Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-11
BUSINESS BY BUSINESS MEN Commercial Association Got
 Through in a Day. PRESIDENT HENSON ABSENT But Was We'll Represented by Letter-Mr. Boes Elected Secretary and Birmingham
 Is Headquarters for Year.

COHlIleTCldl CluDS ana CHdIlDeFS Ol cOIl-
 merce in the state, was held here today.
 The attendance was not large, but it was
 thoroughly representative, some eight or
 ten of the cities in the state answering
 to the roll call through their delegates.
 In the absence of President w. c.
 Jemison of Tuskaloosa Vice President
 Charles G. Abercrombie of this city call
 ed the meeting to order. MT. W. J. Boles,
 who succeeded MT. N. F. Thompson as
 secretary of the Birmingham Commer-
 cial club, had been appointed to act in MT. Thompson's stead as secretary of the state association, and MT. Boles there fore presided at that desk.
 The first order of business was the
 reading by the secretary of the following
 communication from the president of the
 association:
 Tuskaloosa June 9, 1S96
 To the Alabama Commercial Association,
 Assembled at Montgomery, Ala, June
 10 1S96
 Since your last meeting, held in Bir-
 mingham, Ala, in the month of April, 1885, the only work of the association that
 1 have to report is the exhibit of Ala
 bama at the exposition in Atlanta, Ga,
 last fall, report of which will be fur
 nished you by the committee in charge
 of that special undertaking. It gives me pleasure to say that believe the univer- sal opinion is that they performed their
 duty with ability and credit to the state with a meager fund collected from com mercial organizations The general as-
 sembly having failed to make provision
 for this purpose, the resources and prod
 ucts of Alabama were at a diSadvan-
 tage with. other less favored states of
 this great nation. Our people have not
 yet risen to a realization of our great na-
 tional wealth and the importance of
 reaping harvest now ready for the
 sickle. Coming generations will seize
 the opportunity. Why not this genera
 ton? This is the only organization cov-
 eTing the entire state of which have any
 knowledge that is strictly on business
 bent. Even the allurements of legisla-
 tion have never contained so grand
 body as we can muster. Then why can
 we not reach out our hands with com
 bined effort and start the march of prog ress in the state while our legislators are
 enacting wise laws to hold up our hands?
 Indeed, when the moral force of a body
 like this is united and brought to bear
 on our lawmakers they will find the
 money necessary to make a proper ex-
 hibit of our greatness at the national and
 international fairs without the appoint
 ment of begging committees all over the
 state. There is no other just way of
 raising such fund, and no man can
 controvert the fact that such a fund is
 both an aid to the upbuildng of every mans private interest and the increase of the states revenue.
 1 trust before adjournment you will have matured well conceived machine ry for establishing information bureaus in every county and one central bureau of all the state, each county to report periodically to the central bureau and that information be systematically kept by counties open to the inspection of every person, but under no circum- stances to be carried out of the reposito- ry of these archives
 On this line most efficient service can | be inaugurated, and I have no doubt if | the proper effort is made the next gen. eral assembly will begin a regular ap- | propriation to supplement the funds of | this association. By determined effort | we can accumulate a building fund to | be used in erecting home for the organ | ization, where our states complete physi- | cal history, with other information, can | be kept and this institution can get | such official recognition as will sA ure | It's permanency In accomplishing this
 we could build no grander monument to | the push, pride and powers of a great | people-full of energy, of brawn and of | brain not a monument to commemorate l the deeds of the past, but shaft for the l living, pointing to the works of the pres
 ent and the possibilities of the future. | It would pay the association to employ | competent man to give his entire time l to a complete canvass of the state, to or | ganiZe local associations and to other | wise carry out the objects of the state | association. He should be a business | man and not a fancy stump speaker of | the impractical sort or a one-horse poli-
 tician, who would spend more time kiss | ing the babies than in working for the | association. What we want is a drum 1 mer, and we want to pay him for his | work and turn him off if he neglects his
 business, and goes gadding over the | state on free passes The newspaper press, ] the only original free horse institution 1 of the country, is ready to constitute it. | self the permanent agent of the associa- | tion without money and without price, | and who can deny it's power? The rail- | roads are always ready to do more than a lions share of free work for so good | an object as this, but they should not be l imposed upon, for 1t is a we'll known fact
 that railroads could we'll afford to carry
 free all the tramps in this country if they | did not have such an army of well dress | ed dead-head bummers wearing out their | trucks and filling up valuable space in l their coaches.
 | If this organization Is worth keeping | up at all 1t is worth keeping up well. It
 must be good thing, for 1t has run for 1 more than year without $1 ever finding | it's way either in or ou: of the treasury. 1 And yet its moral force caused the rais- 1 ing of a fund of about $5000 to exhibit | Alabama's resources, industries and pro- ducts at a national fair We did tha | without a constitution, charter or by l laws. Besides that we had the city of | Birmingham give us a splendid banque t 1 and start us off, and now the railroads | are giving us reduced rates. Now, if we l can get all this without money, if we | should get really in earnest, where is the limit of our usefulness?
 l regret more than can be expressed in | this letter that l cannot attend the meet ing on account of my bus ness here. regret, too, that circumstances beyond my control have prevented that efficient work which it was my purpose to have given the affairs of the association wh le held the post of honor and trust to which you called me. I bespeak for my successor the pleasure of seeing this or ganization fully launched in an earnest, effective work. bearing fruit an hundred fold more during his term than the one just closed.
 I am indebted to MT w. J. Boles, the stirring, faithful and courteous secretary of the Birmingham Commercial club, who has given me valuable aid in the difficult ties which la bored under without sec retary or records of the association.
 have requested him to act as secretary
 until you elect a permanent officer.
 I also make acknowledgements of MT.
 l.. L. Gilbert, the secretary of the Mont