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But we now raise the question of the continuance of the Linguistic Institute after 1940. During the summer of 1939 the administrative officers of the University of Michigan met with the members of your committee on the Linguistic Institute to discuss this problem. Present at this meeting was also Dr. W. G. Leland of the American Council of Learned Societies. Two matters, raised particularly by Dr. Leland, are of especial importance for our immediate problem. First, it was urged that an attempt be made to survey the results of the activities of the Linguistic Institute in its various sessions as a preliminary step to decisions concerning its future. In accord with this proposal a committee headed by Prof. Edgerton was appointed and has been at work carrying out this survey along the lines suggested. Second, Dr. Leland strongly urged that the Linguistic Institute should move somewhat regularly from university to university and not continue to hold sessions at a single institution. The administrative officers of the University of Michigan have accepted this point of view and will therefore not provide for the Linguistic Institute in 1941. They will, however, be much interested in considering holding the Linguistic Institute "in their turn" if plans of cooperation with other institutions can be developed.

We should recommend in this connection the two following actions:

1. That the Linguistic Society appoint a special committee of five members to convass the possibilities of a place for the Linguistic Institute in 1941 and 1942.

2. That the Linguistic Society appoint a special committee of three members whose duty it shall be to develop plans for increasing the endowment funds of the Linguistic Institute and to carry out these plans if and when the Executive Committee of the Linguistic Society shall approve them.

The report was on motion ordered to be received and filed. On the Treasurer's statement that $100.00 would be available for the purpose, it was on motion voted that the Society appropriate the sum of $100.00 of the current funds of the Linguistic Institute to the University of Michigan, to be used toward the expenses of bringing lecturers to Ann Arbor during the Linguistic Institute of 1940, to give public lectures on linguistic topics. The other three actions requested in the report of the Joint Committee were then on motion voted by the Society.

Mr. Edgerton, Chairman of the Special Committee on the Future of the Linguistic Institute which was authorized by the Executive Committee to be appointed in sequence upon the resolution of the Society at the Summer Meeting, July 29, 1939 (Mr. Edgerton, Chairman; Mr. Bloomfield, Miss Hahn, Mr. Kent, Mr. Kurath, Mr. E. H. Sturtevant), presented the report of the Committee, in two parts: a history of the Institute, prepared by Mr. Sturtevant, and a summary of the results of a questionnaire on the achievements and the future of the Institute, prepared by Mr. Edgerton. On motion the report was ordered to be received and filed; and by a second motion it was ordered to be printed in full in the next Bulletin of the Executive Committee (see pages 83101 of this Bulletin).

Mr. Edgerton, Chairman of the Committee on Research (Mr. Edgerton, Chairman, serving until Feb. 1, 1941; Mr. Bloomfield, serving until Feb. 1, 1940; Mr. Bolling, serving until Feb. 1, 1942), presented the following report, which was ordered to be received and filed:

The Committee has considered several projects submitted to it during the year, but has not recommended any.

Mr. Fries, as Chairman of the Committee on the Application of Linguistic Knowledge to the Practical Problems of Teachers of English (Mr. Fries, Chairman; Mr. Bloomfield, Mr. Kenyon), presented the following report, which was ordered to be received and filed, and on motion the Committee was continued:

Although this committee has not formally as a committee attacked the problem before it in such a way as to make possible a satisfactory report at this time, the members of the committee individually have been at work upon two books which should when finally published furnish a basis upon which to begin a practical program. One book has to do with the teaching of reading and the other with the content of the teaching of English grammar. We should like to have the committee continued.

Mr. Sturtevant, for the Delegates to the American Council of Learned Societies (Mr. Sturtevant, term expiring 1942; Mr. Lane, term expiring 1940), presented the following report, which was ordered to be received and filed:

The American Council of Learned Societies met in Washington on January 27 and 28, 1939. The Linguistic Society was represented by both of its delegates and by the Secretary of the Society.

The Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada continues to be the Council's most important current project. Although the work of editing and publishing has been delayed somewhat, Volume 1 of the Linguistic Atlas of New England and the Handbook were published last summer. Sales have been satisfactory, and, somewhat surprisingly, all sets sold in Europe before the outbreak of the war have now been paid for. The drafting of Volume 2 is complete, and work is proceeding on Volume 3. Field work for the Linguistic Atlas of the South Atlantic States is nearly finished, and field records are now rapidly coming in from the Middle Atlantic States.

Of great interest for the future of American scholarship is the attempt of the Council's Committee on Research and Teaching Personnel to administer the modest sum now at its disposal to assure adequate training for peculiarly promising young scholars. Until recently the Committee has largely confined its grants to certain underdeveloped subjects, but now chief attention is paid to finding candidates of outstanding promise. As far as possible the Committee will avoid subsidizing mere mediocrity.

The Council is now attempting to raise an endowment fund large enough to take care of its regular expenses. This will relieve the executive officers of the

ungrateful task of raising money merely to keep the organization going, and will release their time and attention for more important matters.

Mr. Sehrt, as Delegate on the Managing Board of the American Documentation Institute, presented the following report, which was ordered to be received and filed:

As representative of the Society on the Board of the American Documentation Institute, I beg to report that no new linguistic works have been published in microfilm in 1939, and, as far as I know, none is contemplated for the immediate future.

Mr. Fries, for the Delegates to the Fifth International Congress of Linguists, reported that of the Society's delegates he and Mr. Malone were in Brussels for the opening of the Congress on August 28, and that he found that the Committee in charge had on August 26, in view of the critical international situation, decided to postpone the Congress for one year; that at the opening session, with about 60 delegates in attendance, this postponement was voted, the current arrangements being retained as far as possible, except that the papers of the meeting would be published if offered to the Committee. Mr. Kepke, Mr. Fry, and Mr. Bonfante, who also were in Brussels, reported further that some 30 scholars remained in Brussels, meeting informally and reading and discussing papers, until about noon of September 1; and that a volume of papers had already been printed and distributed.

Mr. Sturtevant, for the Special Committee on Amendments to the Constitution (Mr. Sturtevant, Chairman; Mr. Bloch, Mr. Cross, Mr. Emeneau, Mr. Kepke), presented the following report:

Your committee has held two meetings and conducted a considerable correspondence. Those members of the Committee whose names are signed below, constituting a majority of the Committee, unite in recommending the following amendments to the Constitution.

Amend Article II, Section 3 to read:

3. On or before December 31 in each year each active member shall pay to the Treasurer an annual fee of five dollars, except as hereinafter provided. If a member does not pay the annual fee within the time prescribed, he shall not receive without payment any further publications of the Society, and he shall not have the right to hold office in the Society or serve on the Executive Committee while his default continues. Such members in default may receive the publications upon payment of all arrears. Members in default for two years shall be dropped from membership.

Amend Article III to read:

ARTICLE III. ADMINISTRATION

1. The Officers shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.

2. There shall be an Executive Committee, composed of the above Officers and four other members of the Society, who shall serve for two years, two of them being elected each year, and who shall be ineligible for immediate re-election. Between annual meetings of the Society the Executive Committee shall have power to take any action that the Society itself could take; but all its acts must be reported to the Society at the next annual meeting. The Secretary may on his own initiative, and shall at the request of any other member of the Committee, ask the Executive Committee to vote upon specific questions by mail, and if a majority of the Committee shall vote by mail for or against any measure thus submitted that vote shall be decisive. All former officers and all persons who have been members of the Executive Committee within the last preceding five years shall have the right to attend meetings of the executive committee, but they shall not have the right to vote. If any member of the Executive Committee does not attend a meeting of the Committee, he may, by written proxy, appoint a member of the Society to attend and to vote in his stead. But no one person shall by virtue of holding proxies have the right to cast more than one vote.

