Letter concerning resolutions being voted on concerning the National Educational Association

Cox, Edwin B.

Elson, W. H.

Kendall, C. N.

Oldt, F. T.

Rankin, A. W.

English

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Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU Reports of the Secretary to the President Student Affairs President’s Correspondence, 1900-1907 William J. Kerr 1-1-1904 Letter from W. H. Elson, Edwin B. Cox, C. N. Kendall, F. T. Oldt, and A. W. Rankin W. H. Elson Special committee of Department of Superintendence Edwin B. Cox Special Committee of Department of Superintendence C. N. Kendall Special Committee of Department of Superintendence F. T. Oldt Special Committee of Department of Superintendence A. W. Rankin Special Committee of Department of Superintendence Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/kerr_reports Recommended Citation William Kerr papers, University Archive, 03p01s04d02Bx002Fd14 (National Education Association, 1902-1903) This National Education Association, 1902-1903 is brought to you for free and open access by the William J. Kerr at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reports of the Secretary to the President Student Affairs President’s Correspondence, 1900-1907 by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. ~-lr~Ji&z < To the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association and to the National Council. Gentlemen: The acceptable duty was laid upon us by the Department of Superintendence, February 24, 1904 , of formally apprising you of its adoption of the two iollowiug resolutions, and of respedfully asking your concurrence in them. Resolved 1.-That the Department of Superintendence approves the first of the resolutions addressed to it by the State Teachers' Associations of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and respectfully requests the Board of Directors to appoint a permanent, self-perpetuating committee of thirty prominent citizens in different walks of life, particnlarly scholars and educators, and representing the various sections of the country , to he a d the movement for simplifying our spelling and to promote its interests in all ways which they find feasible and deem wise. Resolved 2.-That the Department of Superintendence approves the second of the resolutions addressed to it by the State Associations of Illinois, Wiscon-sin and Minnesota, and respectfully requests the Committee on Investigations and Appropriations of the National Council to recommend to the Board of Di-rectors, and the Department respectfully asks said Board to make, the appro-priation of $2,000 a year for five years, for the use of the above Committee, to be paid to it semi-annually, each payment to equal such a total sum as shall have been paid for the same purpose, within the preceding six months, to the treasurer of said Committee by any individuals, teachers' associations, or other oi-ganiimtions, the amount paid by the N. E. A. never to exceed $2,000 in any one year, and never to exceed the sum , contributed from outside ,sources during the previous six months . Permit us to C'111 your attention to the significance of the decisive vote of the Department on each of the resolutions, and also to the significance of the decisive similar action by the State Teachers' Associations of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minne. sota, and by the principals' associations in over 75 of our largest cities and towns, as Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Syracuse, Toiedo, Detroit, Columbus, Indianapo-lis, Springfield (Ill.), Minneapolis, etc . It gives us pleasure to present to you herewith a petition signed by 1,545 of our active members, asking you to comply with the requests of the Department of Superintenden<'e. We also present, in parallel column, the names of the 171 active members who oppose your taking such action. The vote thus stands over nine to one in favor of your complying with the requests of the Department. You will notice that while your petitioners pay into the N. E. A. treasury di-rectly, every year, about $8,000, they indirectly put in much more, as a large pro-portion of them are superintendents, who are the chief agents in securing the large attendance of grade teachers which we have every year. To facilitate your action in this matter we submit (on following pages) two different plans which have been suggested and carefully considered for organizing the proposed commission or committee. We submit them in a purely tentative way, merely as a working basis for your deliberations . While we hope to be heard fully when the matter is before you for action, we deem it proper to say here, that, in our judgment, the interests of the N. E . A. will be best conserved by a working or-ganization fashioned in the main in accordance with plan A. But we are not strenuous on this point, and we are sure that whichever plan you adopt will prove acceptable to the Department of Superintendence and to all your other petitioners. Respectfully submitted, (W. H. ELSON, Chairman, ($upt. Grand Rapids, Mich .) Special Committee of I EDWIN B. Cox, (Supt. Xenia, Ohio.) Department of Su- ~ C. N. KENDALL, (Supt. Indianapolis, Ind) perintendence I F. T. OLDT, (Supt. IJubuque, Iowa.) l A. W. RANKIN, (State Inspector of Schools, Minneapolis.) On behalf of our rei,pective State Associations . we heartily avail ourselves of the privilege kindly accorded to us of endorsing the above letter. DAvrn FELMLEY, (Pres . State Normal, Normal, Ill.) Chairman Illinois Committee on Simplification of Spelling. R.H. HALSEY, (Pres. State Normal, Oshkosh, Wis.) Chairman Wisconsin Committee on Simplification of Spelliug. J. F. MILLSPAUGH, (Formerly Pres. State Nor'I, Winona, Minn . , and Chairman Minnesota Committee on Sim-plification of Spelling. Now Pres. State Normal, Los Angeles, Cal.) C. W. G. HYDE, (Editor School Education, Minneapolis .) Chairman Minnesota Committee on Simpliti ca tion of Spellin g . RESOLOTIONS TO BE SUBMITTED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. Regular~n !i:i Q P. f,l[.,,Jlll.ONDAY,JUNE27, 1984, Library Half, Administration Building, ition Grounds, St. Louis . Whereas lhe Department of Superiutendence of the National Educational As-sociation, the State Teachers' Associations of Illinois, Wisronsin, and Minnesota, together with many other educational bodies and a large number of our active members and of other prominent persons, have memorialized this Board to create a permanent committee and to provide it with a limited contingent fund for the purpose of promoting and directing the movement to simplify our English spelling, therefore PLAN A Resolved 1.