Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-12
IN LINE FOR UNITED ACTION
Retail Merchants Form an Organization fol
the City's Interests.
SEVERAL PLANS BRIEFLY DISCUSSED
Committees Appointed to Prepare n
scheme for Permanent Orgnniza-
tion of thc Retail Mcrchnnts-
Some of the Idcns Suggested.


Nearly 100 business men, representing tn
retail trade Of Council Bluffs in all of it
different branches. met at the court hous
last night and took the preliminary step
toward the organization Of an association O
retail merchants for the purpose OF work n,
for the building up OF local trade and tn
advancement Of the business interests o
! Council Bluffs.
The meeting was held In response to tn
call which was published in The Bee yester
day, and the attendance was fully up to tn
| expectations of the men who have been mos
active in promoting the plan for the or
| gani5ation. Men representing many Of TIL
interests Of the city in the various lines o
! retail trade were present, and while the:
was no rrearrangcd plan fer the work II
hand, the men present were unanimous in tn
! opinion that some unity of action was nee
essary for the advancement of the CONNER
| cial interests Of the city
The call for the meeting was read by Mr.
j. C.. De Haven and Mr.. Andrew Bell wa
| selected as temporary chairman Of the meet
| ing. Mr.. j. G.. Sullivan was chosen ten
| porary secretary and the meeting was opel
| Tor suggestions from the merchants presen
az to the best plan Of acocmpl shing the OBJ
jects of the proposed organization.
]. ]. Fearon offered the first suggestion
He said that some years ago when he LIVED
at Syracuse, the merchants of that city me
the department store competition by startine
department store of their own. Each mer-
chant put in counter and shared his pro-
portionate cost of the expense of the estab
| lshment and then used printers ink literally
and all of the merchants were benefited by
the plan. Mr.. Fearon suggested that such
| store located IN the Elseman building woult
draw much of the trade that now goes to the
department stores of Omaha.
Mr. s. S. Keller stated that he supposed
the meeting was an Informal and a preiin,
mary one, for the purpose of talking over
plans that might be adopted for the benefit
Of all the merchants of the city. He thought
the hotels should be interested in the move.
ment as well as the retail merchants, and
that plans should be adopted to bring peo-
pie to the city He advised that steps be
| taken looking to the creation of a grain
| market in this city in time to look after the
fall trade and that preliminary steps should
be taken in that direction at once Then the
business men, in their daily intercourse with
their friends, should talk and explain the
disadvantages that come from spending their
money in other cities. Each dollar that a
property owner of Council Bluffs spends in
another city depreciates the value of his
property that much, and each dollar that a
iaboring man spends outside of the city re-
duces the chances for his employment in
this city. If the merchants of the city would
impress upon their customers that they could
get goods in this city as cheap as elsewhere
tho result would be an increase of the local
trade. There was much that the club could
accomplish for the general good, and he was
anxious that all plans for the advancement
Of the general interests be fully discussed.
SHOULD BENEFIT THE TOWN.
Mr.. w. II. Bradley urged that the first
@ nnn ftrnes To ,r ay,lr
working committees in the field and have
men at the head of the association who were
ready and willing to act on the suggestions
of the retail dealers. Something should be
done to bring people to Council Bluffs to
trade, and he was in favor of the adoption
of any plans that would accomplish that re-
suit If excursions would do it, he was in
favor of excursions, but he wanted them run
during the week, and not on Sunday He
was in favor Of fairs and eXpositions and
special gala day attractions, when the mer-
chants could offer their special bargains ana
convince people that they could do as well
in Council Bluffs as they could elsewhere.
He had no quarrel with people who insisted
upon buying their goods in Omaha or any
other town, but he was in favor of us,ng
every legitimate effort to show Council Bluffs
people and others living in territory tribu-
tary to this city that they could do as well
here elsewhere. This would require work
and unity of action, and he was in favor of
it. He did not favor any close corporation
and would withdraw from any organization
that attempted to fix prices, or to do any
thing that was not for the benefit Of the city
in general. If people could be induced to
come to Council Bluffs to trade he would
take his chances in getting his share of the
business.
On motion of Mr.. DeHaven, the chairman
and secretary selected temporarily were
made the permanent chairman and secre-
tary of the organization. Some discussion
was had as to the name of the organiza-
tion, and finally the meeting adopted the
name suggested by Mr.. DeHaven, that of
the Retail Merchants Association of Coun-
ell Bluffs. Mr.. d. w. Bushnell was elected
vice president Mr.. T. c. DeVol treasurer
and the following gentlemen chosen as an
executive committee: A. Whtelaw, C. S.
Byers, NJ Woolman, W. H. Bradley, Frank
Peterson, S. T. McAtee, Charles Beno and
j. c. DeHaven.
Messrs. Whitelaw, Byers and Woolman
were appointed as a committee on resolu-
ticns and bylaws. There was some dis
cussion as to the time and frequency Of
and it was finally decided to
meet twice each month for the present The
question of dues was left to the executive
committee.
Another meeting will be held at the city
building next Tuesday night, at which the
report of the committee on constitution ana
by-laWs will he received.