Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1911-10-13

80 0nu te4uAie Lne WTlIlng or new by
laws. This might be distinct ad.
vantage for, as have said, it is be-
coming exceedingly difficult to patch
Tue many amendments on to the old
CONSTITUTION. 1t was good for the DAYS
ol our youth, but we have developed
~ many new activities that it is diff
I ncult to make place for them. For in
stance, the organization of districts
n@s opened an entirely new form of
feueratlon work which was in no wise
contemplated in the constitution, and
as result the status of these dis
t!lcts ana their Interviewing connec-
tion with the state are not defined
ana are most inadequately described
me same Is true in regard to indiv;-
dual members.
furthermore, the Departments of
WORK are still in somewhat hazy form
we followed the General Federation
~ the tadoption of the term "Depart-
menus OF Work. in place of that of
otanalng Committees. In Some re-
spects lnls was fortunate and in 9th
ers unfortunate. for we have made no
PROVISIONS as to just what a Depart-
nieht IS and how IT is to operate with
our oody, and it is extremely awkward
ana incorrect to speak of the five wom-
en- IN charge of this Department as
department, which they are not. It
seems to me that they should be a
committee in charge of this DEPART
ment OF Work. In my thought the de-
partment consists of all clubs in the
f'ederat1on pursuing work along the
special lines of that department under
the leadership of Standing commit
Tee AS have already said in the dis
tr1ct meetings, we hope during the
next year to catalogue our clubs care
iully so that they can thus be divided
lIto departments. This being done
the committees will have tangible and
concrete bodies with which to work.
ana their work should thus be more d.
rect and effective. Probably this will
result IN the developing of our Con-
ferences into Conferences of the dele
gates from such clubs in charge of
the committees
Then, again, our board is so arrang-
cd as TO De selI-perpeluating body in
that it is never completely changed,
and a portion of it is always expert
enced in the work. Would it not be
: wise to make the same provision in
regard to the Standing Committees?
!, feel that it is safe to assert that ev-
cry president has found her work ham,
pered in that she entered upon her
: term Of office with entirely new COM
committees, unacquainted with the
: work. She has, therefore, been obi.
ged to take her time to organize such
,, committees and help them launch their
work. This would be entirely I'm.
necessary If only fraction of each
> committee was changed at one time
: They would then be able to correlate
the work from year to year, and would
always have experienced leaders
Might it not also be well to limit the
> term of office of a committee member
as well as that of the officers with this
= = end in view-that we may draw il
. new blood and workers from time tx
I time?
One of the pending amendments t.
= our constitution is that making the
committee chairmen members of the
: Board. The object of this is a goo6
one,s namely to bring the Board anG
: Departments into closer touch, and lc
establish their work on well-adviseG
Z and concerted plans" The great draw
! back to this is that under our constitu
: ton the committees are appointed by
\ the Board. The ,chairmen cannot
therefore, constitutionally be members
Of the Board as tnat would make them
T. self-appointing, (which is undesirable
as@Well as unconstitutional. It would
seem, therefore, that some other ar
p rangement should be devised for bring
!. ing the board into closer touch with
= the department leaders. Possibly an
: additional body or council, such as
!. the general Federation has, might be
created: The joint conference of the
: Board with Committee Chairmen al
this meeting was planned to meet this
= end, but at present it has no legal
y status and therefore no real powers
y The General Federation Council en-
= braces also the state presidents. Can
i not we in some such way reach the
- club presidents? They are so much
more numerous that this is doubt
; full point, but it is a question for seri
With all these changes and respon
- sibilities imminent, / suggest a spe
. cial committee who shan study the
= subject thoroughly and report on
y plans for Incorporation and revision
= hope that this may be an elected
:, committee to reflect your delegated
- !. views and that they may be given suf
, hcient time to consider the matter
- most completely. " i. >a. :?
The continued addition of new judi
J. cial districts has weakened our dis
:, trict work in that 1t has given us q
!, number of districts out of all proper
= ton to our number of clubs and oul
= club membership as compared with
~ that Of other states. The Board at its
!, spring meeting felt that the time had
. come for creating districts according
2 to our own needs. A committee was
: therefore appointed to draw up a ten
:. tativeS scheme for -districting;; thai
!, this is entirely satisfactory no one
: Eclaims, but is is presented that We
:, : may have Some thing to work upon
: and in the hope that the delegates 4;
: attendance may nelp us to arrive al
? some satisfactory plan of division. n,
Another subject upon which hope
:, for an expression at this meeting i
: : the purpose to VII itch the income from
!; our End oWnent Fund should be- de
!, ! voted, IN raising such fund II u