Sec. 4. Applications for membership shall be referred to and voted upon by the Executive Committee at any regular or called meeting therefor. Sec. 5. All members except Associate and Honorary members shall be members of this corporation, and shall be entitled to vote and hold office in said corporation. ARTICLE IV. Sec. 1. The officers of this Association shall be a Board of Directors, a President, a Vice-President for each State, Territory and Province represented in the Association, a Treasurer, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, and an Executive Committee. Sec. 2. These officers shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting of the Association, and shall serve one year, or until their successors are elected. Vacancies occurring during the year may be filled by the Board of Directors. ARTICLE V. The Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall have the control and management of the funds and property of the Association. The Board shall consist of seven (7) members, and shall elect its own President and Secretary. The latter shall have the custody of the corporate seal. The Board shall have power to fill any vacancy occurring therein, the appointee to serve until the next annual meeting. The Board shall take, receive, hold and convey such real and personal estate as may become the property of the Association for the purposes of the Association set forth in the certificate of incorporation and in Article II. above. A majority of the Board shall be a quorum. The Board shall meet one-half hour before the annual meeting of the Association, and at such other time as it may be called together by its President. ARTICLE VI. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association. ARTICLE VII. Vice-President. In the absence of the President, a Vice-President shall preside at the meetings of the Association; and in the absence of all of them a President pro-tem shall be elected by the meeting. ARTICLE VII. The Recording Secretary. The Recording Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of the Association, and the Executive Committee, and shall be custodian of all documents, books and collections ordered to be preserved. ARTICLE IX. The Corresponding Secretary. The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the correspondence of the Association. He shall keep a list of members, with their residences, and shall notify members of the time and place of all meetings of the Association. He shall receive annual dues and receipt for the same in the name of the Treasurer. ARTICLE X. The Treasurer. The Treasurer shall have the custody of all moneys received. He shall deposit and invest the same in such manner and to such extent as the Board of Directors shall direct, and shall not expend any money except under the direction or approval of the Board of Directors, or the Executive Committee as authorized by said Board. The financial year of the Association shall close on November 30 of each year. ARTICLE XI. The Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board of Directors, transact all current business of the Association. It shall consist of the President of the Association, the Vice-President for the District of Columbia, the two Secretaries, the Treasurer, and six (6) other Active members. This committee shall choose its own chairman, and three (3) members of it shall constitute a quorum. The Executive Committee by authorization of the Board of Directors may pass upon all bills presented to the Association and approve for payment such as it deems just and reasonable, and may incur on behalf of the Association liabilities not to exceed such sums as may be fixed by the Board of Directors. ARTICLE XII. The annual meeting for the election of officers and the transaction of such business as requires to come before the entire Association, shall be held on the second Wednesday in December, at such hour and place as the Executive Committee may determine. A quorum shall consist of fifteen (15) members of the Association (Patrons, Life members or Active members), as specified in section 5 of Article III. Special meetings may be called by the Executive Committee. ARTICLE XII. The annual dues for Active members shall be two dollars ($2) payable in advance upon the first day of January. The Board of Directors shall have power to remit the annual dues of a member. ARTICLE XIV. These By-Laws may be amended by a three-fourths vote of the members present and entitled to vote at the annual meeting of the Association. Fifteenth Annual Meeting, 1897. Pursuant to notice, the fifteenth annual meeting of the American Forestry Association was held on February 5, 1897, in the hall of the Cosmos Club, at Washington, D. C. Articles of incorporation of "The American Forestry Association" having been filed just previous to the meeting, the old organization was thereby supplanted by the new corporation. The meeting was called to order at 10.15 A. M. In the absence of the President, Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, the VicePresident for the District of Columbia, took the chair. The minutes of the last annual meeting were read and approved. Dr. B. E. Fernow then read the following report of the Executive Committee, which was accepted: REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. In all reform movements which, like our forestry movement, involve change of economic thought and methods, there are times, when progress can hardly be noted by definite events and tangible steps of advancement, and yet progress is made without special effort, insensibly, by an almost imperceptible broadening of appreciation of the subject, a result of the momentum of earlier efforts; the front may not advance, but more battalions move into line. The past year may perhaps be considered in the history of the Association as such a time of bringing up arrears, of broadening interests, of movements into line and reaping results of its influence rather than achieving advances on given lines. As the most notable of these movements may be mentioned the appointment of a Forestry Committee by the National Academy of Sciences, which was secured through the efforts of your Executive Committee by inducing the then Secretary of the Interior to ask the advice of the National Academy-the legally constituted advisor of the Government in matters scientific-regarding the proper steps to be taken with reference to the public timber lands. An appropriation of $25,000 was readily secured from Congress for this committee to enable its members to inspect the condition of these timberlands as a basis for its recommendations. It is known that such inspection was made and a report is preparing, although we are not informed of the drift of its recommendations. Your committee, in securing the appointment of this body did not expect that its recommendations would be essentially or strikingly different from those made and advocated by your Association, but hopes that the weight of the opinion of the eminent gentlemen composing the Forestry Committee and of the body from which it was selected will do much to arouse more generally public interest and to secure the passage of desired legislation. During the last session of Congress the McRae Bill H. R. 119, was again passed in the House of Representatives, with amendments, to be sure, which do not meet the approval of your committee. Nevertheless, we would prefer the passage of the bill for the good that is in it, rather than favor the continued lack of a definite legal status and of all protection for the existing forest reservations, hoping for improvement by later legislation. In the Senate Mr. Allen has reported and placed on the Calendar a bill from the Committee on Forest Reservations (S. 2118) which is in the main the same as the House Hill, although with further undesirable amendments added. The hope of passing this legislation, which would mark a first step towards an administration of the existing forest reservations, during the present session of Congress, depends on the willingness of Senator Allen to change his bill in form, so that if passed it can be sent to Conference. Meanwhile the policy of forest reservations has not only been kept in abeyance, but has become discredited and objectionable with the people in the States, where they are situated, since thereby large areas have been absolutely withdrawn from any, even rational, use, and are left without protection. A strong opposition has arisen, and strenuous attempts have been made to open for entry or reduce especially the Cascade Range Forest Reserve in Oregon, to counteract which your committee passed and directed to Congress and the Executive the following resolutions: Adopted March 4th, 1896. "Whereas, We hear, with regret and apprehension, that an effort is now being made to secure the restoration to the public domain for entry and disposal of three-fourths of the lands comprising the CASCADE RANGE FOREST RESERVE in Oregon, which was created only two years ago by proclamation of the President after due and careful consideration, and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior; and, Whereas, It is the duty of the Government to maintain such condations as will benefit the greatest number and future generations in their economic development, in which permanent water conditions and timber supplies are essential; and, |