Letter, Frank H. Shoemaker to I.S. [Isador] Trostler, 1906, Mar. 18

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

321301c-0124.jpg

identifier/filename

321301c-0124

title

Letter, Frank H. Shoemaker to I.S. [Isador] Trostler, 1906, Mar. 18

description

Typewritten letter, 4 pages, from Frank H. Shoemaker to I.S. [Isador] Trostler, "It snows cries the school-boy, and driving o'er the fields seems nowhere to alight says Emerson; then issues forth the storm with sudden burst and hurls the whole precipitated air down in a torrent says Thomson..."

transcription

[1906, Mar 18]

I suppose you know about the plans of our august association for the
coming year. Instead of annual proceedings which we do not publish, it is
proposed to issue a quarterly publication, varying in size according to
the amount of money in the treasury at the time for printing. How does
that impress you as a policy of fourthawt? First issue, say thirty pages;
second, ten; third, fly-leaf; fourth, postal card. And what do you think
of the name - "The Kite"? May the wolf me bite if this the limit is not.
I see me quitting the job of Treasurer as soon as my term expires, for the
financial policy outlined is too wearing on my nerves. I don't mind tell-
ing you <u>in a confidential way</u> that I am utterly disgusted with the whole
business; I do not mind the work, but it is certainly discouraging to try
to collect dues from such an apathetic lot as our membership has proven to
be. Fully half of our members have had three and four notices of unpaid
dues and have made no response whatever, although in one of the letters ^ to each delinquished [penciled in right margin] I ^ fwd [penciled in right margin]
enclosed stamped return envelope. I find the most startling ignorance on
the part of some of the members as to their status; several claim to be
^[illegible] from members [penciled in left margin] "honorary" members and therefore exempt from dues; others claim to have
paid a year or two ago, and doubtless did, for the records are shot all to
pieces. An interesting feature of the business is that of about twenty-five
members and associates at Lincoln, seventeen or eighteen are delinquent from
one to three years, and they pay no attention to notices. The admirable
"local spirit" and the consequent sustained interest they have there does
not seem to affect the treasury favorably. I had supposed that Lincoln
was head and shoulders above us at Omaha in the matter of promptness; it
would seem natural; but on the contrary, Omaha members are in far better
standing, as a class, than those at Lincoln. I think the fault lies in
the indiscriminate way members were herded in by various solicitors; it
looked all right at the time they gave their names in, but the "sober
second thought" seems to have disposed many of them to hold onto their
money. Naturally, most of the members look to the Proceedings as their
"value received," and with no Proceedings for a couple of years it is
perhaps not surprising that the interest is flagging. I may be wrong, but
I consider "The Kite" as a miserable expedient, and I do not expect it to
succeed.
There; you have the "dope." I have no grudge against you, to prompt
this violent outbreak, but I think you are really interested in the situation,
and I wish to tell you what I think of it. Certain features mentioned
above I have of course not mentioned to Wolcott, <u>and they are given you in
confidence and for your information only</u>. I have written hastily and may not
have expressed myself quite properly on some points, but I think you will
get the main ideas.
As for your "Cut-off Lake" paper, I think Wolcott has it, and I
gathered from something he said last spring that it was not in the form
desired; that it was interesting and invaluable as a scientific list, but
that what was required was something of a more "popular" nature, which would
be good reading instead of valuable reference. The same criticism was made
regarding my paper on "Childs' Point". Please note carefully, however, that

date

3/19/1906

subject

Shoemaker, Frank H., 1875-1948

tablecontents/boxes/folders

Box 6

source/RG#/MS#

RG 32-13-01

isPartOf/Collection

Frank H. Shoemaker, Papers and Photographs

creator/photographer

Frank Shoemaker

rights

For copyright information, please contact the repository.

publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

language

English

media

321301c-0124.jpg

Item sets

Frank Shoemaker Correspondence - RG32-13-01

Site pages

Frank H Shoemaker, Letters 1906, March

Media

Letter, Frank H. Shoemaker to I.S. [Isador] Trostler, 1906, Mar. 18