1. There shall be three classes of membership, to be known as active, corresponding, and honorary.
2. Active members only, except as hereinafter provided, shall be members of the Corporation.
3. Elections to active membership shall be made by the Council, and the affirmative votes of at least four-fifths of the members present and voting shall be necessary to election.—Nominations, in the form of a recommendation, shall be made in writing by at least two members of the Club and forwarded to the Recording Secretary. Notice of such nominations shall be sent to all active members, who shall have two weeks from the date of mailing in which to express to the Council their objections, and no person shall be admitted to membership against the written protest of ten members of the Club.
4. Corresponding members may be elected from among persons distinguished in the fields of mountaineering, exploration, and geographical science, or for public spirit in the conservation of natural resources or in other interests of which the Club is an exponent. Their election shall be in the manner prescribed for that of active members, except that the names of candidates shall first be submitted to a special committee.—Honorary members, not to exceed twenty-five in number, may be elected in the same manner from among the Corresponding members.—Corresponding and Honorary members shall not be members of the Corporation, unless they were such at the time of their election, and shall not be subject to any fees or liabilities whatever.
5. The annual dues shall be four dollars, payable January first. Each candidate elected to active membership shall pay an admission fee of eight dollars, and on such payment shall be exempt from the annual dues of the current year.—The admission fee and annual dues of members under twenty-one years of age shall be half the above rates.—Members elected later than September of any year shall be exempt from annual dues of the year following.—Persons elected to active membership shall pay the admission fee within two months of their election (which payment shall be considered to be an assent to these By-laws), otherwise the election shall be void.
6. Any person elected to active membership may become a life member at any time upon payment of fifty dollars, and shall thereafter be subject to no fees or assessments. Such sum shall include payment of the admission fee or dues for the current year. Active members who have completed thirty years of membership, or who have completed twenty years of membership and have reached seventy years of age, shall become life members upon giving written notice to the Recording Secretary, or by vote of the Council.
7. Bills for annual dues shall be sent to all members on or near January first, and those whose dues are unpaid on April first shall have notice of the fact sent them by the Treasurer. He shall send, on May first, to members whose dues are still unpaid, notice referring to this article, and those in arrears on June first shall thereupon cease to be members, which fact, in each case, shall be certified in writing by the Treasurer to the Recording Secretary, who shall enter it of record; but such membership may be revived by the Council in its discretion upon payment of past dues. The President and Treasurer are authorized to remit any fee sub silentio, when they deem it advisable.
8. If the Council by four-fifths vote shall decide that the name of any member should be dropped from the roll, due notice shall be sent to such member, who shall within two weeks have the right to demand that the matter be referred to an investigating committee of five active members of the Club, two to be appointed by the Council—but not from its own number—two to be selected by the member, and the fifth to be chosen by these four. In the absence of such a demand, or if a majority of this committee shall approve the decision of the Council, the name of the member shall be dropped, and thereupon the interest of such person in the Corporation and its property shall cease.