UNITED STATES BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. 6 
persons, who have heretofore cooperated for a similar purpose under the authority 
of the several Departments, bureaus, and institutions with which they are connected, 
as members of said Board : 
Prof. Thomas C. Mendenhall, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, chairman. 
Andrew H. Allen, Department of State. 
Capt. Henry L. Howison, Light-House Board, Treasury Department. 
Capt. Thomas Turtle, Engineer Corps, War Department. 
Lieut. Richardson Clover, Hydrographic Office, Navy Department. 
Pierson H. Bristow, Post-Office Department. 
Otis T. Mason, Smithsonian Institution. 
Herbert G. Ogden, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
Henry Gannett, U. S. Geological Survey. 
Marcus Baker, U. S. Geological Survey. 
To this Board shall be referred all unsettled questions concerning geographic; names 
which arise in the Departments, and the decisions of the Board are to be accepted by 
these Departments as the standard authority in such matters. 
Department officers are instructed to afford such assistance as may be proper to 
carry on the work of this Board. 
The members of this Board shall serve without additional compensation, and its 
organization shall entail no expense on the Government. 
Benjamin Harrison. 
Executive Mansion, September 4, 1890. 
Under this authority the Board has held seventeen meetings. It has 
adopted a code of by-laws for regulating the transaction of business, 
has agreed upon certain general principles for guiding its decisions, 
and has decided about 2,000 cases. 
The by-laws under which its proceedings have been carried on are as 
follows : 
BY-LAWS. 
I. — Name. 
This organization shall be called "The United States Board on Geographic Names." 
II. — Officers of the Board. 
The officers shall consist of a chairman, a secretary (who snail be elected by ballot), 
and an executive committee of three to be appointed by the chair with the concur- 
rence of the Board, all of whom shall serve for one year or until their successors shall 
be chosen. 
III. — Duties of officers. 
(a) The chairman shall preside at the meetings and shall certify to the decisions 
of the Board. He shall appoint all committees not specially named by the Board. 
He shall have power to designate a member of the Board to act for him during his 
temporary absence. 
(b) The secretary shall record the proceedings of the Board and shall keep a record 
that will show the decisions rendered, or other action of the Board upon cases sub- 
mitted to it, with reference to the papers filed in each case. He shall maintain files 
of the original papers, or copies of them, that may be presented in each case, con- 
veniently arranged for reference. He shall conduct the general correspondence and 
shall receive communications presented for the consideration of the Board, trans- 
mitting them to the executive committee as their character may require or as may 
be hereafter provided. 
(c) The executive committee shall receive through the Secretary all communica- 
tions requiring decision by the Board, shall investigate the questions presented, se- 
curing information from all available sources, andshall report upon them to the Board, 
submitting recommendations regarding them. 
IV. — Meetings. 
The Board shall hold regular meetings on the first Tuesday in each month, except- 
ing the months of July, August, and September. Special meetings may be called by 
the chairman or by the executive committee. A majority of the Board shall consti- 
tute a quorum. The affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the Board 
shall be required in the final decision in any case. All motions presented for the 
consideration of the Board shall be submitted in writing. 
