it would result in a concentration such 

 as I have described, and would be an unfortunate thing. Now, there 

 is a remedy. For instance, there is the remedy with regard to the 

 constitution. There is the remedy against any ruling of the advisory 

 committee. There is a remedy against a ruling of the executive gov- 

 ernment of the club. There is a remedy for everybod.y, and the fact 

 that they do not avail themselves of it is not the fault of the American 

 Kennel Club. It is the fault of the individuals themselves that they 

 do not watch and do not .know how to reach the American Kennel 

 Club because they do not give them the trouble, but often they listen 

 to the complaints of peojile, gentlemen dissatisfied perhaps person- 

 ally with the management of it, or something that has gone wrong 

 with themselves, and they hsten to these complaints at the different 

 shoTvs andlfinally get themselves to beheve that there is some- 

 thing radically wrong with the American Kenuel Club, never sitting 

 down and thinking it out. For what is there wrong with the Ajneri- 

 can Kennel Club excepting perhaps the personnel of the management? 

 If that is wrong, let us show it. Personall.y, 1 have offered to resign 

 over and over again, and I have been importuned in spite of my per- 

 sonal convenience to serve, and I have agreed to serve aud have tried 

 to give you as much time as I possiby could. But I maintain if there 

 is anj-thing wrong where is it and what is it? Its duty is to maintain 

 a stud book. It does that with zealous care. Everything has' been 

 guarded in that respect. Its dtity is also to discipline where it is ap- 

 pealed to. If it is appealed to to do any wrong, it is not the faidt of the 

 club and if it declines to act on a case which it is not competent to act 

 upon it is not its fault, and it is not its fault if it hurts the feelings of 

 the person whose case has not been adjudicated upon. That per- 

 son always has his recourse, but in the case of an executive committee 

 of this kind, if that executive committee is imjust to him, that is the 

 end of it. Mind you, he cannot reach it, and no correction in this 

 case can reach that executive -committee except in the com-se of a 

 long number of years. In other words, tliis is a system exactly as if 

 we were to be represented by a Senate without a House of Represen- 

 tatives. This is a long term of service. Your election of officers is 

 left to them, and if they do wrong you will have to wait much longer 

 than with the American Kennel Club, because if there is dissatisfac- 

 tion with the American Kennel Club to-day, all you have to do is to 

 pass a vote. You have got your machinery for making a new set of 

 oflicers. You have your delegates of associate members, and you 

 have got your officers of the associate members, and if they are 

 dissatisfied with what has taken place, all you have got to do 

 is to go anywhere j'ou want to— Boston, Chicago or New York— and 

 make yourself heard. But you are not going to make those people 

 heard by simply changing the forms through which they are to reach 

 their members. You are not going to change the chaxacter of the 

 matter at all. You are not going to increase the interest that men 

 take to protect themselves. You are going to satisfy the ideas of a 

 few interested parties. You are not going to satisf>' the breeders at 

 large if, as Dr. Perry says, you make a change so as to deceive them 

 into the behef that the,y are going to have something simply because 

 it will keep them quiet. Dr. Perry says a change is necessary. There 

 is nothing wrong. This is all a feeling that has been sth-red up, and 



he says if something is not done there will be a landslide in the 

 American Keuuel Ciub. I cUffer with him. If you substitute any 

 thing for the Ainprican Kennel Chib to-day without aU its history, 

 judging and control over the shows, etc.. you will have nothing. He 

 says there is nothing wrong, but we must make the appearance of a 

 change; try and draw attention to the matter and they will think 

 there is something to come and they wUl, therefore, keep quiet. Am 

 I right? I think that was what was said. They wUl think that there 

 is somethmg coming and. therefore, they wUl keep quiet. I thmk it 

 would be a great mistake for the American Kennel Club to tm'u 

 around aud simply adopt a new method that is going to quiet down 

 some dissatisfaction which Dr. Perry thinks has no real foundation 

 any wa.y, and change the whole principle of the American Kennel 

 Cliib, which, as a working concern, as I have proved, is a success. 

