OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION.

PREAMBLE.

The National Conference of Charities exists to discuss the problems of charities and correction, to disseminate information and promote reforms. It does not formulate platforms.

I. MEMBERSHIP.

The membership of a Conference shall include:

(a) All past officers of the Conference who have served more than one year. (b) Members and officers of State Boards of Charities or boards of kindred functions.

(c) Members of Boards of Management and officers of public and private charitable and correctional institutions.

(d) Members and officers of boards and societies organized for the relief or improvement of the poor, the unfortunate, or the neglected.

(e) Persons designated by State or municipal authorities or by the Local Committee.

(/) Others especially interested may be enrolled as members, and may share in the discussions, without the privilege of voting.

(g) Honorary members may be elected on recommendation of the Executive Committee.

() The annual membership fee shall be $2, which shall entitle each member to a copy of the Proceedings and other publications of the Conference. (i) State Boards of Charities and other societies and institutions subscribing for the Proceedings in quantities shall be entitled to enroll their officers and members as members of this Conference, in proportion to the amount subscribed.

() The list of annual members shall be printed in the Proceedings, with asterisks marking those in attendance.

II. OFFICERS.

The officers of the Conference shall be a President, one or more Vice-Presidents, a General Secretary, three or more Secretaries, a Treasurer, and an Official Reporter and Editor, also a Corresponding Secretary for each State and Territory. These officers shall be elected annually by the Conference.

The ex-Presidents of the Conference shall be the Councillors, and shall be members of the Executive Committee ex officio.

III. COMMITTEES.

The standing committees shall be an Executive Committee and a committee on each subject which it is proposed to discuss at the ensuing Conference. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President ex officio, of seven members, to be elected annually by the Conference, and of the Councillors. members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

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The President, soon after the opening of the Conference, shall appoint a Committee on Organization of the next Conference and a Committee on Time and Place of the next meeting, each consisting of one member from each State and Territory; also a Committee on Resolutions, to which all resolutions shall be referred without debate.

IV. DUTIES OF OFFICERS.

The officers of the Conference shall discharge the duties usually devolving upon such officers.

The President shall be chairman ex officio of the Executive Committee, and shall have the supervision of the work of the several committees in preparing for the meeting of the Conference and securing a suitable attendance. He shall have authority to accept resignations and fill vacancies in the list of officers and chairmen of committees. He shall have power to fill vacancies in, and to add to the numbers of, any committee, except the Executive Committee, in consultation with the chairman of the committee.

The Executive Committee shall have power to fill vacancies in its members. The General Secretary shall be ex-officio Secretary of the Executive Committee, and Chairman of the Committee on Reports from the States. He shall conduct the correspondence of the Conference with officers, committees, and others, under the direction of the President. He shall have charge of the distribution of all announcements and programmes, and shall direct the work of the Secretaries and be responsible for the correctness of the roll of members. He shall be the custodian of the unsold copies of the reports of the Proceedings, receive all orders for the same, and direct their distribution.

He shall receive all membership fees and proceeds of sales of the reports of the Proceedings, and pay the same promptly to the Treasurer. He shall receive compensation for his services and an allowance for clerk hire and other expenses, the amount and time of payment of which shall be fixed by the Executive Committee from time to time.

The Treasurer shall receive and disburse all moneys of the Conference, all disbursements to be made only upon the approval of the President or of some member of the Executive Committee, to be named by the President.

The Official Reporter and Editor shall report and edit the Proceedings of the Conference, subject to the direction of the Executive Committee.

The Corresponding Secretaries shall be responsible for the annual reports from their several States. It should be their duty to secure the attendance of representatives from public and private institutions and societies, and the appointment by Governors of State Delegates in those States where there are no State Boards

of Charities.

V. DUTIES OF COMMITTEES.

The Executive Committee shall be the President's Advisory Board, and shall hold the powers of the Conference in the interim between the meetings.

The Local Committee shall make all necessary local arrangements for the meeting, and provide funds for the local expenses, such as hall rent, salary, and expenses of the Reporter, local printing, etc.

Each Committee on Subjects shall arrange the programme for the sessions and section meetings assigned to it, subject to the approval of the President.

The committee are required to arrange their programmes so as to give opportunity to free discussion.

No paper shall be presented to the Conference except through the proper com

mittees.

VI. DEBATES.

In the debates of the Conference each speaker shall be limited to five minutes, except by unanimous consent, and shall not be allowed to speak twice on any one

subject until all others have had an opportunity to be heard.

VII. AMENDMENTS.

ted or amended at the pleasure of the Conference in one year to another.

I.

President's Address.

THE EMPIRE OF CHARITY.

BY ROBERT TREAT PAINE.

Alliance full of potency for present good and rich in augury of better things to come is cemented here to-day between workers in the noble realm of charity and students eager to shape the ambitions of their youth for the great career of life. Precious privilege to me to welcome these two forces into auspicious union. Energy and wisdom join hands. Workers and students, each conscious of mutual need, aim at a single glorious purpose. Wisdom guided from on high seeks the noblest ambitions of life, while the energies of devoted workers in all the paths of charity feel the need of wisdom. Only an alliance of these two forces can aid each to fulfil its amplest functions. Both must be united to grapple with the stupendous tasks of modern social life, especially in great cities.

Members of the Twenty-second National Conference of Charities and Correction, I bid you welcome, and in your name offer hearty thanks to our hosts in this city renowned for noble culture and triumphant physical prowess.

Unable to meet with you last year at Nashville, when you ventured perhaps for the first time outside the high officers of State Boards of Charities to elect me only a volunteer to this honored office, I thank you from my heart, daring to believe that it sets the seal of your approval on my work in charity since, a quarter of a century ago, in the belief that this life on earth only came to us once and was too precious to be wasted, I abandoned business in the hope to aid a bit in the struggle to make things a little brighter in the neighborhood where my lot was cast.

May I speak one word out of my own experience to declare the

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