Mr. Hasbrouck: Perhaps, before this Convention adjourns, I ought to make an ample apology to my friend from Pittsburgh. I will say that 'Opkins is dead, and that question will now remain at rest. I have no objection, personally, to meeting in Pittsburgh. It is said to be a rather dirty city, but that was years ago. I take it that since our friend has had charge of things there, matters. are very much improved. A contemporary of mine, when I was a boy in a store, was told by the boss that under all circumstances he must sell the goods; that if a lady came in and wanted this or that thing, and he did not have it, he must ring in something that was pretty near it. A lady came in one day, and inquired for molasses. "Well," said he, have got some beautiful tar."

66

we are just out of molasses, but we [Laughter.]

The President: We are very grateful to our friend from Pittsburgh for the kind invitation to meet in that city two years hence.

A VOTE OF THANKS TENDERED TO WASHINGTON
COMPANIES.

Mr. Woodworth: I move that the thanks of the Convention be tendered to the Washington street-railway companies for their kind hospitality to the delegates of this Association.

The President: You have heard the motion. It is a most proper one. All gentlemen who are in favor of this will please manifest it by rising. The vote was unanimous.

Mr. Hurt I desire, on the part of the street-railways of Washington, to say that we regret exceedingly that we have not been able to provide an entertainment commensurate with the intelligence and dignity of the Association. [Applause.]

DISCUSSION RESUMED RELATIVE TO THE ADMISSION OF SUPPLY MEN TO ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP.

Mr. Thompson: Mr. Chairman, there has been some misunderstanding respecting the resolution made last year in giving the gentlemen who furnish supplies to our railroads admission to this Association. There was certainly a misunderstanding, because Mr. Lewis, who was one of the Executive Committee, did not understand that they were to be admitted only to the banquet at an expense of ten dollars each. Notwithstanding the action of the Executive Committee, I now make a resolution that the By-Laws be amended, so that the gentlemen connected with the supplies of our railroads may be admitted to associate membership in this

Association on payment of the usual dues, without a voice in the meetings.

The President: The Chair will remind the speaker that it is necessary that such a motion be presented in writing and signed by five members of the Association; and by members is meant five railroad companies. Under the Constitution, the proposed amendment will have to take that form.

Mr. Wm. Richardson: We had better wait until the gentleman can reduce the proposition to writing.

The President: We will be glad to do so.

COMPLIMENTARY ACTION CONCERNING THE OFFICERS. Mr. Wm. Richardson: I would be pleased, sir, at this time, if the Secretary will give me his attention. With your permission, sir, I shall move that the thanks of this Association are eminently due, and are hereby tendered to Mr. Charles B. Holmes, the President of the Association, for the able and impartial and clearsighted manner in which he has presided over our deliberations at this meeting.

The Secretary put the question, taking a rising vote, which was unanimously carried.

The President: I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind consideration. I never presided over a body of gentlemen who all worked together to make everything so harmonious and pleasant as you have done; and I thank you for your kind co-operation. [Applause].

Mr. Frayser I now take pleasure in moving that the thanks of this Association be tendered to our Secretary for the efficient manner in which he has attended to the duties of his office during the past year.

The President put the question, which was unanimously

carried.

is

The Secretary: Mr. President and gentlemen-Certainly this a very kindly thing for you to do, to pass this, to a certain extent, gratuitous vote to thank me for the manner in which I have performed the duties of the offices of Secretary and Treasurer of this Association. The first year of my election I undertook the office, or both of them, with a great deal of hesitation. I feared that it would be too much, as young as I was, to undertake the Secretaryship of an organization which was so farreaching in its scope, and so extensive in its membership as this.

You approved my course as Secretary during the first year, and have re-elected me at each succeeding annual meeting, thus putting upon my course the seal of your approval. I have been honored, and I wish to express that with the deepest feelings of my heart; I have been honored in the position which I have held as the only continuing officer of this Association until now; and at this time I am especially grateful for this re-election, for reasons well known to you all, and of which I need say nothing more. I said at the outset that this resolution on your part was gratuitous. I meant by that simply this, that as the paid officer of the Association such action was unlooked for; nevertheless, it is doubly grateful, in that you have gone out of your way to pass such a resolution for me. I appreciate it most heartily, and shall in the future-in the year to come, serve you, I trust, as faithfully as I have tried to do my duty in the past. [Applause.]

