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To All Members   -9-   October 4, 1941

Frankly, my recommendation is that the 1941 convention be dispensed with. In the first place, there is nothing really urgent to handle and, in the second place, the money that we will have save ($8000 to $11,000) will just about half pay the bill for the permanent home. In short, I am closer to the picture than anyone else in the profession and, everything considered, I certainly wouldn't like to see Headquarters burdened with a convention this fall. The officers are all elected and there will be no vacancies until next fall. The By-Laws have only been completed a few months ago to include the numerous changes recommended at the 1940 convention. In other words, the organization is a growing concern and what we need most now is to be left alone long enough to give us time to catch our breath and to do the work that we must do and do promptly in the best interest of all concerned.

No one will dispute the fact that it is a good thing to hold a convention every year, but during times such as we are passing through at the present, it is pretty hard to follow routine.

Aside from all this, the cold, hard facts in the situation are that the members have never given Headquarters a chance to quite catch up. It has always been a breathless race -- do this -- we must do that, endlessly. In fact, it is worse than a three-ring circus. It's more like pitching, catching, and playing first base all at the same time, with third base often thrown in for good measure.

Some have said that ALPA is a one-man organization. Without getting into a long dissertation about the pros and cons of this and for the sake of shortening the argument, let's assume that this is, in some measure, true. What is that one man going to do about it if his some two thousand bosses keep his back pinned to the wall so tight with work that he doesn't have a chance to do the things necessary to put the organization on a broader footing so that it will not be so dependent on one man?

The 1940 convention was one of the best. It left an unbelievable amount of projects to be accomplished. Then came the increased uncertainty of the war-adding, unbargained-for work from every conceivable angle.

Often there have been periods when not a day passed by but that the best interest and well-established standards of the line pilots were not in jeopardy and in need of continuous watching. To date, we have, since the last convention, gone through many a serious situation unscathed. In addition, everything else that needed doing was done and right now we are geared to the job one hundred percent, but to have to drop everything and hold another convention when there really is nothing for a convention to decide, and when it is so very important for Headquarters to not be interrupted, just does not make good sense. 

It has been suggested that the background history be compiled, showing what the Association has accomplished. We have started to do this, but again the answer is "time." Several years ago, we decided to start a book of accomplishments and record everything that Association accomplished for the air line piloting profession, but, believe it or not, this effort was soon swamped because the chain of events moves so swiftly that the keeping of this