The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-02-18
1896 committees named
Men Who Will BE Conspicuous in
Board of Trade Work.
NATIONAL DELEGATES REPORT
Give au Interesting Account Of tho Ses.
sion in Washington-Thc Board
Wants Fire Marshal Ap.
pOiutcd-Tarriff in Politics.


ance was small. probably on account of
the eve of election, but several matters
of interest were considered and the ses-
sion was not an unimportant one.
For the transportation committee
Secretary Atherton reported progress
in the committees endeavor to have
the Lackawanna company return to Its
old mileage system. That the board
has not abandoned its determination to
secure an appropriation this year for
the office of fire marshal is shown In the
following communication from the pub
lie safety committee, and which was
read by the secretary:
Owing to Il lack of revenue to be de-
rived from taxes for city purposes Tor the
ensuing year, the estimate committee OF
the councils have been Obliged 10 cut
down the appropriations nearly 100 per
cent. They have already stricken out me
amount thought necessary TO lhausurlte
Il paid fire department. and fearing that
the same fate may overtake the lire mar
shal appropriation, We feel that some ac-
tion should be taken by TINS board. Ihe
expense TO the city of IA flre marshl! VIII
he so small compared with the benentS' 10
be derived by the tax payers, should thls
office be created, that we sincerely believe
that some provision should be made, even
at the sacrifice of some less important
matter We therefore respectfully ofer
the following resolution: 1.. .
Resolved That committee three, cor,
sisiing of W. A. May, \. w. Dickson ana
the secretary, be appointed TO wait on
the estimate committee ana that they
most urgently request them TO appropriate
the sum Of 81 900. that the office of fire mar
shal may be created. az provided BY me
laws Of this commonwealth. and tinbodied
in an ordnarce now In the hands OF the
co,;nsls ,ssna,, Respectfully s"Sn'i,!eI R w Luce
Chairman Public Safety Committee.
Resolution Was Adapted.
After the resolution contained In the
communication had been adopted by
faltering vote, some one moved re
consideration The motion was carried
and the resolution was adopted by II
vote of 8 to 4. nearly half the members
present refraining from voting. While
the matter was under discussion, 1t was
opposed by President May who, while
not disputing the necessity OF fire
marshal. thought the board could bet
ter see it's wishes fulfilled by assisting
to bring about a reform in the system
of making assessments and this he
urged as u means for bringing about
numerous other municipal necessities.
He argued that the city has not the
means for any new enterprise and that
the revenue might be largely increased
by changing the present rule of max
ing assessments. Colonel +. l.. Hitch
cock was, by amendment, added to the
committee.
The secretary read the report of Col
onel T.. l.. Hitchcock and President w.
a. May. delegates to the recent meet
ing of the national board of trade meet
ing in Washington. Ordinarily such a
report might be dry and uninteresting
reading, but in this instance 1t was re-
ceived with not 81 little interest and is
as follows:
Report Of the Delegates.
The Scranton Board of Trade
Mr.. President and Gentcmen:--Yo del
egates to the national board OF trade, held
elusive, desire TO make the following re-
port
There were about 100 delegates in at
tendance, mostly from the larger cities.
Chester. Peoria and Trenton We're the
only cities represented with population
smaller than our own. There were more
organizations represented from Pennsy',
vania than from any other state; Phila-
delphia, Pittsburg, Scranto and Chester
having delegates IN attendance. Three
citiA of Ohio, Cincinnati. Cleveland and
Toledo, were represented.
The personnel of the convention was
far above the average. The men who at
tended as delegates were mostly past mid
die life and having been successful in
their pursuits. eithF having retired or
so systematized their business that sub
OfullluteS tOulI lOOk dlleE IL, now nave
the leisure as well as the inclination to
study questions relating TO commerce and
the welfare of the nation. Except for the
minor prejudices in favor of their own
pursuits-an accompaniment of all busy
life-they were men singularly unbiased
in opinion and seemed to be desrous only
of influencing opinion in favor of the best
interests of the country.
The main questions before the meeting
were those of the currency and finance.
consular affairs. postal affairs, railroad
transportation waterways and bank.
ruptcy .f"slation. The subjects pertain
Ing to ti.-se questions were handed In ty
the commercial bodies of the largest cities
Following the custom of the board. the
representatives of the bodies handing in
the subjects were made the members OF
the committees to which tie various SUBJ
jects were referred. Our board not hav-
ing submitted any subjects your repre-
were not on any of the commit
tees.
Great Labor and study,
II was surprising what labor and study
the men composing these committees nut
upon the work they had in hand This
was notably the case with the chairmen
of the committees on postal reform and
waterways. The chairman Of
the former committee must have expend-
ed hours and days upon getting the infor-
nation with which his report was filed.
He stated that he had corresponded with
., 900 newspapers to get at the amount of
postage paid by them, as well as with
thousands of business firms. These facts
he went to get a complete report lie
showed in the report that first-ciass mail
matter paid 375 per cent. profit to the gov
ernment. while third and fourth-class
matter and the franking privilege caused
q loss of 81 per cent. The deficit In the
department for the fiscal year was S9,OO0,-
Oo0, caused wholly by the loss in carrying
third and fOurth-class mail matter and in
/. t. rr,,
strongly advocated the reduce
ton of first-class mail matter to one-cent
per every half ounce or fraction thereof
and an increase upon third and fourth
class matter so as to make the deficiency
Ia. greater than at the present time. The
chairman of this committee. Mr.. Acker.
Is a retail grocer Of Philadelphia. doing
a business of a half a million dollars a
year. 1t is simply wonderful how he Is
able to attend to an enterprise of this size
and character, requiring constant atten-
ton, and yet be able to give 50 much
hought and time to IA subject. in a sense.
foreign to his business. As the equitable
adjustment of postal rates is subject
which interests us here more than most
Of those discussed we desire to call your
special attention to it, Mr.. Acker has
nis report SO soon as 1t can be printed. |
When they are received we shall he
glad to distribute them among the
members of the board SO that the mem-
DerS may become Dettef acquainted with
The subject and may intelligently assist |
N bringing about desirable changes In the |
postal laws.
Committee on Waterways.
The report of the committee on water |
ways was not second to the report OF the |
committee on postal matters. The chair |
nan, Mr.. l.. NJ. Haupt, Of Philadelphia, |
8 a noted engineer, and he not only gave |
he subject careful thought. but brought |
% his assistance lifelong practice. He Is |
IN enthusiast In the matter OF deepening |