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National Fantasy Fan, v. 5, issue 4, June 1946

Page 11

vacated -- everybody knows that vice-presidents are not chosen as next-best choice for president. The next-best man should be a member of the board. Since the board can fill any other vacated office, they could do the same in case the president should die or resign. The v-p's third assigned function, that of voting to break a tie in the board, it is unnecessary because, first, there are five members of the board and if all vote there'll be no tie, and second, it's a parliamentary rule that on a tie vote the motion is lost. In short, the vipre is a superfluous man.

III-A-3: Why elect the secretary-treasurer? Does he have any discretionary power to speak of, or does he formulate policies? No; like the official editor, who is appointive, he is just a guy that has to do a lot of work. Let the secretary be chosen by the board after the election, and be responsible to them for the conduct of his office (they could bond him if they wished). The board at that time will know better who has some spare time (and the requisite ability) for the coming year.

III-A-3-b: Secretary preparing ballots led to confusion last year. Several dollars would be saved by sending out the ballots with the official organ, as fan organizations usually do. The editor, who is sure to have duplicating equipment, whiile the secretary may not, is the obvious official to publish the ballots.

III-A-3-d: This subsection requires that the president or four directors must countersign bills before the secretary can pay them. Maybe this does more good than harm (you'd have to prove it to me); but the point is that this sort of niggling detail in the constitution prevents the officers from experimenting and working out the best possible arrangements. These procedures don't come down from on high in the first place; they're very susceptible to improvement or change, and the officers shouldn't be forbidden to improve them.

III-A-3-d-1: I'm far from convinced of the desirability of bonding the secretary, especially if we're paying for a $250 bond when the treasury seldom reaches $100. Another example of the inelasticity of a detailed constitution.

III-B: This section, on the board of directors, mentions that the member receiving the most votes shall be chairman. It fails to say how the chairman's duties differ from any other member's, and in fact the person who is chairman has never acted as such. The president has been board chairman instead, which demonstrates the practical inutility of dividing officers into executive and legislative branches in a club like ours.

III-B-1-e: (Incidentally, the "1" is superfluous): This section on Order of Restraint and Temporary Suspension of Power is a fine example of taking as many words as possible to say a thing. This sort of wordiness helped make the constitution so long

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vacated -- everybody knows that vice-presidents are not chosen as next-best choice for president. The next-best man should be a member of the board. Since the board can fill any other vacated office, they could do the same in case the president should die or resign. The v-p's third assigned function, that of voting to break a tie in the board, it is unnecessary because, first, there are five members of the board and if all vote there'll be no tie, and second, it's a parliamentary rule that on a tie vote the motion is lost. In short, the vipre is a superfluous man. III-A-3: Why elect the secretary-treasurer? Does he have any discretionary power to speak of, or does he formulate policies? No; like the official editor, who is appointive, he is just a guy that has to do a lot of work. Let the secretary be chosen by the board after the election, and be responsible to them for the conduct of his office (they could bond him if they wished). The board at that time will know better who has some spare time (and the requisite ability) for the coming year. III-A-3-b: Secretary preparing ballots led to confusion last year. Several dollars would be saved by sending out the ballots with the official organ, as fan organizations usually do. The editor, who is sure to have duplicating equipment, whiile the secretary may not, is the obvious official to publish the ballots. III-A-3-d: This subsection requires that the president or four directors must countersign bills before the secretary can pay them. Maybe this does more good than harm (you'd have to prove it to me); but the point is that this sort of niggling detail in the constitution prevents the officers from experimenting and working out the best possible arrangements. These procedures don't come down from on high in the first place; they're very susceptible to improvement or change, and the officers shouldn't be forbidden to improve them. III-A-3-d-1: I'm far from convinced of the desirability of bonding the secretary, especially if we're paying for a $250 bond when the treasury seldom reaches $100. Another example of the inelasticity of a detailed constitution. III-B: This section, on the board of directors, mentions that the member receiving the most votes shall be chairman. It fails to say how the chairman's duties differ from any other member's, and in fact the person who is chairman has never acted as such. The president has been board chairman instead, which demonstrates the practical inutility of dividing officers into executive and legislative branches in a club like ours. III-B-1-e: (Incidentally, the "1" is superfluous): This section on Order of Restraint and Temporary Suspension of Power is a fine example of taking as many words as possible to say a thing. This sort of wordiness helped make the constitution so long 11