-That this Board hereby invites and constitutes the persons here-inafter named to be a Commission on the Simplification of our English Spell-ing, under the following terms and conditions: 1. This Commission is established to labor, directly or indirectly, with discretion and patience, and with persistence lasting thru generations, if need be, to induce our people gradu-ally, but as rapidly as wise and scholarly leadership may render pos-sible, to adopt such changes in our spelling as shall ultimately reduce it to a simple, regular, phonetic basis, so that all our words shall be spelled as they are pronounced, with one sound for each sign and one sign for each sound. 2. This Commission shall consist of the following persons, or of so many of them as shall accept their appointment within 30 days after receiving notice thereof. (A list of 30 or more persons, prominent as educators, writers, scholars, business men, etc., and representing different sections of the country, will be nominated for con-sideration by the Board as soon as this resolution and its constituent sections are adopted.) 3. The Commission shall organize by electing a president, a vice-president and an executive board from its mem-bership, and also a secretary and a treasurer, who may be members of the Commission or not. PLAN B Resolved 1.-That a permanent Com• mittee on the Simplification of our Eng-lish Spelling is hereby established as one of the activities of the National Ed-ucational Association under the follow-ing terms and conditions: 1. This Committee is established to labor, etc., same as in plan A. 2. This Committee shall consist of the following persons, or so many of them as shall accept their appoint-ment and become active members of the N. E. A., if not already such, with-in 30 days after receiviug notice of said appointment. (A list, etc., same as in plan A.) 3. The Committee shall organize by electing a chairman, a vice-ckair-:nan, a secretary and an executive hoard. The secretary need not be a member of the Committee, but he must be or become, within 30 days after his election, an active member of the N. E. A. The treasurer of the N. E. A. shall act as treasurer of the Commit-tee, and as such he shall account for all money placed in his hands for the use of said Committee. 4. The Committee shall be free to make its own rules for the conduct of its business, to determine its policy and methods, to invite, in the name of the National Educational Association, scientific, literary, and other organiza-Plan cA-Contlnued. 4. The Commission shall be free to make its own rules for the conduct of its business, to determine its pofa ·y and methods, to increase or decrease the number of its members, to elect honorary members , to fill all vacancies that may arise in its members9ip, to affiliate other organizations with it in its efforts and work, to become a corporate body and to hold and ad-minister bequests or other fonds for the best interests of the cause which it is created to serve, and to do any and all other acts which its judgment may approve as tending to promote the simplifying of our spelling. 5. The Commission shall keep a record of all receipts and disburse-ments, which shall be open to inspec-tion at all suitable times by any officer of the N. E. A. or by any reg-ular con-tributor to its funds. It shall make an annual report to the Secretary of the N. E . A. covering the general features of its work for the vear end-ing June 30, which report- shall be published at the discretion of the ex-ecutive committee of the N. E. A. in the volume of proceedings. 6. The members of the Commission shall serve without compensation , ex-cepting the one who may be chosen to act as secretary or agent, who shall receive an appropriate salary. The actual expense incurred by any member in performance of any service to which he was duly appointed may be reim-bursed to him. Resolved 2.-That beginning ,July 1, 1904, there is hereby appropriated from the current revenues of this Association, for the use of said Commission, the sum of $10,000, or so much thereof as shall be available after the regular expenses of this meeting are paid, and as shall never exceed the amount contributed from other sources for the use of the Com-mission, said $10;ooo or portion of it to be paid to the Commission in ten semi-an-nual installments, each equal to, but never exceeding, the amount contributed during the same period, as above in· ,licated. Plan B- Conlinued. tions to join with it in its work, to increase or decrease the number of its members, and to fill all vacancies that may arise in its membership, provid-ing that any person elected as a mem-ber shall be an active member of the N. E. A. or become such within 30 days after notice of his election. The Committee shall make an annual re-port to the secretary of the N. E. A. covering the general features of its work for the year ending June 30, which shall be printed in the annual volume of proceedings. 5. The trustees of the N. E . A. are hereby authorized and requested to act as trustees for the Committee on Sim-plification of Spelli11g, and to receiYe and administer gifts and bequests made in its beh11,lf. 6. The members of the Committee shall serve without co'llpeusation, ex-cepting the one who may be cliosen to act as secretary or agent, who shall re-ceive an appropriate salary, to be fixed by the Committee and paid from its fund . The actual expense incurred by any member of the Committee in the performance of any service to which he was duly appointed may be reimbursed to him from the funds of the Committee. Resolved 2.-That beginning July 1, 1904, there is hereby appropriated from the current revenues of this Association for the use of said Committe e the sum of, etc., as in plan A. 

Letter from W. H. Elson, Edwin B. Cox, C. N. Kendall, F. T. Oldt, and A. W. Rankin

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Letter from W. H. Elson, Edwin B. Cox, C. N. Kendall, F. T. Oldt, and A. W. Rankin

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