The age-herald., 1898-02-25
ALL HAIL TO
 REX VULCAN " He Hill Visit His Royal Domain in
 1889, WAS so DECIDED LAST NIGHT At a Meeting of the Carnival Society Held
 at ElkS Hall. A BEAUTIFUL GOLD-HEADED CANE Presented to President Lesser for His Untiring Efforts in Behalf of the Society-0fi-
 cers Were Elected and the Wyrk Started.
A BEAUTIFUL GoLD-HEADED CANE

All hail to Rex Vulcan ", king of the carnival of 1899.
 At meeting of the Birmingham Carnival society, held last night in Elks hall, res- oluton was unanimously adopted that the carnival of 1899 be celebrated, and on a grander scale than has ever before been attempted.
 The meeting had been called for the purpose of hearing the reports of the off, cers and to decide whether or not the next carnival season should be celebrated. Many of Birminghams leading citizens were esent when the meeting was called to order by President Lesser at o'clock, and the enthusiasm with which the propo- sltion was greeted is assurance that Birminghams carnival has become per- manent institution and that Birmingham s citizens are determined that she shall be among the leading carnival cities of the country.
 Report of Officers
 The report of President Lesser was read by Secretary Braun, follows:
 To the Officers and Members of the Bir-
 mingham Carnival Society:
 Gentlemen: In rendering you this my third annual report I return with it the office with which you have honored me for J compliments bestowed upon me.
 Whether or not the recent celebration was success is hardly necessary to state when we consider the harvest reaped by our mer- chants and recall the great number of peo- pie who were here to witness the parades Of the latter I can only say that believe our claim that the floats would be equal to the finest ever shown anywhere has been made good. Only one unfortunate circum- stance marred the success of the night parade, our total failure in lights. The contractor, MT. German, had arranged for illumination by a new light for which the greatest claims of brilliancy were made It seems however that the firm from whom the lights were obtained did not have an expert here to handle them, and so that feature became an absolute failure
 For the great success we have achieved otherwise the thanks of the society and the citizens of Birmingham are due the follow ing gentlemen: To the gentlemen compris- ing our finance committee, especially Messrs. M. ". Jospfl, F. Y. Andrson, B. Steiner, Joe Beitman, N. L. Miller, Aug Schillinger and Rufus N Rhodes By their cent of our old debts and pay all expenses of the present carnival, with the exception of perhaps $300.
 To the railroads and especially our ef- ficient railroad committee Messrs. F. Y. Anderson, J. w. Johnson and C. E. Me- glemry. The special low rates we have received were the cause of the great many visitors that came here. I must mention here niian who has proved himself one of the best friends of Birmingham, in pro- testing against any discrimination against us in rates and putting Birmingham on the same footing with New Orleans and Mobile. I speak of MT. c. A. Benscoter assistant general passenger agent of the Southern and Alabama Great Soutthrn railroad in Chattanooga.
 To the Alabama Great Southern railroad for the magnificent special train they gave us which enabled us to bring in Rex Vulcan H., in the most elegant train that ever entered the city. In connection with this I also name Messrs. Billheimer, Billups Wckersham and Skinner, who did all in their power to get us this great tradn.
 To MT. J. A. VanIIoose to whose un- tirfng efforts and great personal sacrifice it is due alone that we have been able to celebrate the greatest of all balls our Rex ball, in the auditorium.
 To MT. J. A. German, who for very small sum of money has buih us and put in the parade the most magnificent floats ever shown on the streets of any southern city.
 To the newspapers of this city as we'll as to a great number of them in all portions of our state who have widely advertised our carniaa and published free of charge matters furnished theun by our efficient chairman of the press committee. MT. J. A. Rountree pertaining thereto.
 To Mr. D. J. McCrosSin the efficient grand marshal who so ably conducted the parades and all matters pertaining to the celebra- ton.
 It Is for this meeting to say whether or not Birmingham shall celebrate another carnival. It is unfair to let one-half dozen men do all the immense work connected with such a celebration without any com penEation. This society should have instead of 120 as before at least 250 msmbers who are willing to pay $1 per month. With such a membership fund could be collected which would enable the society to begin all necessary preliminaries months before the carnival proper and wind up the fes- tivties without deficit.
 On motion the report was accepted and vote of thanks extended to those men, tioned in behalf of the carnival society.
 Secretary Brann then read his financial report, which showed that a total of $1. .457.75 had been collected from dues since March 10 1897, to date, and that $1,442 % had been disbursed, leaving a balance of s15.55 on hand. The report was received and referred to an auditing committee.
 Treasurer B. Steiner submitted his re- port, which was received with applause. The report was as follows:
 Total amount collected for the car
 nival or lSsS ...........-..'.....:..:...N 49O95
 the payment of old overdrafts. ... .$4 919.S7
 Leaving a balance due.............$ 42S.87 Deduct from this solvent subscrip-
 tions yet uncollected ...............$ 14OOo Balance due by the carnival so-
 ciety .......-.............$ 2SS.H
 On mention the report was received and referred to the auditing committee.
 This excellent report was the subject of much favorable discussion. The society was burdened with debt of about $2, 400 from the 1897 celebration, which has been paid in full.