Chapter 91. To incorporate the General Education Board
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CHAP. 91.— An Act To incorporate the General Education Board. January 12, 1903.[[Public, No. 21](/us/pl/57/21).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.*, General Education Board.Incorporated.That William H. Baldwin, junior, Jabez L. M. Curry, Frederick T. Gates, Daniel C. Gilman, Morris K. Jesup, Robert C. Ogden, Walter H. Page, George Foster Peabody, and Albert Shaw, and their successors, be, and they hereby are, constituted a body corporate of the District of Columbia; that the name of such body corporate shall be General Education Board, and that by such name the said persons and their successors shall have perpetual succession.
Sec. 2. Object.That the object of the said corporation shall be the promotion of education within the United States of America, without distinction of race, sex, or creed. Sec. 3. Scope.That for the promotion of such object the said corporation shall have power to build, improve, enlarge, or equip, or to aid others to build, improve, enlarge, or equip, buildings for elementary or primary schools, industrial schools, technical schools, normal schools, training schools for teachers, or schools of any grade, or for higher institutions of learning, or, in connection therewith, libraries, workshops, gardens, kitchens, or other educational accessories; to establish, maintain, or endow, or aid others to establish, maintain, or endow, elementary or primary schools, industrial schools, technical schools, normal schools, training schools for teachers, or schools of any grade, or higher institutions of learning; to employ or aid others to employ teachers and lecturers; to aid, cooperate with, or endow associations or other corporations engaged in educational work within the United States of America, or to donate to any such association or corporation any property or moneys which shall at any time be held by the said corporation hereby constituted; to collect educational statistics and information, and to publish and distribute documents and reports containing the same, and in general to do and perform all things necessary or convenient for the promotion of the object of the corporation.
Sec. 4. Powers.That the said corporation shall further have power to have and use a common seal and to alter and change the same at its pleasure; to sue or be sued in any court of the United States or other court of competent jurisdiction; to make by-laws for the admission or exclusion of its members, for the election of its trustees, officers, and agents, arid otherwise; for the casting of votes by its members or trustees by proxy; for the purchase, management, sale, or transfer of its property; the investment and control of its funds and the general trans-action of its business; to take or receive, whether by gift, grant, devise, bequest, or purchase, any real or personal estate, or to hold, 769grant, convey, hire, or lease the same for the purposes of its incorporation; to accept and administer any trust ot money or of real or personal estate for any educational purpose within the object of the corporation as aforesaid; to prescribe by by-laws or otherwise the terms and conditions upon which money, real estate, or personal estate shall be acquired or received by the said corporation, and for the grant, transfer, assignment, or donation of any or all property of the said corporation, real or personal, to any society or corporation for any of the said purposes for which the said corporation is hereby incorporated, and otherwise generally for the management of the property and the transaction of the business of the corporation.
Sec. 5. That the members of the corporation shallMembership. be not less than nine in number and not more than seventeen, as may be prescribed by the by-laws of the corporation:*Provisos.*Minimum membership. *Provided, however,* That if and when the number of members shall be less than nine the members remaining shall have power to add and shall add to their number until the number shall be not less than nine: *And provided,* That noTrustees. act of the corporation shall be void because at the time such act shall be done the number of the members of the corporation shall be less than nine; that all theNonliability for debt. members of the corporation shall be its trustees; that no member of the said association shall, by reason of such membership or his trusteeship, be personally liable for any of its debts or obligations; that eachTerms of service. member of the corporation shall hold his membership for a term of three years and until his successor shall be chosen: *Provided, however,* That the membersDivision of service. shall be at ail times divided into three classes numerically, as nearly as may be, and that the original members shall, at their first meeting, or as soon thereafter as shall be convenient, be divided into three classes, the members of the first class to hold their membership and office until the expiration of one year from the first day of January next after the enactment of this law, the members of the. second class until the expiration of two years thereafter, and the members of the third class until the expiration of three years there-after, and that in every case the member shall hold office after the expiration of his term until his successor shall be chosen: *And provided further*, That in case any member shall, by death, resignation,Successor in case of death. incapacity to act, or otherwise, cease to be a member during his term, his successor shall be chosen to serve for the remainder of such term and until his successor shall be chosen; and that the principal office of theLocation of principal office. said corporation shall be in the city of Washington, District of Columbia: *Provided*, That meetings may be held elsewhere within the United StatesMeetings. as may be determined by the members or provided for by the by-laws.
Sec. 6. That all real property of the corporationProperty exempt from taxes. within the District of Columbia which shall be used by the corporation for the educational or other purposes of the corporation as aforesaid, other than the purpose of producing income, and all personal property and funds of the corporation held, used, or invested for educational purposes as aforesaid, or to produce income to be used for such purposes, shall be exempt from taxation: *Provided, however*, That this exemption*Provisos.*Restriction. shall not apply to any property of the corporation which shall not be used for, or the income of which shall not be applied to, the educational purposes of the corporation: *And provided further,* That the corporation shall annually fileReport. with the Secretary of the Interior of the United States a report in writing, stating in detail the property, real and personal, held by the corporation, and the expenditure or other use or disposition of the same or the income thereof during the preceding year.
Sec. 7. That this charter shall be subject toAmendment. alteration, amendment, or repeal at the pleasure of the Congress of the United States. Approved, January 12, 1903.