St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-04-05
BOARD OF TRADE.
An Important Subject Ably Discussed

An Important Subject Ably Discussed.
The monthly meeting of the Board of
Trade was held on Monday evening and
was a well-attended and profitable meet
ing. The bylaws were changed so that
the entrance fee is now So and the dues
So a ear, payable semi-annually. Pres
ident fde announced that incandescent
lights had been substituted for the arc
light in the room and that the Electric
Company had sent receipted bill of
$24 for the work. The following resolu-
ton was then unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the Board of Trade ten
der the st. Johnsbury Electric Company
their sincere thanks for the invoice of
lamps and labor which they have so gen
erously donated them through their pop
ular manager Mr.. Frost.
President Ide announced the following
standing committees for the year:
Man afactures, c. P. Carpenter, 7. 0.
DrouinT L. K. Hazen, R. w. Laird, Z. r.
Jenkins, real estate, X. B. Flint, B. G.
Howe, c. H. Marshall, Z. A. Richardson,
L. H. Farnham; legislation, L. D. Hazen,
]. {. Clark W. P. Smith; transportation,
H. N. Turner, Robert Mackinnon, 7. B.
Gage; municipal affairs, E. F. Brown,
Frank Walker, T. R. Stiles; arbitration,
James Ritchie, c. H. Horton, Vim. Hig-
gins; agricultural, E. A. Parks, H. H .
Carr, W. FL. Preston, G. w. Story, c. S.
Hastings, VIM. Higgins D. Carpenter
finance, Frank H. Brooks, A. L. Bailey,
w. S. Boynton; mercantile affairs, L. n.
Smythe, E. N. Randall, o. S. Abbott, c.
I. Bingham. P. A. Roach, J. S. Meigs, c.
A: Stanley, A. B. Noyes, G. H. Bagley
village Improvement, the directors.
J.W. Sault and L. J. Eldridge joined the
organization. The latter was elected
secretary and treasurer to fill the yacan-
cies caused by the designations of o. H.
Henderson as corresponding secretary,
E. A. Silsby as recording secretary and J.
B. Gage as treasurer 1t was also an d.
nounced that Mr.. Eldridge had rented
the office in these rooms for his insurance
business.
The special business Of the evening was
the discussion of the following subject:
Resolved, That our trustees should
exercise the supervision accorded them
by our charter over the erection of build
ings in this village"
The hremen's view was presented by
Chief Underwood He urged the impor-
tance of having the buildings inspected
by competent man during their con-
struction to make them nearer fireproof.
Among the lessons drawn from the burn
ing otsphe Pythian block was the fact
that Southern pine was very inhammable,
that the building was not cut off at the
floors, the the fire alarm system was in
poor shape and more boxes were needed.
he urged the Importance OF choosing COM
petent tre wardens. department to be
successful needed plenty OF water, good
apparatus and plenty of encouragement
from the citizens.
George P. Moore presented the insurers
view by reading extracts from prominent
underwriters. All agreed that veneered
buildings were a poor risk and most OF
them rated them below frame building.
One underwater wrote that there were
more veneered buildings in St. Johnsbury
than in any other town OF its size in the
country and another wrote that his
company declined, as a rule, to insure
veneercd blocks. Mr.. Moore pointed out
the fact that the public pay the losses in
the great fires, while the insurance COM
panles are only the machines for handling
the money.
Lambert Packard spoke from the arch
itect's standpoint. He said he ALWAYS
III OnI ha 4
lngs and believed that if they must be
built they should be cut off at every floor
with brick or mineral wool. He thought
all the plumbing should beinspected by a
competent man and he also favored hay
Ing all plans of new buildings approved
by competent building committee.
The legalaspe of building restrictions
were clearly presented by Judge Smith.
he quoted freely from one of Judge Cool
ey's works and showed that the trouble
with most municipal corporations was
that their charter and bylaws did not
harmonic. The voters passed bylaw
that exceeded the limitations of the char
ter and the court decided against the cor
poration. He reviewed the case against
Mr.. Hale, where an injunction was asked
to prevent him building the Avenue
House so near the street. The village
were beaten in this case and also in the
more recent "hog case" against 7. C.
Gray. In both cases the bylaw under
which the suit was brought exceeded the
limitations of the village charter Judge
Smith believed the citizens could make
bylaw that would determine what ma
terlals should be used in building blocks
in the mercantile section, that would
govern the safety OF buildings and their
construction.
John c. Clark then made short state
ment explaining why the amendments to
our village charter were not granted by
the last legislature. The bill was drawn
and presented for a general law that
would apply to all towns, but this bill
did not reach the judiciary committee in
time to be reported back to the house.
Gov. Woodbury. appointed special com
mission and the bill will undoubtedly be
passed at the next session.