proud of the National Constitution as a child is walking along by its mother.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. This discussion is all out of order. Mrs. KING. I was just going to ask if this is not out of order? Does not this come under the head of business for next year?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. The question is in order but the debate is all out of order. The Chair desires to make this statement. You are assembled here in Congress. This matter should not be thrown upon the National Board. It is for you to decide and interpret this question now, and the motion is before you.

READER. "That this Congress decide the question as to whether a Chapter may or may not have a Constitution as well as By-Laws, provided that said Constitution conform and in no way conflict with our National Constitution." (Cries of "Question.")

PRESIDENT GENERAL. Question is called for; are you ready for the question?

Mrs. WHITE, of Massachusetts. Is this retroactive, obliging those who already have been unfortunate enough to start thinking they were doing right, will it oblige us to destroy those things when they are not in conflict at all with the National Constitution?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. This is for the Congress to decide. The question now is whether you wish to decide this question. All in favor will please say "aye;" opposed, "no." It is carried. This was simply an order that the house should do it.

Mrs. CRESAP. I moved that the house decide this question. Dr. MCGEE. I move, for the sake of bringing this before the house, that Chapters be authorized to have Constitutions as well as By-Laws; that the Constitution be interpreted to mean that Chapters may have Constitutions as well as ByLaws.

Seconded by Mrs. Peck, of Iowa.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. Will the house please be quiet while we listen to this motion?

READER. "That the Constitution be construed to mean that

1

Chapters may have Constitutions as well as By-Lawa"-Dr. McGee.

Mrs. THOMAS. I offer as an amendment that the Chapters be allowed to have Constitutions, because how in any way can this resolution be interpreted to mean in that way? "The local Chapters may enact By-Laws for their own government in harmony with the Constitution of the National Society." How can that be questioned and interpreted to mean that they have Constitutions? Why not introduce a resolution allowing the Chapters to have Constitutions? It simplifies it. I move the amendment.

Miss FORSYTH. I wish to ask a question. For what purpose do Chapters need Constitutions, other than that of the National Society? [Applause.]

Mrs. FOWLER, of Massachusetts. Ladies of the Eighth Continental Congress, there are articles in the Constitution which more vitally affect us, on which we should spend our time. I see no reason why we need a Constitution. We have the National Constitution. I was told when I formed my Chapter of 60 charter members, that we could have no Constitution, except the National. I sent a short time ago for 150 copies of the National Constitution, anl placed it in the hands of my members and said, "This is your Constitution." I covered everything else in the By-Laws.

Mrs. BURDETTE, of Vermont. We have a Constitution in all our States, and supposing that every town in the State should have another Constitution, I don't see any reason why the Constitution of the Board and our National Society is not proper and right for every Chapter, and then we act under one rule. [Applause.] If we should have a Constitution in every town in our State, how would the Government get along?

Mrs. ROBERTS. I would like to say a word by way of illustration. I stand here as the head of an organization of between twenty and twenty-three thousand women and girls who extend all over this country in what are called branches. I refer to the Girls' Friendly Society of America. [Applause.] In that organization we have branches in every part of the United States. We have a National Constitution, the Constitution of

the Central Council, which is formed exactly as this is, by sending representative women to do the work, fully accredited, and no branch in our organization ever has asked to have a Constitution. They all have By-Laws, and by our interpretation, which I regard as the interpretation of all the manuals which I have ever seen, the By-Laws can be made just as binding upon the Chapter or upon the organization which has framed it, as any Constitution that possibly could be framed. Every legislative body holds it in its own hand to make its rulings as binding or as elastic as it chooses. In the State of Pennsylvania we have recently formed a State conference which meets annually. I said, "Ladies we cannot meet without a few simple rules by which to be guided, but they must not be called Constitution, they must not be called By-Laws, they must in every sense of the word be as elastic as possible, simply to hold us, simply that we may come here and not disintegrate." And so we made those rules and called them simply rulings, a few rules were brought together. I only stand here to say that I am at issue with the speaker who said that By-Laws were not as binding as the Constitution, or rather, whom I understood to say so. I have found from experience that sometimes as we are understood we do not intend to speak.

