Arizona republican., 1897-11-12
PENNEY & ROBINSON,

thing with because it has lost the con- fidence of business men, who alone will support such a body. They are opposed Ito mixing advertising schemes
 with commercial matters. 1t is not now in any sense a chamber of com merce. It just bears that name. It's president is mot "a business imam and
 most of its directors are not. They
 are good, solid men, and many of them are my friends, but they have
 no commercial interests and lack 1n- fuence when such projects as locating
 sml5lter, securing favorable freight
 rates or other commercial aIdvartag ges
 are to be taken up. The chamber has
 been unfortunate in its choice of of
 ficers. This defect cam be remedied and thlsm if the business of advertis- ing can be segregated from the proper Objects of a chamber of commerce and if the individual schemes of men can be kept out, the chamber may
 be rebuilt"
 Major !. w. Evans, one of the found
 CTS of the, chamber and one of its sar-
 Hest presidents, said: "A chamber
 of commerce is something always
 needed in Phoenix and was never more meedjad than now. I'm a mem
 Der of the present chamber, but take no other part in it l,lhan to pay my
 dues. It has done valuable work fer
 the city and valley, but now it seems to have falle,n into innocuous desua- tude, I believe on account of the withdrawal of business men from its
 management. The chamber began to
 detericrate dhree or four y1:ars ago
 and has accomplished nothing since.
 It became inStead of a chamber of commerce an executive commii tee of
 the chamber of commerce. Nothing was ever laid before its members CT
 the public and nobody knew what was
 being done. The chamber ought to be revived. Energetic business m n , should be put at the head of it ard more money should be raised, for bus mess men will not take part in it un-
 less they have money with wh' oh io accomplish somielthing The monthly fee should be raised to at least S3 CT
 rather five times that much just now.
 I am willing to coh tribute my share if
 others can be foa to do the same D
 Other business bhen inserviawed ex- pressed similar views regarding the un- utility of the chamber as it is now constituted, and their suggestions as
 to the remodelimg of it were tIhs same as thosa of either Major Evans, MT Heyman or Mir. McNeiu.
 AN IMPORTANT POSITION.
 To Glhe Editor of The Republican, Sie:: If The Republicans comments on ! our chamber of commerce in this day S editorial seems severe, citizens should
 at least commend the zeal that awak-
 ems its timely utterances in voicing the necessities of the hour. Too many
 citizens do not seriously consider the importance of maintaining the eff ficiency of the chamber of commerce. Its usefulness to the community at
 the same time rests largely with the
 secretary, who is expected among other of his duties to secure the establish
 memt of various enterprises where pri- vate effort fails He, of course, must
 have the backing and loyal support of every citizen, for there is right y
 neither politics, creed nor 1hne ad- ! vancement of any private affair to the dabriment of the oommuniI y in a chamber of commerce honestly cont duoted. More tlhan any other person | in the community, perhaps, should his personal infuence represent the com | munity. A commonwealth takes | pride in the character of its highest official, lIlNewise the population of a city is interested in having for its | chief a representative citizen. So the ] commercial and industrial interests
 require peculiar qualities of leader ship and these should find expression in the chamber of commerce. Here you have infant resources that invite the attention of capitalists; you have
 problems to solve in regard to irriga- tion; to the securing, if possible, of
 more railroad outlets, correcting l freight matters when there is injustice done. All these require attention that should employ a secretary of the
 chamber of commerce. He should not be required to spend his time
 presenting bills for monthly dues to ! members or performing clerical work that should be the work of clerk.