Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-22
In Favor of Leaving the Rolling
 Mill Plant
OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS
An Immigration Commissioner Strongly AdvoCated-COm-
 mittee on Cotton Mills.

Yesterday afternoon the Ommercial club of Birmingham met in the club rooms with fair attendance, and matters per- taning to two weighty subjects were dis posed of. One was the exemption from taxation of the Birmingham Rolling mills and the other was in reference to the mat ter of immigration, which is such live southern question today.
 Inthe absence of President B. F. Moore Mir. B. Steiner presided, and MT. Thomp- son occupied the secretary's chair.
 The first thing brought before the club was the matter concerning the letting out of the city limits of the Birmingham Roll ing mills. This matter was discussed thoroughly at q meeting of the board of directors on last Friday, and the following resolution adopted:
 Whereas, The Commercial club has here- tofore pledged itsef-to- wit, at a meeting of the club held on January 5, 1s94--to re- quest law permitting the city limits of Birmin ham to be changed so as to leave the Birmingham Rolling Mill company out of said imits and
 Whereas, We desire to show our good faith in the action then taken, more espe- cially as said rolling mill company is pro- posing to make additional improvements to their property of great value to Birming- ham; therefore be it
 Resolved, That the board of directors of the club hereby express itself, as being the sense of this board, that law favoring the letting out of the city limits of the rolling mill property be passed by the legislature.
 Resolved, That it is the further sense of this board that the Alice and Sloss furnace properties should not be included in said bill, and the board of directors is opposed to these properties being included therein. The resolutions were read tbat vote might be taken, in order to either ratify or disapprove the action of the board of directors.
 Alter the resolution was read by Sec retary Thompson Mir. Dan Rogan moved that the resolutions be adopted and the action of the board ratified. The motion me, with second. Then Ex- Mayor Fox offered amendment to lay the motion on the table. The amendment was seconded. After some discussion he withdrew the motion 10 table and general discussion by members of the club entered into.
 Capt. WSvH. Graves began the discussion by stating Vthat he was in favor of keeping faith wiz the rolling mill people, because on Jan fy 5, 1894, a resolution was passed unanX sly iavorng the exemption from taxd the rolling mill properties. He argt t because they let out the roll ing hN at it didn't necessarily follow sIss snat ss ,ss sse and s'oss furnaces should MT. w. H. Wade followed Captain Graves, and said that the matter of keep ing faith with the rolling mill people looked childish to him and that it was treating the question from a sentimental rather than d business standpoint. He said it was a matter of fact that the rolling mill would not refuse to run simply because it was taxed, but, of course, if the taxes were taken off that such would be gladly accept able.
 MT. Burt Porter differed with the gentle man who preceded him, in that he thought it was right 10 keep faith with the rolling mill. He was opposed 10 making such con- sessions to he Soss and Alice people.
 Mai F. Y. Anderson then addressed the chair and said that to keep a promise showed manhood, and that while he was not member of the club when the 1894 resolution was adopted he would cast his vote in favor of sustaining the resolution. Mir, Rufus N Rhodes said that the con- tract between the club and the rolling mill should Dc kept. He thought the members were bound to stick to what they had done. MT. W. N. Nails took the floor aud said he was in favor of the resolution, in that the one of 1894 had been pas. ed by the club, but that he wanted to se3 something done, now that the concessions have been made, in order to keep the rolling mill company from charging local manufacturers higher price than is paid in Pittsburg, Chatta- nooga, Nashville, New Orleans, st. Louis,
 
 cited an instance where the rolling mill sold iron in St. Louis for S1 10 per hundred and charged local manufacturers Sl.45.
 Here Hon. o. w. Underwood asked that Mir. Cunningham of the rolling mill be al- lowed to make a statement. motion to this effect was put and carried. Mir. Cunningham addressed the president and mem bers of the club, and stated that be and a ommittee had come in the interests of the working mill men to ask the club n nf n d n n n 0 mi in out of work and bring about the suffering that was undergone year ago. He also stated in reply to the charge made by MT. Nails that 1t was natural for everybody to an instance where Mir. Nails had charged the rolling mill cents per pound for cut sheets.
 The motion was then put and carried, only one man voting against 1t.
 MT. Robert Warnock, who did not vote, was allowed 10 explain why he did not vote. He said the reason was that while he believed and was in favor of keeping pledges, he was not in favor of letting one corpor ation out and not others.
 Gen. R. D. Johnston then moved that a committee of five be appointed, with the secretary added, to go 10 Montgomery and urge the passage of the bill as favored by the resolution. The motion was carried.
 A motion was then made by Capt. w. H. Graves to send a committee of two to Bos- ton, Lowell and other New England cities for the purpose of securing cotton mills for Birmingham
 Here MT. Conner made speech on the cotton mill question and what could be ar- fained by sending this committee to New England.
 Captain Graves then made a motion that the club request MT. J. L. Chalifoux of Lowell to aid the com mitte, as far as possi- ble towards the securing of these mills. The motion was carried.
 Captain Graves offered motion to in- struct the committee appointed to urge the passage of the rolling mill bill to use un tiring efforts toward securing the passage of the immigration bill, which provides for the appointment of a commissioner of im- migration with a salary not exceeding e2000 per year. This motion met with unanimous approval and was voted for by avery member present.
 koting President B. Steiner then ap-
 fbe following committee, the duty
 u bo to secure for Alabama sp-
 nnmissiouer, and also to kt
 Dite the Birmingham
 VI. Graves, F.