ARTICLE VII. MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. General qualifications. Membership in the National Beef Council shall consist of associations, firms, corporations, institutes, educational groups, and trade organizations engaged in or concerned with some phase of the beef industry, but whose objectives are in keeping with the scope and objectives of the council.

Section 2. Classes of membership: There shall be the following classes of membership: (a) Regular and (b) associate.

Section 3. Regular members shall consist of State organizations of cattle breeders, growers, and feeders, themselves alone or affiliated with other groups, with a principal objective as an organization to promote the sale and consumption of beef and beef products.

Section 4. Associate members shall consist of national livestock or agricultural organizations having a major interest in cattle production, feeding, breeding, or marketing.

Section 5. Membership admittance: Membership in the council may be obtained or granted in the following manner:

(a) Payment by the applicant of any membership fee as may be adopted by the board of directors for any classes of membership in which class any applicant would be qualified, and,

(b) An appropriate resolution of the executive committee admitting any applicant to membership in any specific class.

Section 6. Membership resignations: Any member of the council may resign in good standing by placing on file with the council written notice of such resignation.

Section 7. Membership record: The council shall keep a roster of members by classification of membership with the name and address of each member. Memberships shall not be transferable.

Section 8. Voting privileges: Certification of a voting delegate, authorized to cast a member vote, shall be made in writing to the secretary of the council signed by the president or secretary of the member making such appointment and shall be on file before the meeting convenes at which voting privileges may be exercised. Alternate voting delegates may be likewise certified.

ARTICLE VIII. MEMBERSHIP DISTRICTS

Section 1. For the purpose of facilitating the administration of the council and to insure proper representation, membership districts are hereby created, with the right in the board of directors to revise the same, as follows:

Pacific District: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii. Mountain District: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico.

South Central District: Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana.

West Central District: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri.

East Central District-Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey.

South Atlantic District-North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi.

New England District-Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.

ARTICLE IX. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 1. The board of directors shall be composed of certified delegates from the regular and associate members.

Section 2. Powers and duties of board of directors: The board of directors shall establish rules governing its own conduct and procedure and shall have such express or implied authority as is not inconsistent with, or contrary to, the constitution and bylaws and instructions of the membership. It shall have full supervision of the business and management of the council and shall report thereon to the annual meeting of members.

Section 3. Meetings of the board of directors:

(a) The board shall hold at least two meetings each year, one of which meetings shall be immediately prior to the annual meeting of the members and one meeting of which shall be immediately following the annual meeting of the members and such special meetings as may be called at a time and place to be designated by the president.

(b) A quorum of the board shall consist of not less than 10 directors. (c) Special meetings of the board may be called by the president or by 10 percent of the directors at any time.

ARTICLE X. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Section 1. Designation:

(a) The executive committee shall be composed of the following individuals, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum:

(1) Officers of the council.

(2) Five directors elected at large by the board of directors annually, at the first meeting following the annual meeting of the members.

(b) In the event of death, removal, or resignation, the president shall fill the vacancy for the remaining portion of the unexpired term by the appointment of a director of like qualifications.

Section 2. Powers and duties of the executive committee: The executive committee shall act as a governing body of the council between meetings of the board, carrying out the administration of the affairs of the council. The committees shall outline and recommend to the board policies and procedures of the council best needed and desirable for the promotion of the interests, objectives, and purposes of the council as a whole. The committee shall bear in mind the interests of the entire beef industry in their administration of policies and practices. (c) The initial executive committee members elected at the Denver meeting, April 25, 1955, shall act as incorporators of the council and serve as its governing board until their successors are elected.

ARTICLE XI. CATTLE AND BEEF INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Section 1. (a). The committee shall be appointed by the president in number deemed appropriate by him upon his election, to serve for his term of office from those State, regional, or national organizations or businesses representative of, engaged in, or connected with, some segment of the cattle and beef industry and who do not qualify as regular or associate members.

(b) They shall meet at the call of the president and serve in an advisory capacity to the officers, board, and executive committee on all matters in keeping with the purposes and objectives of the council.

ARTICLE XII. OFFICERS

Section 1. Designation, terms, and duties:

(a) The officers of the council shall consist of a president, a first vice president, seven regional vice presidents and a secretary-treasurer.

