BY-LAWS

1. Membership Fees

Membership fees for the following classifications shall be: for active members with the Proceedings, $5; without the Proceedings, $3; for sustaining members, $10; for institutional members, $25 (no individual shall be entitled to hold institutional membership, this membership being reserved solely for agencies, organizations, and institutions); for contributing members, $25 or over. (Contributing memberships may be limited to individuals contributing $25 or over and to such organizations as may contribute any sum in excess of the membership fee for an institutional membership and which shall elect to be classed as contributing rather than as institutional members.) Sustaining members, institutional members, and contributing members shall be entitled to receive both the Bulletin and the annual volume of Proceedings. All members shall be entitled to receive the Bulletin.

2. Duties of Officers

The President shall be chairman ex-officio of both the Executive and Program Committees. He shall appoint all committees except the Executive Committee unless otherwise ordered by the Conference or by the Executive Committee.

The Treasurer shall keep the funds of the Conference in such bank as may be designated by the Executive Committee. He shall keep his accounts in such form as may be prescribed by the Executive Committee and pay out funds on voucher checks in form to be prescribed by the Executive Committee, and his accounts shall be audited annually by a firm of certified accountants appointed annually by the Executive Committee. He shall give bond in an amount approximating the largest amount of Conference funds held at his disposal at any one time, the expense of the bond to be paid by the Conference.

The General Secretary shall have charge of the office and records of the Conference, and shall conduct its business and correspondence under direction of the Executive Committee. He shall make arrangements for the annual meeting. He shall direct the activities of the Assistant Secretaries. He shall be the official editor of the volume of proceedings, the periodical bulletin, and other publications of the Conference. He shall develop the membership of the Conference and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Executive Committee. He shall receive such compensation as shall be fixed by the Executive Committee.

3. Finance

No financial management of the Conference shall be vested in the Executive Committee. No final action involving finances shall be taken by the Conference unless the question shall have been first submitted to and acted upon by the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee may accept donations for purposes germane to the work of the Conference, provided that no endowment funds shall be accepted in perpetuity; but all such funds must be subject to change of objects or to immediate expenditure; but such change or expenditure must be authorized by a three-fourths vote of the members of the Conference present at a regular meeting and such proposition must first have been submitted to and acted upon by the Executive Committee.

Within three months after the adjournment of the annual meeting the President shall appoint the following named committees:

a) A Committee of three on Resolutions, to which all resolutions shall be referred without debate. No final action shall be taken on any resolution involving a matter of policy at the same session at which it is reported by the Committee on Resolutions.

b) A Committee of twenty or more on Time and Place of the next meeting. This committee shall meet on the second day of the annual meeting for the purpose of receiving invitations from cities, and shall give a reasonable time for the presentation of such invitations. In the proceedings of the committee only the votes of members present shall be counted. The committee shall report to the Executive Committee of the Conference not later than the fourth day of the meeting, and the Executive Committee shall transmit this report to the Conference with its approval or other findings thereon. Action on the report of the committee shall be by a rising vote. The city receiving the highest vote shall be selected.

c) A Conference Program Committee of seven members, to consist of the retiring President, the newly elected President, who shall act as chairman, the General Secretary, and four persons to be appointed by the newly elected President for a term of one year. This committee, subject to action by the Executive Committee, shall have entire responsibility (1) for preparing all programs for general sessions of the Conference, (2) for harmonizing and co-ordinating the programs of the several Divisions.

d) A Nominating Committee of nine members, none of whom shall be an officer or a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference.

The appointment and personnel of all committees shall be published in the Bulletin next following the appointment.

5. Divisions

a) The programs of the Conference shall be grouped under Divisions, of which the following shall be continuous: (1) Children; (2) Delinquents and Correction; (3) Health; (4) The Family; (5) Industrial and Economic Problems; (6) Neighborhood and Community Life; (7) Mental Hygiene; (8) Organization of Social Forces; (9) Public Officials and Administration.

b) Other Divisions may be created for a period of one or more years by the Executive Committee or by the membership at the annual meeting, provided the proposal therefor shall have been first submitted to and acted upon by the Executive Committee.

c) Each continuous Division shall be in charge of a committee of not less than nine persons, nominated by the Division members and elected at the annual business meeting of the Conference. One-third of the members of the Division Committee shall be elected each year to serve terms of three years each.

d) Each other Division not continuous shall be in charge of a committee appointed by the Executive Committee, or if created by the membership, in such manner as the membership shall determine at the annual meeting.

