the IRational IBursenpman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated 
Vol. XXX HATBORO, PENNA., FEBRUARY 1922 No. 2 
Vice Presidents of American Association of Nurserymen 
The constitution of the A. A. N. provides for “a Vice- 
president from each state to be chosen by their respect¬ 
ive state delegates at the annual convention” (Constitu¬ 
tion Article III). 
The bylaws provide that “they shall also be a stand¬ 
ing committee to present nominations for officers at the 
annual meeting and recommend the next place of meet¬ 
ing.” (Bylaws, Article II.) 
The provision that the Vice-presidents constitute a 
standing nominating committee makes the office of Slate 
Vice-president one of the very greatest importance and 
a powerful factor in the organization and management 
of the Association’s affairs. 
Under the constitution and bylaws it is the duty of 
the Vice-presidents to nominate all of the officers of the 
Association (except the Secretary) and members of the 
Executive Committee. Those nominations are, as a rule, 
endorsed by the vote of the Association so that as a mat¬ 
ter of practise the Vice-presidents, as a nominating com¬ 
mittee, choose our officers and Executive Committee and 
thus very largely determine the organization of our As¬ 
sociation and consequently its policies. 
With all this in mind should we not consider more 
carefully than in the past the manner of choosing our 
Vice-presidents and find some method of selection that 
will more fully represent the views and sentiment of the 
members ? 
We all know that past methods have not been repre¬ 
sentative. A very few members from each state have 
made the selections and with very little consideration of 
the importance of the matter. For example last June 
during one of the regular sessions a formal announce¬ 
ment was made by the Chair that the New York dele¬ 
gates would meet immediately after that session to elect 
a Vice-president for New York State. Two New York 
men appeared and each strove to nominate the other. I 
think it was finally settled by an odd and even date on a 
coin and that is not the first time that a selection has 
been made by equally non-representative methods and I 
have reason to believe that the methods of other states 
are not much better, and I respectfully submit that the 
nominating committee whose powers and influence are 
so great should be chosen by more representative and 
deliberative methods. 
Another thought—the proceedings of 1921 show a list 
of Vice-presidents representing only 24 states and ref¬ 
erence to the list of members discloses that those 24 
Vice-presidents represent 229 members or votes out of a 
total of 294. Thirteen states with 65 members did not 
choose a Vice-president and eleven states show no mem¬ 
bership. 
Of the 24 Vice-presidents 
3 represent states having 1 member 
3 represent states having 2 members 
3 represent states having 3 members 
3 represent states having 4 members 
1 represents states having 5 members 
2 represent states having 6 members 
This discloses a possible combination of 13 Vice-pres¬ 
idents or a majority vote in the meeting as representing 
only 43 members out of a total of 294, thus controlling 
the action of the Vice-presidents’ meeting and conse¬ 
quently the control to a large extent of the organization 
and policies of our Association. Is that a wise and pru¬ 
dent and business-like situation? 
The desire to buy and sell and meetings of various 
subsidiary organizations make it difficult to convene the 
various state delegations during the convention period. 
Why cannot the choice be made by a mail ballot before 
the meeting? 
As a suggestion, let each state association elect a 
Vice-president for such state and in states where no as¬ 
sociation exists about May 20th authorize the Vice-pres¬ 
ident for the current year to send to the Secretary three 
names to be voted on by members in his state; these 
names to be promptly sent out by the Secretary to each 
state member and votes to be returned by June 10th. 
Other names may be suggested to the Secretary by not 
less than three members and members may vote for 
other than suggested names; these votes to be canvassed 
by the Secretary and results announced at the first ses¬ 
sion of the Association, after which time Vice-presidents 
so chosen may convene as a nominating committee. 
In the meeting of the nominating committee each 
Vice-president to be entitled to such number of votes as 
shall equal the number of members from his state dur¬ 
ing the previous year; the schedule of votes by states to 
be furnished by the Association Secretary who shall be 
the Secretary of the Vice-presidents’ meeting. 
This method is offered only as a suggestion and I hope 
a better scheme can be found for I realize that this one 
is open to two objections, first, that members may not 
vote by mail ballot; and second, that it places too much 
power with the Vice-president who suggests the three 
names. 
While the plan is open to criticism and I realize the 
weak points I believe it is better than the present method 
and at any rate worthy of a trial. Has anybody a better 
plan ? 
