HTMC Birthday & By-Laws
HTMC was born on a Tuesday in 1910, in “the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce” in Honolulu. That means HTMC will be 114 years old this year on April 5th. For reference, the world’s oldest person lived to be 122 years old, and the oldest known living person is currently 117 years old.
To celebrate the Club’s “Birthday”, his month’s featured historical document is the:
“BY – LAWS” of the “HAWAIIAN TRAIL AND MOUNTAIN CLUB, INCORPORATED, 1929”
Although this eight page document is not signed, it is most likely written by the acting Secretary. The Club’s original Bylaws were adopted on Aug. 12, 1926, and amended in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1929.
The Bylaws consist of eight Articles:
- Duties of Officers
- Membership
III. Elections
- Meetings
- Committees
- Who’s Authorized to Sign
VII. Amendments
The 1929 Bylaws are surprisingly similar to our current Bylaws. In this article I will highlight several things I found interesting/noteworthy in the document. I encourage you to read the document as well.
Under Article I: “Duties of the Officers”, the Board of Directors “shall have no power to authorize during the fiscal year, expenditures … in excess of the Club’s income during that year.” Brilliant, a balanced budget!
Also under Article I, the Secretary had by far the most duties, some of which are listed elsewhere in the document. The Secretary’s duties included collecting all dues and monies, membership applications, making bank deposits, and being “responsible for the safe-keeping of all records, books, etc.” Alexander Hume Ford, credited with founding our Club, was the Corresponding Secretary at the Club’s inception in 1910.
Under Article II, “Membership” Membership was” limited to those of good moral character”. The “Initiation Fee” was $2.00 with Annual Dues of $3.00. There were three classes of Membership at the time:: “Active, Temporary and Life.” Temporary Membership was reserved for visitors to the Islands and the fee was $1.00 per month. The Lifetime membership fee was $100.00. Elsewhere In our files is a letter from 1923 proposing an Amended Constitution with two additional Membership classes: “Honorary” and “Qualified”. To become a “Qualified” Member of HTMC, one had to “have climbed on foot any one of the following: Mt. Kaala, Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa.”
Article V, “Committees”, lists eight Committees as follows:
- Schedule and Trails (5)
- Membership (3)
- Publicity (1)
- Clubhouse (5)
- Entertainment (7)
- Library (1)
- Auditing (3)
- Automobile (3)
The numbers in parentheses designate the number of members in each committee. Committee members were “appointed by the President subject to approval by the Board of Directors”. Page seven describes the duties of each committee. For example, it is the Duty of the Schedule and Trails Committee “to avoid hiking and exploring in forbidden territory.” Smart! The Publicity Committee was instructed to “give items of the Club’s activities to the Press and distribute the (hiking) schedule to members, hotels, apartment houses, steam- ship offices, and the Information Bureau.”
It is the Automobile Committee’s duty to “allow members to engage the car for private parties against payment of a fee.” The original party bus!
If you’ve read this far, thank you! For next month’s article, I will try and determine who the Club officers were in 1929. I will also attempt to locate an old photo of the club vehicle. Thirdly, I will try to find out where the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce offices were in 1910 when HTMC was founded because it was there that our Club was born.
Please remember to wish the Club a Happy Birthday on April 5th! And remember that we can live to be 122 years old(women) and 116 years old (men)!