e) Each Division shall have power: (1) To arrange the annual Conference programs coming within its field, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee upon recommendation by the Conference Program Committee. (2) To arrange the annual business meeting of the Division and to provide for the nominations of officers and committee for the succeeding year.

f) Each Division shall annually nominate a chairman to be elected at the annual business meeting of the Conference. The Division Committee shall each year elect a Division Secretary. g) Vacancies in the Division Committees shall be filled at the annual meeting in the same manner as the election of new members. Vacancies in the office of chairman or secretary between meetings shall be filled by the Division Committee, subject to the approval of the Conference Executive Committee.

h) The Conference Executive Committee shall have general supervision over the work of all Division Committees with the final power to pass on all programs, in order to insure the harmonious conduct of all parts of the work.

6. Kindred Groups

Independent associations may arrange with the National Conference Executive Committee for meetings to be held immediately before or during the annual meeting of the National Conference. The Executive Committee shall make such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary from time to time for such meetings.

7. Submission of Questions

Any Division or group desiring to submit any question to the Conference shall present it to the Executive Committee for preliminary consideration, at least twenty-four hours before the final adjournment of the Conference, and the Executive Committee shall report on such question with its recommendation before final adjournment.

8. Business Sessions

At the annual meeting at least one session shall be held at which only matters of business shall be considered. The time of this session shall be announced in the last issue of the Bulletin preceding the meeting. The officers of the Conference shall endeavor to concentrate on this occasion as much as possible of the business of the Conference.

All individuals holding the rank of member under any of the classes provided in the constitution and duly qualified shall be entitled to vote. Dues shall cover the period of one full year from the date of their payment; but dues paid at the annual meeting in any year shall cover the period to the date of but not including the next annual meeting. Any person who was a member on the first day of January preceding and is a member on the date of voting shall be entitled to vote. No member of the Conference shall be entitled to more than one vote.

9. Voting Quorum

At any business session fifty members shall constitute a quorum.

10. Division Meetings

All meetings of the Conference except general sessions shall be arranged so as to facilitate informal discussion. The chairman of divisions shall preside at section meetings of their divisions or shall appoint presiding officers in their stead.

II. Minutes

A certified copy of the minutes of the business transactions of the annual meeting, excepting official documents, shall be posted by the General Secretary on the official bulletin board at least three hours before the final meeting of each annual session, in order that the said minutes may be corrected by the Conference, if any question of accuracy be raised before adjournment.

12. Local Arrangements

All local arrangements for the annual meeting shall be subject to the approval of the Executive Committee of the Conference.

13. Nomination and Election of Officers

1. The nominating committee shall have the function of nominating one or more persons for each of the offices of President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, and Third VicePresident, and at least twice as many persons for members of the Executive Committee as there are vacancies occurring in that body.

2. Suggestions of names of persons for any of these positions may be submitted to the nominating committee by any members of the Conference at any time following the committee's. appointment and up to the time of the committee's announcement of the list of nominations.

3. Within ninety days of its appointment, the nominating committee shall, through the Bulletin, solicit suggestions of names of persons for the offices to be filled, and shall renew such solicitation in each succeeding Bulletin up to the time of announcing the list of nominations. The committee shall appoint a place at or near headquarters on the second day of the annual meeting and shall announce the same, at which suggestions for nominations shall be received by them up to 1:15 P.M. of the third day of the annual meeting.

4. After taking into consideration the names suggested by the Conference members, but not necessarily confining their consideration to these names, the committee shall draw up a list of nominations as previously specified, and the same shall be announced at the general session on the evening of the third day of the Conference.

5. At any time either before or following the publication of these nominations, additional nominations may be made by petition of not less than twenty-five members, properly addressed to the chairman of the nominating committee. Such nominations shall be received up to one o'clock P.M. on the fourth day of the annual meeting.

6. A final list of all nominations shall be printed and published on the morning of the fifth day of the annual meeting, provided that such day shall not fall on Sunday. Should the fifth day fall on Sunday, such publication shall be made on the morning of the sixth day.

Ballots shall be supplied to all members who are entitled to vote and who present themselves for voting.

A polling place shall be established and maintained between the hours of 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. on the fifth day of the annual meeting, provided that such day shall not fall on Sunday, in which case the election shall occur on the sixth day. After the time herein specified for voting has expired the ballots shall be counted by three tellers appointed by the President and the result shall be announced at the next general session of the Conference. Election shall be decided by plurality of the votes cast.

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