Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-01-22
BOsToN,s NEW CHAMBER.

| hOSION'S NEW CHAMHEHs
Comm reial Men Meet at the Ven
dome In Honor of the Opening Q
Their New Building Presiden
Harrison's Letter-An Address b
John J. Knox.
BosToN, Jan. 21.-The banquet of tn
Boston chamber of commerce at the Ven
dome this evening in honor of the open
ing of their new building, was attende,
by four hundred membere and guests
President Lamont G. Burnham presided
and among those in attendance were: Hon
8. NJ. Cullonn, chairman of the senat
committee on interstate commerce, Hon
John Jay Knox of the New York chambs
of commerce, Hon. Rufus B. Bullock
president of the Atlanta chamber of com
merce, Governor Russell. Hon. Thomas F
Bayard of Delaware, Mayor Matthews
| Collector Beard, Postmaster Hart, Presi
dent Choate of the Old Colony road, an6
others. After dinner the chairman intro
duced Governor Russell who, in thu
course of his remarks, said, referring t.
| President HARRISON and Secretary Blaine
"that whatever measures they may deem
| wise to maintain our national honor will
| receive the undivided support of this pa
| triotic old commonwealth"
Mayor Matthews welcomed the guests to
| the city, and then the following letter was
read from President Harrison:
"When your committee called upon me
to present an oral invitation to be present
| at the exercises connected with the open.
ing of the new building of the chamber OF
| commerce of Boston 1 said to them that ii
| would give mo pleasure to attend if
should find the condition of public bust
ness to be such as to admit of my absence
from Washington. I have since re-
ceived the formal invitation of yeu1
committee, and I regret that 1 am
now compelled to say that it will
not be possible for me to be absent from
Washington at the time indicated and to
express my regret that I am denied the
privilege of meeting with the merchants
of Boston on the interesting occasion of
the opening of the magnificent building
which they have erected. 1 am in full
sympathy with every movement and every
organization having for its object the
development of our home and foreign
commerce and the maintenance, in con-
neetion with our national finances, of a
safe, adequate and stable monetary
medium for the exchanges which commerce
implies"
The letter was received with hearty
cheers. Collector A. w. Beard was the
next speaker.
When Collector Beard had finished Sem
ator Cullom was introduced and spoke up
on the internal commerce of the United
States. In his spinion there should be q
department established for the sole pur-
pose of gathering for the public, statistics
showing the condition and growth of every
line of business. He gave facts to show
the wonderful growth of the country and
predicted that the Worlds Columbian fair
would perfectly demonstrate the most mar
vellous development of progress in com
merce and all that makes q nation great,
ever witnessed in the worlds history. To
adapt labor to the changed condition of bust
ness methods is one of the great problems
of to- day in the solution of which one of the
first steps to be taken is the asser-
ton of the duty of the representatives to
restrain corporations from an assumption
of the rights of confiscation by extortion
and unjust discrimination. Hon. Thomas
F. Bayard was the next speaker, and said
in substance: Your calling can best be
conducted by the principals of mutually
1t is an agency to bring together producers,
No man is debarred from any avenue to
fortune or happiness. Our territory has
been called upon to produce what it can
best, and free exchange has permitted the
currents of demand and supply to traverse
national domain. To this we can attribute
the wonderful advance of our country in
material prosperity. But the gathering
sounds of discomfort among our
agricultural population and dangerous
character of some remedies proposed
for our relief are to be carefully
is the overthrow of our present standard
of value, and the substitution of the free
coinage of silver at an arbitrary legislative
ratio, to be set up by this government
alone without the cooperation of other
nations and wholly in disregard of the in
trinsic value of the metal of which the
coins are to he composed. 1t would strike
blow against national honor and pros
perity, whose effects could not be esti-
mated. Existing legal regulations of for
eign commerce have brought about such a
congestion in The exchanges that the ex-
changeability of the products of our soil,
and consequently their salable value, have
been impaired. This has been intensified
by recent legislation against agriculturists.
who have become poorer, denuded by excess
i've taxation of their normal rights till the
market prices they receive barely cover
the cost of production and will not pro-
cure a comfortable livelihood. The cur
rents of public taxation have long run
against our natural industries. The ar
tificial industries have been stimulated to
the neglect and detriment of the natural
and our laws of taxation have been 80
controlled that an unjust distribution of
government aid is the result. Your for
eign commerce logically regulates the
prices and the action of domestic COM
MERGE. The speaker argued that to
unjustly tax imports restricted ex-
ports and impaired the obligation of COM
mercial contracts by preventing exporters
from entering into them. He then
said Being convinced the present rates of
taxation of imports are in many cases pro-
hibitive and in many cases discriminating
against the poorer classes and in the ma
jority of cases excessive, earnestly COM
mend to you the imperative need of tariff
information. Our farmers and producers
are deprived OF the exchangeability of
their products to which they are entitled
by the constitution under guaranteed free
dom of exports, and are compelled to ac-
cept reduced prices at home because they
are regulated by foreign rates. do not
wonder at their discomfort and sympa-
LulZo Will buolT
John j. Knox referred to his former res
idence in Minnesota and said: eff you
were to ask me to give the reason for the
growth of these two little cities (St. Paul
and Minneapolis) so rapidly into big pros
porous cities, should answer the men
who founded and peopled these two thriv-
ing cities were chiefly natives of Boston
and New York, of the New England and
middle states Some of you are possibly
the fathers of the founders of st. Paul
and Minneapolis. and perhaps few are
old enough to be grandfathers. The young
people in the northwest were thrifty, ener
getic Yankees. No other reason need be
growth of these cities"
Mr.. Knox stated that the residents of
Minnesota formerly received their -four,
oats and potatoes by steamboat from st.
Louis or by wagon from Winnipeg, to which
via Hudson's bay. The old residents were
soldiers and politicians, who did not be-
lieve that corn or wheat or potatoes
would grow so far north, so they did
But when the New Englanders from
Maine, attracted by the big pine for
ests, and the New Workers, Bostonisns
and others attracted by the prospects of
trade and speculation in land settled in that
country they soon found out the character
of the soil and its value and productive
ness The people of the neighboring and
of other states further east slandered the
young territory of Minnesota for years
with the cry that the upper Mississippi
to- ,o1J fa, aaun ~ TIT =