 There are two distinct features to the American Kennel Club, which, 

 as a working concern, as I have proved, is a succe«s. There ai-e two 

 distinct features to the American Kennel Club ui that it has control 

 over the actions of the dog men ; between those controlUng their man- 

 ners toward each other we are unfortimately called upon to adjudi- 

 cate, and one of the reasons why I refused to take up that principal 

 question under Rule 25 was that very thing. This is one part of the 

 American Kennel Club that you can destroy, if you like; and so with 

 other questions of a certain nature that have come before the club, 

 but each club shaU take care of itself on that question. If there is 

 anv dissatisfaction there shall be no delay or anything of the kind m 

 certain things— for instance, where there is any trouble at a show 

 which has nothing to do in general with the question of showing 

 dogs, but a smaU matter which can be settled as many matters might 

 between exhibitors. You can confine that to that. But there is an 

 American Kennel Club which you might destroy if you adopt that. 

 That is, it has machinery, as far as its stud book is concerned; 

 it has machinery so far as its control over shows is concerned 

 in the sense of disqualification for real offenses that are com- 

 mitted; because, as I say, if you get that power into the hands 

 of an executive committee that cannot be changed except dur- 

 ing a period of three years, you are liable to concentrate that 

 power in the interest of a certain section, and you bring about what 

 does not exist to-day, a chque management. Y''ou wiU never be able 

 to have a central body. It does not make any difference what the 

 structm-e is, you wUl never be able to have a central body which has 

 not got its central powers conceutrated in some one city. It maybe 

 Chicago, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia or somewhere, 

 but as for having it a movable concern — you spoke of your immense 

 correspondence and everything of that kind— you cannot have it. A 

 meeting of an executive committee in Chicago, or a meeting of an 

 executive committee at one place or another, is not going to help mat- 

 ters, because the majority of men who are to run the club in between 

 meetings have got to reside in one place, and therefore the majority 

 of the committee will either be in New York, or in Boston, or in Wash- 

 ington, or somewhere else, but they will have to be there. That you 

 cannot help. The men who five in Chicago are members of the execu- 

 tive committee as gentlemen who five in New York with offices of the 

 club here. They will not come on any more than Dr. Ferry could not 

 very often come to the meetings of the advisory co mm ittee. He 

 could not always come. You cannot correct that. Make every 

 assignment short. There is no necessity in long terms. Our quar- 

 terly meetings have always been pretty weU attended. 'When 

 any serious question has come up it has always been pretty 

 well considered, and if there was anything radically wrong it was 

 ah taken up and threshed out pretty well. The only trotible -with 

 the American Kennel Club is that it started out to govern too much, 

 and because it has gi-adually drawn in and settled down to a mere 

 business concern, managing the business interests of the dog men, the 

 claim is made that it shows a moi'ibund condition. That is not true. 

 It shows it is in a better condition than it ever was before. What does 

 a dog man in Boston, or a dog man in Philadelphia or Washington lose 

 by not hearing from the American Kennel Club, when he is there and 

 at the show, and the ventilation is bad and the lights are had, and the 

 judges are bad, and everything is bad? The American Kennel Club 

 has nothing to do with that, but if he has any grievances he has got 

 his executive committee at the show, and if the show does not give 

 him satisfaction he comes here and there is an advisory committee 

 consisting of five members that can he caUed at any moment, and 

 whose action is not final but can be reviewed, instead of an executive 

 committee of thu'teen, of which you may not even be able to get a 

 quorum, and if you get a quorum it is a small number and 

 you throw the power into the hands of a few men. Thir- 

 teen is too many, Y'ou take the railroads, for instance, 

 where they have a system of eleven to thh'teen members, 

 and they come from New York or Chicago, or wherevei' it might 

 be; but" we have got to have them all here in New York, enough 

 to make a quorum, and if you make a quorum less than the majority, 

 if you make a quorum less than seven, and it is very difficult to get 

 seven men together, you are not gohig to be able to get the men to go 

 there, that is, business men. All of you have got your occupations, 

 and there is not one man out of five thousand who is worth anything 

 in America that has not got an occupation, and if you get men who 

 have not occupations, I would not give the snap of a finger for them. 

 It is only men famUiar with business and general matters in Ufe that 

 are capable of judging of a great many of these things, and you have 

 got to have good representative men, and you cannot get these men 

 always together. Even with the small advisory committee of five it 

 has been very difficult to do so, as Mr. 'Vredenburgh can tell you. On- 

 one occasion we were unable to get a meeting of the advisory com- 

 mittee because I was occupied at my office up to 5 and 6 o'clock in 

 the evening, and other members were likewise engaged. At that time 

 I was very busy, and one other member of the committee ^vas also. 

