Verhovayak Lapja, 1943. július-december (26. évfolyam, 26-53. szám)

1943-07-29 / 30. szám

Uly 29, 1943

IIINUTES - -MINUTES OF THE DISTRICT MEETING OF DISTRICT 31, HELD IN NEW YORK. CITY, JULY 11, 1943.

Verhovayak Lapja.

Meeting was called to order y the President of the District [r. Michael Batar, of Trenton, . J. at 11:15 o’clock. After a lost welcoming speech and the ood wishes of the District lanager who conveyed the ospitality of New York City D the assembled delegation the íeeting was in order.

The credentials of the following istrict delegates were presented nd found in order.

Delegate ' Branch No-Michael Batar______ 417

Edward Lukacs _____ 417

Albert B. Ari ______ 417

Helen Balogh ______ 444

Elizabeth Soos______ 400

Michael Puskas_____ 518

Adam Simon, Jr.__ 518

Louis Antal, Jr.____ 425

Thomas Vaught_____ 394

James Siket, Jr.______ 394

This delegation authorizes ten votes at the district meeting.

Immediately upon the passing the credential nominations were put in order for the election of D president and secretary for the next four years. The results of this election are the following:

President: Michael Batar, Br. 417.

Secretary: Elizabeth Soos,

Branch 400.

The next order of business was the recommended changes in the present By-Laws and Constitution of the Association. All changes were approved and accepted by the following:

Section 7, Title “Jurisdiction of the Convention” Strike out §. d) and insert the following:

"The election of the president of the Association two vice-presidents and the election of the Board of Directors the Director receiving the highest number of votes shall be first vicepresident, the second highest number of votes received will become second vicepresident. The first vicepresident shall serve as the chairman of the Board of 1 ’ Directors.”

Section 10. Title, “By Jurisdiction of the Board of Directors 5- k)

“With the exception of the Supreme President whose office will be filled by the first vice-president.

Title “The Election in the Districts”.

{5. d) — 7, pages 10—11, strike cut “the two Directors having the highest votes will be the two vice-presidents of the Association to read, “the Two Directors who respectively receive the highest number of votes shall be first vice-president and the second highest number shall be second vice-president.

Strike out — “with the exception of the Supreme President Whose place is filled by the elder of the two vice-presidents, to read, “with the exception of the Supreme President whose place will be filled by the first vice-president.”

The last §. in Section 23 on page 35 is to be omitted and the revised recommendation shall read as follows:

“A member may be elected to the above cited offices

if on the day of the election he has been a regular paying member of the Association.”

The beginning of the first §, on page 107, section 60 will read as follows:

“The Supreme President shall be placed under a $25,000.00 bond”.

Strike out: “The chairman of the Board of Directors.”

The above represents all the alternate desires of this district all remaining and unmentioned recommendations are approved and accepted.

Several motions and recommendations are carried by our national conventional delegates in addition to the above, as follows:

I. It is found that the perpetuation of our association depends upon the continuous increase of our membership and in order to establish permanent procedure in the acquisition of members the same rights and privileges shall be granted to the security of our field workers it is therefore recommended that the following be added to our present By- Laws:

CHAPTER IV. §. 19—should read — title, “Field Workers” Contracted Division Managers, district managers, and local organizers be appointed and contracted by the Board of Directors through the recommendation of the Home Office. These appointments be made according to needs.

II. It is requested in the effort of patriotism and saving of man working hours that the convention be limited to one week.

III. It is requested that all branch secretaries be placed under the jurisdiction of the Home Office, whose compensations shall be governed and paid by the Home Office, according to the membership of the Branch.

IV. The District Meeting as one man requests that the membership of the Association be continued in the American Hungarian Federation. It wishes to call to the convention by great need of the Federation and therefore instructs its delegates to exert every power within their means to attain this aim.

The election of the conventional delegates are:

Albert B. Ari, Branch 417,

Trenton, N. J.

Michael Puskas, Branch 518, New Brunswick, N. J.

Alternate delegates:

Adam Simon, Jr. Branch 518, New Brunswick, N. J.

Michael Batar, Branch 417,

Trenton, N. J.

The meeting voted their expression of appreciation to Mr. John Ballo, for the loan of

chairs used during the meeting, and requested the secretary to send him a letter of thanks.

The meeting also expressed its appreciation to the New York District Office for the use of its offices for use during the district meeting.

The meeting was closed at 5:30 o’clock by the president who thanked the delegation for their attention and good work.

Last but not least the greatest surprise which overwhelmed the delegation was the special dedicated program sponsored by Mr. Coloman Palangi of Radio Station WBYN. The delegation through the medium of these written minutes wishes to express its- appreciation and thank to Mr. Palangi for this beautiful token of esteem.

MICHAEL BATAR,

ELIZABETH SOOS, Secretary.

MINUTES - -District Session XXXII.

Meeting held át Hazelwood, Pittsburgh, Pa., Sunday, July 11, 1945.

The meeting of District 32 was opened by Secretary Emma E. Phillips. Immediately after the convening of the meeting a permanent Chairman and a permanent Secretary was elected by the delegates. John Sabo of Branch 395, McKeesport, Pa. was elected Chairman and Stephen Szabó of Branch 396, Perryopolis was elected Secretary.

The following delegates presented certificates of election:

Miss Emma E. Phillips, Branch 481, Bellevue, Pa.

Louis Kiss, Branch 409, Windber, Pa.

Julius Kovach, Branch 409, Windber, Pa.

Bert Priam, Branch 430, Homestead, Pa.

Mrs. Mary Robertson, Branch 430, Homestead, Pa.

William Mitrik, Branch 441, Duquesne, Pa.

Katherine Kovács, Branch 423, Pocahontas, Va.

