TUESDAY, MORNING SESSION, APRIL 16, 1912. The Congress was called to order by the President General at 10.30 A. M., and was led by the Precentor in singing "America." THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Rev. Wallace Radcliffe will now lead us in our devotional exercises. DR. RADCLIFFE. Hear the Word of God, from the book of Deuteronomy, 11th chapter. (Dr. Radcliffe read the 11th Chapter of Deuteronomy, and offered the following prayer :) Almighty God, God of the nations, God of our fathers, we glorify Thee in Thy excellence. We bless Thee for Thy Fatherhood, and in the name of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, we glorify Thee for Thy good gifts to us and to all men. We bless Thee that Thou hast given us this land. We bless Thee for all its history, and traditions, and influence. We bless Thee for the large and wealthy place in which Thou hast led us. Thou hast not dealt so with any nation; as for Thy judgments, we have not known them. Make us patriotic. Help us to love the Lord our God, the God of our fathers. Let Thy great grace and goodness be with us in all our legislation, in our institutions, in the commerce and literature and pleasures of the people. Bless our land. Bless William Howard Taft, the President of the United States, and all in authority. Spare their lives; surround them with Thy love and providence; use them to Thy glory, that to these men may come more and more of Thy truth, Thy love, Thy righteousness, Thy law. Rebuke our indifference, our negligence, our rebellion, our selfishness; but in the fear of God, in the guidance of Thy spirit, in the love of Thy providence, help us to do those things that shall make manifest that we love mercy, and act, justly; that Thy day may be regarded; that Thy law may be written upon the laws of the land; that the indifference of the people may be rebuked, that peace and prosperity may be within our borders. We come to Thee at this time for Thy benediction upon this organization. We thank Thee for its life and its coming together at this time. Let Thy benediction be upon its President General and all associated with her in authority and influence, and upon all who meet here. Give them wisdom, harmony, kindliness, that in the counsels that follow they may seek the things that shall be good and for the general interest of the organization. Show through them unto our people a better thought and a larger service to the land and to Thee. We come with thanksgiving for thy blessing upon us in the night season. We have laid us down and slept. We have waked, for Thou hast sustained us. Sustain us this day. We come under the shadow and sadness of the great calamity on the sea. We bow before Thee, Thou who art the God of the sea and of the land. We hear Thee saying: "Be still, and know that I am God." Our hearts are sad. We pray for the great multitude who look with sadness and longing and fear and so many of them with despair. Disappoint their fears, Oh God. Comfort and help them in their distress. Out of all this calamity bring to us and to all upon the sea, the sense of Thy presence and the continued assurance of Thy love even in those things that are not joyous but grievous. Bless all today who are at sea. Give Thine angels charge concerning them. Bless these counsels today, and every day, and to all those here assembled and to their loved ones, grant Thy covenant of mercy and Thy constant loving providence, that grace, mercy and peace may be with them, and that we may be worthy of His grace, who hast taught us to pray: (The Congress joined in repeating the Lord's prayer.) (The Precentor sang "The American Hymn.") MRS. STORY. Madam President General, may I ask the privilege of the floor for a motion? THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Permit us to have the reading of the minutes now. The Recording Secretary General will now read the minutes of yesterday's sessions. (The Recording Secretary General read the minutes of Monday's sessions.) THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, you have heard the minutes. Unless there is objection we will consider them approved. (Upon motion of Mrs. Bryan, duly seconded, the minutes of Monday were approved as read.) THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, you are under the shadow of a terrible calamity that has visited many of the families of this country, and I think it is quite becoming that we offer some resolutions of condolence and sympathy for the people who are suffering all over this broad land of ours today in the sinking of the ship Titanic. I will appoint Mrs. Noble, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, Miss Janet Richards, Mrs. Lawrence of Illinois, and Mrs. J. Morgan Smith to prepare these resolutions and present them to this Congress. MISS PIERCE. Madam President General, I would make a motion that the flag on this building be placed at half mast in respect of this calamity that has fallen on the nation. MISS RICHARDS. Madam President General, I second that motion. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, it has been moved and seconded that the flag on this building be put at half mast. MRS. ORTON. Madam President General, a member of the Columbus Chapter, of Columbus, Ohio, was on that ship. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. I understand that the women and children have been saved and that it was the men who went down. MISS RICHARDS. Madam President General, just a question of information. How soon would you like your committee to report these resolutions? THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. They may be reported at the afternoon session. MRS. STERNBERG. Madam President General, may I move that the vacant seats in the Auditorium be occupied by the ladies who cannot hear, after a certain time in the morning. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, is it your pleasure that vacant seats in the Auditorium be occupied by the ladies who are standing and who cannot hear? A MEMBER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. South Carolina cannot hear. MRS. STERNBERG. South Carolina cannot hear. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Forty-five minutes after the meeting is opened, the vacant seats in the auditorium may be occupied by the ladies who are standing. Ladies, there are important announcements to be made by the Official Reader. (Several announcements were made by the Official Reader, among them greetings from the Andrew Jackson Club, Children of the Republic, Nashville, Tenn.) OFFICIAL READER. I am requested by the Chairman of the Credential Committee to say that the voting machines to be used tomorrow are now ready for demonstration in the Board Room. MRS. GUERNSEY. I beg your pardon. They will not be ready for demonstration until after the ticket is nominated tomorrow-when the ticket is nominated on Wednesday morning. All the rest of the day they will be on exhibition, and you will learn how to vote. Then the time of the voting will be changed to Thursday morning-all day, if necessary. The machines will be on exhibition after the nominations tomorrow. After the nominations have been made tomorrow and the list of names has been made up and printed, the slips will be inserted in the machine, and it will be demonstrated. OFFICIAL READER. I understand the voting will not take place until Thursday. Is that right? MRS. GUERNSEY. That is right. (The Official Reader made further announcements, relative to voting and State meetings.) MRS. DUNNING. Madam President General, we could not hear what the lady from Kansas said about the voting machines. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL, Mrs. Guernsey, the State Regent of Massachusetts says they could not hear MRS. DUNNING. What she said in regard to voting. We understood her to say that the voting would be on Thursday, but we think she must be mistaken, as the program distinctly states Wednesday. MRS. GUERNSEY. Madam President General, I have just been in the Board Room with the demonstrator of the voting machine. He said they have two machines and that if they commence voting on Thursday morning at 9 o'clock and keep the ballots open until 7 o'clock in the evening, they could all be voted in that length of time, and the total could be known five minutes after. He said it was not customary to vote part of one day and finish up the next. It would be impossible for you all to vote on Wednesday afternoon. MRS. DUNNING. How is our delegation to know this? How are the people who made arrangements to go Wednesday night going to be here to vote? MRS. JONES. The program has been accepted. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. It has been suggested that the program has been accepted, Mrs. Guernsey. MRS. DUNNING. That is it. Madam President General, I understand we have accepted the program as it was given out. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Is there any difficulty, Mrs. Guernsey, about voting on Wednesday according to the program? MRS. GUERNSEY. No; only the demonstrator said that he could not instruct the ladies how to vote until he had a sample of the ticket. If you commenceif you do not commence until Wednesday afternoon, it will be impossible to vote a thousand that day. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Why do we want any demonstration? Can we not go on and vote without any demonstration? (Applause.) MRS. GUERNSEY. He said it would be impossible to vote a thousand in one afternoon. MRS. FOWLER. Madam President General and ladies, I move that we vote immediately after the names are on the billboard and keep on voting until we finish if it takes until midnight on Wednesday. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, is that seconded? (Motion seconded by Mrs. Jones.) MISS RICHARDS. Madam President General, a point of order. I do not think the lady should include in that motion the words "on the billboard." I do not understand we are to have a billboard. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL, The nominations are made on the floor and the names are posted where the voting is going on. MISS RICHARDS. I wanted that information. Is that motion correct? THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. The names are printed. MISS RICHARDS. Printed on the ballot. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Yes; printed on the ballot. MISS RICHARDS. Then, I should move to eliminate those words from that motion. (Motion seconded by Mrs. Sternberg.) THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Couldn't they demonstrate with some fictitious names? Mrs. Guernsey, would that be possible-to demonstrate with some fictitious names? MRS. GUERNSEY. It could be made any time, Mrs. Scott. But it is impossible to vote over a thousand votes on two machines in an afternoon. MRS. LOCKWOOD. I would like to know if the business of this Congress is not going on exactly the same while the voting is going on. When there is a chance they go up and vote--when they have the chance, and then come back. I do not understand that the business is interrupted. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. The business is not interrupted at all by the voting, as I understand. MRS. GUERNSEY. The only thing about it is that there are only two machines. The machines only register so many an hour. It is impossible on two machines to vote in an afternoon one thousand people. If we had five machines or a dozen, it would be different. But it is never customary to run a ballot from one afternoon over into the next day. It is impossible for all to vote in the afternoon. That is all there is to it. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. There is a motion before the house. It has been moved and seconded-Will you read the motion again? MRS. FOWLER. I simply move that we proceed to voting immediately after the names are placed upon the blackboard MISS RICHARDS. We are not going to have a board. MRS. FOWLER. That immediately after the nominations, we proceed to vote, and vote until we get through, if it takes until next morning. THE PRESIDENT GENERAL. Ladies, you have heard the motion (motion put and carried), and the voting will proceed in the way indicated. Now, ladies, I will give you the names of the Committee on Recommendations of National Officers: Chairman, Mrs. Charles B. Bryan; Vice-Chairman, Mrs. Henry S. Bowron; Mrs. George S. Shackelford, Miss Sophie Waples and Mrs. William Libbey. (The President General requested Mrs. Bryan, Vice-President General of Tennessee, to take the chair.) PRESIDING OFFICER, Ladies, the President General will now read her report as Chairman of the National Board of Management. MRS. SCOTT. Members of the Twenty-first Continental Congress: I have the honor to report that regular meetings of the National Board of Management Special At each have been held in the months of June, October, February and April. meetings have been held in November, December, January and March. of these meetings I have been present and presided, except at the special meetings in November and January, when unavoidably absent. Many important questions have been discussed and settled at these regular meetings, and the growth of the Society has been recorded in the minutes of the special meetings. These you have received, reported in the American Monthly Magazine. That is, those of you are informed as to D. A. R. matters who subscribe for the magazine, which contains these records. Those of you who do not take the magazine should not complain of ignorance as to what is going on at headquarters and among chapters, as this is our official organ for the dissemination of such knowledge. The question of the Chalkley manuscripts has wasted much of the valuable time of the Board. Discussions in the Twentieth Continental Congress upon this subject were interpreted by your chairman as instructions to withhold arrangements for the publication of these manuscripts until proper examination by an expert had been made, and a report of the work of the expert given to this Congress for action. This report by a competent expert historian and genealogist, now ready to be presented to this Congress, will, we must hope, bring about final action upon this harrowing question. The Chalkley manuscripts have already cost the Society $1,600. If we have a gold mine in these papers, let us take action accordingly; if not, I pray you, let this Congress dispose of the matter finally, so far as the National Society is concerned, by definite action duly recorded. I beg to call your especial attention to action taken on three points: The appointment-on recommendation of the Historian General-of a National Committee on Historical Research, composed of each of the Chapter Historians of the Society-a Committee of which the Historian General, Mrs. Bassett, is the Chairman. The work proposed has been fully outlined in the report of the Historian General, to be found in the March number of the American Monthly Magazine. This plan, if loyally adhered to, will result in the collection and formation of the most valuable and authentic genealogical and historical Bureau of Records on the continent; and this is to be the property of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. Your Chairman cannot too urgently emphasize the importance of loyal adherence to this plan, which the National Board of Management has endorsed, and presents to you for your most cordial and hearty co-operation. Your Chairman would also respectfully ask your endorsement of her appointment of a National Committee to be known as the Committee on "International Peace Arbitration." The first work of this Committee is to be in behalf of the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of peace among English-speaking peoples by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. This Committee does not deal with government treaties, but is designed to foster, especially among the children and youth of the land, a sentiment opposed to the "organized murder" which Sir General BadenPowell characterizes as war. A generation trained to abhorrence of sheer brute force-through the influence and by the teaching of our seventy thousand Daughters of the American Revolution-can not fail to make itself felt, in the interest of the higher ideals, |