(b) Such officers other than the seven regional vice presidents shall be elected each year by and from the board of directors at its meeting immediately following the meeting of the members for that year and shall hold office for a term of 1 year.

(c) The seven regional vice presidents shall be elected annually at the same time as the other officers by the board of directors, with one to be elected from each membership district but only upon nomination to such office by the members of their respective districts.

(d) The president and first vice president can succeed themselves but once. (e) The initial officers of the council shall consist of those individuals duly named to such office by the organizing group adopting this constitution and bylaws, which individual shall serve until the first annual meeting of the members. (f) In the event of any vacancies the same shall be filled by appointment by the president.

Section 2. The president: As the directing officer of the council, the president shall see that its governing regulations are observed. He shall perform the duties consistent with such offices, having always in mind the welfare purposes and objectives of the council. He automatically becomes chairman of the board of directors and the executive committee and a member of all standing committees. Section 3. The first vice president: He shall act in the capacity of the president in the event of his absence, disability, or death and shall perform such other specific supervisory duties as may be assigned to him by the president of the board or executive committee.

Section 4. The regional vice presidents: Each regional vice president shall be responsible to the council for the organization of his membership district and shall assume the responsibility as the directing officer of activities in his district.

Section 5. The secretary-treasurer: He shall be accountable for all funds of the council and for all disbursements made, only in the manner approved by the board. He shall account for all financial transactions and make a full report thereof at the annual meeting and at such other times as the board may direct. His accounts shall be audited annually. He shall also serve as the recording secretary of the minutes of the proceedings of the directors duly convened and of the executive board and shall keep appropriate minute books for such meetings as held.

ARTICLE XIII. COMMITTEES

Section 1. All committees shall be appointed by the president with approval of the executive committee. Special committees to govern special assignments may be appointed from the membership and the cattle and beef industry advisory committee as required.

ARTICLE XIV. MEETINGS

Section 1. The annual meeting of the members of the council shall be held annually in the month of April of each year at a place and on dates to be designated by the executive committee.

Section 2. Every member of the council, through its designated representative, is entitled to be present and authorized to vote in accordance with the voting provisions herein provided for.

Section 3. Ten members in good standing shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business at any annual meeting.

ARTICLE XV. MANAGEMENT

Section 1. Management of the council and supervision of the attainment of the council's objectives shall be vested in a manager to be appointed by the executive committee. He shall be designated by title as the executive committee may deem advisable and shall be directly responsible to the committee, the board of directors and officers for his actions. His salary shall be determined by the executive committee and he shall be provided with assistants as may be authorized and designated by the committee.

ARTICLE XVI. EMBLEM

Section 1. An emblem shall be adopted by the executive committee for the council, symbolic of the objectives and purposes herein set forth.

Section 2. It shall be the goal of the council that such emblem shall be accepted by the beef industry and the public as indicative of the work and efforts of the council in bringing about a more active consciousness upon the part of the public and the beef industry in its entirety and of the validity and sincerity of the council's efforts.

ARTICLE XVII. AMENDMENTS

Section 1. Amendments to the constitution and bylaws not otherwise provided for herein may be made by the board of directors at any regular or special meeting to become effective upon the passage of an affirmative vote of a quorum of the board at such meeting.

Mr. SHORT. The National Beef Council, Mr. Chairman, was conceived because of the recognition on the part of the States that had formed State beef councils, that promoting beef in North Dakota, Wyoming or Nevada or wherever it might be, was not going to accomplish very much in changing national beef consumption.

We had to devise some means, some organization, some mechanism that we could reach to where the people that consumed the beef in this Nation actually were.

With that idea in mind, the National Beef Council was formed, as Mr. Collins told you this morning, at the recommendation of the American National Cattlemen's Association at their meeting in Reno, Nev., in 1955.

The National Beef Council was organized the next April.

The National Beef Council has represented on its board of directors a representative from all of the States that have State beef promotional organizations.

It has representatives from various livestock organizations, such as the American National Cattlemen's Association, that wish to participate and assist in the national promotional effort.

The income from the National Beef Council, sir, is very nominal. It is just in its toddling stage. It comes from such States as North Dakota and Montana, Florida, and Mississippi and some of the few States that are now making point-of-sale deductions that they have set up on their own.