John Sabo, Branch 395, Me Keesport, Pa.

Joseph Gyuran, Branch 370, Lynch, Ky.

Mrs. John Fulop, Branch 376, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Andrew Fay Fisher, Branch 376, Pittsburgh, Pa.

George Foley, Branch 495, Wjlkinsburg, Pa.

Stephen Balogh, Branch 439, Johnstown, Pa.

Mrs. Margaret Szabó, Branch 396, Perryopolis, Pa.

Stephen Szabó, Branch 396, Perryopolis, Pa.

' Mrs. Paul Zella, Branch 422, California, Pa.

Chairman John Sabo opened the meeting and the first order of business was the honoring of all Verhovay men and women who are now in the service of our country. The delegates stood in full silence for one minute in honor of these men and women.

The delegates first discussed the various modifications of the By-Laws upon which the Convention will act in September of this year. All the proposed modifications were read and action was taken. All the recommendations for modifications were passed by a majority vote v/ith the following exceptions.

1. ) The delegates voted againts the proposed change in Section 44, the second §. on page 92 — “buy or sell all securities with the consent of “the Supreme President”. The delegates voted to keep this exactly as the present By-Laws now have it.

2. ) The delegates voted against the proposed change after the first §. of Section 58 on page 105, wherein an officer of the Association would automatically lose his position should he be

ill and remain away from work for more than a year.

The following resolutions were suggested and passed by the delegates.

Mr. Andrew Fay Fisher moved than only American Citizens be permitted to attend the District Sessions as well as the Convention. The motion was seconded by Mr. George Foley. The delegates passed this motion by a majority vote.

Upon motion by Mr. Andrew Fay Fisher and seconded by Mr. George Foley it was recommended that at the election of the Chairman and the two Vice- Chairmen, one of the Vice- Chairmen be a member from an English-speaking branch.

The following motion was made by Bert Priam and seconded by Louis Kiss; “The Supreme President’s vote at the Convention will hereby be eliminated and from now on the Supreme President will vote v/ith the Board of Directors whp will be entitled to three votes to be cast by a director chosen by the Board; Supreme Auditing Committee one vote to be cast by a member chosen by the Committee; Supreme Officers one vote to be cast by an officer chosen by the officers and that they shall not participate in a vote taken in any question affecting their respective official actions.

A motion was made by Mrs. John Fulop and seconded by Louis Kiss that the Board of Directors be permitted to appoint the three members of the National Auditing Committee. However it is recommended that at least two of these members of the Auditing Committee be secondgeneration members of the Association. Further only those will be appointed who can qualify with proper educational qualifications. Further, it is expressly understood that the voting rights of this Auditing Committee at the Convention remain exactly as heretofore.

A motion was made by John Sabo and seconded by Joseph Gyuran that our Association should establish branches west of the Mississippi River, as for instance in the State of California or anywhere in the United States where we can depend on certain groups of people to establish and keep up the branches.

A motion was made by Mrs. John Fulop and was seconded by Mrs. Mary Robertson that to prevent the unnecessary transfer of members from one Branch to another Branch, within the same locality, the secretary of each Branch should be authorized. to collect dues from the members of either Branch. The purpose behind this resolution is to stop the unnecessary transfer of members from one Branch to another where in one family there may be members belonging to both branches. The dues from the members of such a family could be paid to the secretary of either Branch.

A motion was made by Miss Emma E. Phillips and was seconded by Bert Priam that the total membership of the Board of Directors be kept at twelve (12). We are opposed to any reduction in the membership number of this Board.

A motion was made by Mrs. John Fulop and was seconded by Stephen Szabó that children up to five years and in their filth year could be written up

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for any plan of insurance without a medical examination if the child is in normal health.

A motion was made by Bert Priam and was seconded by Julius Kovach that the Supreme Piesident alone should deal with the District Organizers. We are against Divisional Managers handling the District Organizers. The closer the contact between the head of the Association and the men who work in the field the more fruitful will be the results of their work and the more harmonious will be their relationship. The District Organizers should have the authority to appoint collectors and subagents either directly or upon the recommendations of the Officers and members of the various Branches. The District Organizer is in better position, than anyone else, to know the members of his territory and is in better position to see to it that only those members represent us who will devote their sincere efforts to the keeping of the old members and the solicitation of the new members.

A motion was made by Julius Kovach and was seconded by Mrs. Margaret Szabó that in view of the increasing difficulty in the keeping of our members, we urge the adoption of the Collector System. With such a Collector system, the Association will benefit immensely because it will be the duty of the Collector to see to it that the membership is kept intact. Up to now we have been rather lax in the keeping of our members. Too much stress has been placed upon the securing of new members at the expense of the keeping of the old members. With this in mind, the collectors would be urged to put the keeping of the old members on at least the same plane as the securing of new members. It is just as important for us to hold our old members as it is for us to get new members. Further, the Association should see to it that these collectors are justly compensated for their work. We would recommend that the Home-Office remunerate these collectors by turning over to them the semi-annual allotment which up till now has been turned over to the Branch. Further arrangements about remuneration can be made with the District Organizers in the event that the semi-annual allotment is not sufficient to compensate the Collector. j

A motion was made by John Sabo and was seconded by Miss Emma E. Phillips that we hold the Convention this year but recommend that the Convention time be cut to six (6) or less days. The Convention should be systematized and put on a business-like basis. Dilly-dallying should be frowned upon. For the privilege of holding the Convention we should perform our duties in as short a time as possible to permit the members to get back to their jobs so that the war-effort will not be injured in any way.

A motion was made by Mrs. John Fulop and was seconded by Stephen Szabó that any member of a branch may become a branch officer regardless of whether he belongs to the Sick Benefit Class and regardless of whether he has been a member of the • Association for a period of two years.