3. There shall be a Committee on Publications, which shall consist of the Editor (who shall act as chairman) and three other members of the Society. One member of the Committee on Publications shall be elected at each annual meeting of the Society, and he shall serve for three years.

4. There shall be a Nominating Committee consisting of three members, who shall serve for three years, one of them being elected each year. The member whose term is about to expire shall act as chairman.

5. The Officers and the Editor shall be elected annually. All elections shall be conducted as follows: The Nominating Committee shall nominate one person for each position to be filled at the annual election, and the Secretary shall, at least two months before the annual meeting, mail to the membership notices of these nominations. At the same time he shall mail to the membership nomination blanks, with space for one nomination for each position to be filled. Any member may write the name of a member of the Society in each or any of these spaces, and mail the blank with his signature to the Secretary. If, in this way, as many as three nominate the same candidate for the same position, such candidate shall have equal standing with the one nominated by the Nominating Committee; but the names of the members who nominated him shall not be published by the Secretary. The Secretary shall inquire of each person nominated in either of the two ways just prescribed, whether he will serve if elected. Unless an affirmative reply is received from such a person, his name shall be stricken from the list of nominees. Additional nominations may be made from the floor, provided that each such nomination must be seconded by two members of the Society in order to be valid, and provided that evidence must be presented that such a nominee will serve if elected. If there are two or more nominees for any position, voting for that position shall be by secret ballot.

6. At the election in December, 1939, the procedure described in section 5 shall be modified as follows: All nominations shall be made from the floor. In addition to the two members of the Executive Committee elected for a term of two years there shall also be elected two other members for a term of one year. Three members of the Nominating Committee shall be elected, and they shall draw lots to determine which one of them is to serve as chairman and serve for one year,

and which of the other two is to serve for two years. The remaining one shall serve for three years. After the election of December, 1939, and as soon as lots have been drawn to determine the terms of the Nominating Committee, this section shall be stricken out.

Amend Article VII to read:

ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS

1. Amendments to this Constitution may be made by vote of two-thirds of the members present at any annual meeting of the Society, provided that a proposed amendment has been presented in writing to the Secretary, signed by at least three members of the Society, not less than three months before the meeting.

2. The Secretary shall mail to the membership of the Society, at least one month before the annual meeting, the text of any proposed amendment that has been properly presented in accordance with Section 1 above.

(signed) E. H. Sturtevant, Chairman

M. B. Emeneau, B. Bloch, J. Kepke

In the foregoing report I agree to the following: Proposed Amendment to Article II, Section 3; Proposed Amendment to Article III, Administration, 1; III, 2, the first sentence, except the word "four," the second sentence (the rest of the section is not agreed to), 3, 4, 5, 6; Proposed Amendments to Article VII, Amendments.

(signed) Ephraim Cross

Mr. Cross presented a minority report, as follows:

The minority of the Select Committee named at the December, 1938 meeting to "consider the problems raised by the amendments proposed by Professor Cross as to number and manner of election of officers, executive committee, editor, and committee on publications, and kindred matters" submits the following proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Society. Such portions of the present Constitution as are not referred to in these proposals are accepted without change. To section 1 of Article III, Administration, add:

The offices of Secretary and of Treasurer may be held simultaneously by one and the same person.

2. There shall be an Executive Committee, composed of the above Officers and six other members of the Society, who shall serve for two years, two of them being elected each year, and who shall be ineligible to succeed themselves. Between annual meetings of the Society the Executive Committee shall have power to take any action that the Society itself could take; but all its acts must be reported to the Society at the next annual meeting. Except at its meeting held in connection with the annual meeting of the Society, the Executive Committee may vote by mail on pending questions. The meetings of the Executive Committee shall be open to the members of the Society, but no non-member of the Committee shall have the right to vote.

To Section 3 add:

The Editor shall not accept for publication, nor reject, any manuscript submitted unless at least one other member of the Committee on Publications shall agree as to such acceptance or rejection. In the event that the Editor and the other members of the Committee on Publications shall be of opposite opinions,

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