The President: While we are waiting the Chair will take the opportunity to say that there are some things in this world which money cannot pay for. As the presiding officer of this Association, having been brought into intimate connection with the Secretary of the Association during the past year, and having had opportunity for my eyes to be opened to the volume of work which he has had to do, the delicate questions with which he has had to deal, the difficult problems he has had to solve, I say that he, more than any other man in this Association, has wrought and worked for the advancement of the Association; upon him has rested the burden of our work and the development of the organization. I will say to you, gentlemen, that we are under a great debt of gratitude to our Secretary for the able manner in which he has managed our affairs. Personally I am under great obligations to him for taking the laboring oar and pulling us through the year as well as he has. [Applause.]

The President: Mr. Thompson has properly prepared the amendment in writing, and the Secretary will read it.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT RELATIVE TO ASSOCIATE

MEMBERSHIP.

The Secretary read the proposed amendment, as follows:

Be it Resolved, That the Constitution and By-Laws be amended so as to permit manufacturers and dealers in street-railway supplies to become associate members of the Association, on the payment of the membership fee of twenty-five

dollars, and the annual dues assessed active members, it being understood that said associate members shall have no voice in the deliberations of the Association, except by general consent, and under no conditions shall they be permitted to vote upon any matters before the Association.

H. M. THOMPSON,

Secretary, Brooklyn City Railroad Company.

GEORGE W. LINCH,

Vice-President, Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad Company.

W. H. DELANY,

Superintendent, North and East River Railroad.

GEORGE W. VAN ALLEN,

President, New Williamsburgh and F. R. R. Co.

CHAS. Y. BAMFORD,

Treasurer, City Railway Co., Trenton.

WM. N. MORRISON,

Bushwick Railroad.

The President: The amendment having been presented in proper form, it will be the province of the Association to vote upon it at the meeting one year from now. Under the Constitution and ByLaws that is the course which the motion will take. The Secretary will preserve the amendment safely, and present it at the meeting next October.

Mr. Wm. Richardson: I should like to ask a question at this time, with reference to that subject, which is somewhat puzzling my own mind.

The President: The question is in order.

Mr. Wm. Richardson: It is this. In what respect, if that amendment is adopted, will it put these gentlemen in any different position from what they now occupy? If I understand rightly, our meetings are open, not merely to the delegates, but to every respectable man who chooses to come in and sit with us. Several have spoken to-day on the electrical and other questions who were not representatives of the members of the Association, thereby occupying the position of debate. This resolution limits these associate members to the right only to speak on any question by the consent of the Association, a privilege which they now enjoy to the fullest extent; and the resolution very positively says that they shall have no right to vote on any question under any circumstances. In what respect, I ask, will it put them in any different position from that which they now hold, and which they may hereafter occupy? I have not made up my mind how to vote on this question, one way or the other; but this is a question that in all

seriousness I ask; for I fail to see how the passage of the amendment will change the position of the gentlemen concerned from that which they now occupy.

The President: The Association will be pleased to hear from any gentleman who will throw light upon this question.

Mr. Atwell: Would it be in order, Mr. Chairman, to move to refer this matter to the Executive Committee ?

The President: No, sir; for the reason that it has been presented to the Convention as an amendment to the Constitution and By-Laws, and will come before the next meeting for definite action.

Mr. Littell: It is necessary, under the By-Laws, that this amendment should go to the Executive Committee.

Mr Frayser: I was just going to say that under the By-Laws all amendments must go to the Executive Committee; and if the Executive Committee decides that the subject is not germane, we could not receive it.

The President: That is true, so far as concerns the By-Laws ; but as I understand it, the Constitution, which provides for the membership of the Association, states that the membership shall consist of street-railway companies, and not of individuals. This section would be very materially affected by this amendment; and in section four of the Constitution it is provided that "this Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at a regular meeting, after the proposed amendment shall have been submitted, in writing, at the preceding regular meeting, and a copy sent to each of the members." This amendment proposes a radical change in the whole Constitution of this Association. It proposes to bring in individuals who are engaged in a particular line of business, and make them members of this Association, which has, up to this time, been composed solely of railroad companies and not of individuals. Therefore, it is a radical change in the foundation principles of the Association; and for that reason it will have to be acted upon and receive a two-thirds vote of the members of the Association, that is to say, the railroad companies which are members of the Association, at the next regular meeting, after a notice of the proposed amendment has been sent to every railroad company that is a member of the Association. It is perfectly proper that the Executive Committee should take up the matter, and make such recommen