Mrs. BELDEN. The State Regent of New York would like to endorse every word that the State Regent of Pennsylvania has just said.

Mrs. GIST. As Regent of a Chapter of over seventy members, I wish to say that we have formed a succession of ByLaws, all in accordance with the Constitution. In over four years of existence we have found nothing to conflict with that Constitution that we would like to have. We have tied ourselves so tightly with some of the By-Laws that we are at almost every meeting trying to cut them off and make them easier. I can see nothing whatever from my experience why we want any other Constitution.

Mrs. WALKER, of Illinois. As a simple delegate to the Congress, I wish to use a figure, with your permission. It seems to me the National Constitution should be compared to the body, the laws and By-Laws as amendments to the body. If these laws and By-Laws are in unison with the brain, the soul

of the body, they will not conflict but will act harmoniously and give it strength and vitality.

(Cries of "Question.")

PRESIDENT GENERAL. Previous question is called.

(Cries of "Question.")

Mrs. COLTON. Do you realize that you are all members of the National Society? Is not one Constitution enough? (Cries of "Yes!") The more you make, the more confused you will be.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. Previous question has been called. Do you wish to close debate? All in favor say "aye;" opposed, "no." It is carried. Are you ready for the question? READER. "That the Constitution be construed to mean that the Chapters may have Constitutions as well as By-Laws."

Dr. MCGEE. I would like to word that better; it was written hastily and simply in crder to bring the matter before the Congress. "That the Constitution of the National Society be understood not to prohibit Chapter Constitutions." I would like to substitute it for the other motion.

Mrs. CRESAP. The whole thing is, if the Chapter has a Constitution, it must conform and not conflict with the National Constitution.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. The substitute must be read, Dr. McGee's substitute.

READER. "That the Constitution of the National Society be understood not to prohibit Chapter Constitutions."

PRESIDENT GENERAL. All in favor of substituting this for the original motion will please say "aye;" opposed, "no." It is carried. This has been substituted and now stands as the main motion. Are you ready for the question? (Cries of "Question!") All in favor will please say "aye;" opposed, "no." The Chair is in doubt. All in favor will please rise. Does the house understand the question?

Dr. MCGEE. The motion before the house is, "That the Constitution of the National Society be understood not to prohibit Chapter Constitutions."

Mrs. MCCARTNEY. Would it be in order to speak to that and ask a question? I would like to rise for a question of information. What is the need of a Constitution?

(Cries of "Question.")

PRESIDENT GENERAL. All those in favor of this motion will please rise. Now, those opposed. It is lost. The order of business will be interrupted for just one moment, if the house has no objection. I would like to present to the Congress Mrs. Van Renssalear Strong.

Mrs. STRONG. I desire to present to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution the Yankee Doodle House, so-called, the Green Borough Manor House on the east bank of the Hudson, founded and built by the orders of the first Van Renssalear in 1642. As a descendant I am interested in its preservation from destruction and its maintenance for the public welfare and interest. I have already raised, with the assistance of a relative, my sister-in-law, Mrs. Schuyler Van Renssalear, some of the Shermans, and other persons, enough, with my own subscription, to pay down the one-third of the purchase price upon the first of May, which is $6,500. I am assuming the mortgage as on my own personal bond, guaranteeing its semi-annual payment until such time as it is entirely settled, assuming it to be five years. I shall also raise a restoration fund of $3,500 for its entire restoration, externally and internally. Then I shall spare no effort as time goes on to raise an endowment fund of $10,000, to which I shall devote all my interests in the remaining years of my life, in order that it may not be a burden to those whom I ask to take care of it eventually. Our desire is to place the title in the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution with a clause, if they will accept it, that the New York City Chapter shall have the charge of its maintenance. It does not come before the Society in any respect as an enterprise. It has a powerful backing of interest, and I trust that as Mrs. Manning has already said, the Yankee Doodle House, where those lines of doggerel in the beginning were written, yet which were taken up by the patriotic spirit of 1776 and sung, and which have led our country lads to victory so many times-I trust that they will ring throughout the country from Maine to Florida, and that the National Society will take a deep interest and smile upon our efforts with encouragement, and will give it the seal of encourage