 What was the result? 'We caUed a meeting to meet at Clarke's 

 restaurant so as to give plenty of time to consider everything. We 

 dined there^ and after the meeting we had some rooms engaged and 

 we had various people summoned; quite a number of important cases 

 came up there, and we worked there until 12 o'clock at night, hard 

 work, and went to work aU of us the next day. Of course, the papers 

 at that time who were unfriendly stated that we had a high time 

 there, and that some of the committee were drunk. However, that 

 was a big piece of business that we did there that night, and all of the 

 business that would come before this executive committee, which is a 

 very much greater, would be more or less neglected. I deny 

 that the secretary and president find that then* duties are too burden- 

 some at present. The secretary and president do not act upon aU 

 these questions, as Dr. Perry says. They i-eceive them, they filter 

 them, principaUy the secretary, and then they are brought before the 

 advisory committee; but there is very Utile that the secretary or 

 president does of his own volition in deciding matters of importance 

 of any kind. There is nothing in the constitution which permits him 

 to do it. He may under certain circumstances, if another part of the 

 government does not act, do something, but acts very rarely. The 

 work that is done here constantly is routine woi'k and requires a great 

 deal of training. A great many men are constantly finding fault with 

 what is being done in the club who don't know the work that is done 

 here and the accuracy with which it is done. 



Another jjoint, and that is with reference to this club interfering 

 with things that do not concern it, on which a great deal of stress was 

 laid. The only instance lately that I know of — in which we did not in- 

 terfere — but which was brought before us by Mr. Twiford — om- desire 

 was to avoid it, but we spent a great deal of time and had a la^vyer of 

 the advisory committee here, and yet made a mess of it; and then we 

 had to retreat Ironi that afterward, and that happened because we 

 were not comiDetent to do what we were asked to do and tried to do. 

 That is the only case that I know of. All other matters that have 

 been brought before this club have been fij'st brought before the exec- 

 utive committee here before the association, and have been referred 

 to the advisory committee with power. You will never get a large 

 committee like this of thh'teen members who wiU sit for hours over 

 these dlft'erent cases. Thej- wlU in turn appoint theh' sub-committee 

 and leave everything to them. 



Now as to the expense. Dr. Perry stated that throughout the coun- 

 try there was a feeling that the American Kennel Club was taxing 

 them to an extent that it should not. But we have fought that all out 

 before. I remember very well when I first carue into this club that 

 there was a strong effort made to reduce the registration fee to 35 

 cents. If it had been done, you would have had no stud book to-day. 

 Nothing can succeed in a club like this in publishing a stud book and 

 having money to devote to the interests of dog matters unless you 

 make a little profit. If you make a loss, no matter what principle you 

 are governed by in a great big concern hke this, you f aU. Nobody will 

 subscribe to make it up, and you do not want to be the recipients of 

 the bounty of a few rich men. You may recaU when we first started 

 that I guaranteed the club against loss for five years, and there was a 

 great deal of objection on the part of some to that, and 1 stated that I 

 would not have made it if I was not sure that the club was .going to 

 make money by it; and it would not have made money if it had not 

 been for ver.y good and careful iuanagement, which came principally 

 from Mr. "Vredenburgh, who was here from morning until night, and 

 who consulted the club as to matters of doUars and cents in the same 

 wa,y as if it was his own. It sotmds popular to breeders to tell them 

 that you are going to reduce their charges, but if you cut down the 

 profits you wUl sunpl.y prevent the club from gi'o wing. The American 

 Kennel Club is getting m a position to-day where it will be able to step 

 in and provide more valuable diplomas than any single associ- 

 ation can give, with the exception of the Westminster Kennel 

 Club. The American Kennel Qazette, although not a readable 

 paper, is a record, and when anybody wants to look hack 

 for ten or fifteen years that paper wUl be more service- 

 able than all the sporting papers together. Its dry bones are 

 what makes it useful. It is meant to be a help to the breeder, AU 

 the regulations In regard to compulsory registration which were 