It comes in the shape of some contributions directly in organizations in States that do not as yet have fund-raising programs in operation.

Our principal effort so far, sir, very unfortunately, has had to do with organization and, perhaps more specifically primarily, with removing the technical roadblock in the Packer and Stockyards Act that your bill deals with.

As we attempted to set up these fund-raising plans, it was a very simple thing to us in North Dakota, for instance, that we set up a Beef Council there a couple of years ago, and we said, "Well, how do we raise some money?" Somebody said, "Well, why can't some organization raise it?"

And here is an important point, sir, that I think must be borne in mind in this whole situation as to why there is a National Beef Council or why there are State Beef Councils.

We were attempting to implement a plan of fund-raising that was for a specific purpose. If any existing organization attempted to do that, for instance, our State Cattlemen's Association, on a State basis, the American Cattlemen's Association on a national basis or the National Grange or the National Farmers Union, the National Farm Bureau, there are a lot of people, for reasons of their own, that do not belong to those organizations. They do not subscribe fully to the philosophy of those organizations. They would not be apt to support financially a program that was controlled by those organizations.

We felt that a single purpose organization, whose sole job was to promote the product that these people were concerned with would have the support of all the people producing that product.

We have found, I think, in North Dakota that that is true.

As I told you when I was here before, there have been practically no requests for the return of this money that was collected. We think the same thing is true on the national level that all people should see fit to endorse a national beef promotional organization, all people that produce meat, all people that produce beef, I would say.

Very briefly, sir, that is the rough outline. If you want to ask a question of what have we done in the way of promoting beef, I would say very frankly we have done very little because we have not had the money to do it with.

We have been primarily concerned with getting an organization on a functioning basis and obtaining the mechanics of raising enough money to do some constructive work with.

Mr. POAGE. Let me ask you this: What will be your opinion, whether it is by law or otherwise, and I would hope it would be otherwise, if

we pass enabling legislation for voluntary checkoffs, as to the division of the moneys that are taken from such voluntary checkoffs between the National Beef Council and the State Beef Councils and the National Livestock and Meat Board?

Mr. SHORT. That is a very good question and perhaps, it has not been clarified enough, if at all, in this whole hearing procedure, both in the Senate hearings yesterday and here today.

I think, first, I should say that in every instance where the deductions have been made, they have made the same deduction for the National Livestock and Meat Board that was in effect before, with the exception that where they have included markets that were not making deductions for the Meat Board, they have included the deduction for the Meat Board on the same identical level.

Mr. POAGE. In other words, the Meat Board has gained?

Mr. SHORT. I cannot see, sir, but what they have. They have certainly gained in some of the States where they were not receiving any contribution before, certainly in North Dakota, where we were very concerned about protecting the Meat Board.

After all, we started the collections, helped them start the collections in North Dakota at the auction markets, where we are collecting this money now.

We went around with these auction people and convinced them they should make the collection, and at the present time we have been supporting it very much.

Mr. POAGE. That has been one of the questions in my mind that I cannot answer any better than you can. I cannot understand this argument.

Mr. SHORT. I cannot understand it, either.

Mr. POAGE. That it will reduce their income.

Mr. SHORT. It is simple to me. We are simple people in North Dakota. We just went ahead and did this. We are sending them the same amount of money on a per head basis, 2 cents a head was what they have been receiving; we are still sending them that.

You have a different point of view in different States. Some people might want to spend a lot more nationally. Our States, such as Wyoming, Nevada, which has a very small population, would want to spend most of the money inside the State. Maybe that is important.

But, as I pointed out in my remarks here a while ago, I think the individual back home who contributes this money, in order for this thing to live, has got to be aware of what is going on; he has got to be a part of it.

In North Dakota, every rancher's car in North Dakota has an "eat beef" sticker on it. You, perhaps, have seen some of them.

I should say we have distributed some 50,000 of them that have gone to every State in the Union. They have been put on every tourist car that we could put them on that went through North Dakota.

We have done innumerable things, I will not burden you with.

North Dakota now keeps 2 cents of the 5 cents that we are collecting within the State to use for its State program and to supplement the national program, and they send 1 cent directly to the National Beef Council.

Mr. POAGE. I very much appreciate that explanation of the work of the National Beef Council.

91840-57--13