Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-22
PLAN FOR FALL FESTIVITIES
Business Men Of Omaha Decide that Ak
sar-Ben Shall Reign Again.
MASS MEETING is LARGELY ATTENDED
Fourteen Hundred Dollars Subscribed
ms starter for Parade Fund
Names Selected for Members
of Board of Governors.

There was a mass meeting at the Com
mercial club Tuesday night. The loyal sub
jeots of the Kingdom OF Quivera obeyed the
command of Samson. and nearly 300 OF them
assembled at the Commercial club rooms to
decide whether or not King Ak-Sar- Ben vi
shall reign over this goodly land during the
coming season. with glad acclaim and In
cue voice they voted in the Affirmative, and
as result the Board of Governors of the
knights will at once lay their plans for pre-
pairing an entertainment that promises to
excel anything heretofore seen upon the
streets.
During the progress OF the meeting the
scrolls OF the knights and the usual sub
scripton papers were circulated and when
returned to the desk of President Fry, they
showed 81, 400 pledged and signatures to the
number of nearly 200.
The first business of the evening was the
presentation OF the financial statement of
the organization for the past year. This
showed that the receipts were S19,l71.27, and
that after paying all claims, there still re-
mains balance of $1,6O479 on hand. The
report was submitted by H. ]. Penfold, who
was enthusiastically cheered when he fin
ished the reading of the document. One
year ago the association had the sum OF
S22.75 with which to commence the work
of last year.
The report of Mr.. Penfold gave those pres
ent the inspiration that they sought, and i'm
mediately every man in the room voted to
have a season of festivities next fall, and
at the same time voted that they shall be
better and upon a more magnificent scale
than at any time during the past.
For Members of the Board.
One of the main purposes of the meeting
was to suggest names to fill the vacancies
on the Board of Governors caused by the
expiration of terms of office of E. P. Peck,
T. A. Fry and e. E. Bryson. BY the rules
of the organization, 1t was necessary to Sc
lect nine names to be presented and from
these the members of the board elect three
persons BY a unanimous vote, Messrs.
Peck, Fry and Bryson were selected and
then there was a vote taken by ballot to
select the other six. AS result of this
ballot, Mel Uhl, w. r. Bennett, John A.
Wakefield, John l.. Kennedy, w. V. Morse
and Ward Burgess were selected. From
this list the board will elect at its next
meeting.
Following the election there was a gen.
eral discussion as to how the people COM
ing here shall be entertained, but in the
end the whole matter was turned over to
the members OF the Board of Governors to
formulate and work out plan.
A. Hospe suggested that an entire week
be given over to The festivities, ana I'D.
these festivities consist of athletic sports.
horse show, shooting contests, manual
training exhibitions and something that
will interest the banker and the bum"
John Steel advocated among the other fea
lures, chariot races and even revival meet
ings, in the event that they should be found
necessary He urged that a program be
prepared that will bring crowds from not
only this, but the surrounding states
w. R. Bennett expressed the opinion that
the newspapers will wake up the people,
but insisted that the success of the enter
prise must rest largely upon the shoulders
of the merchants and other business men
of the city. you cannot expect" he said.
that the newspapers can make show for
you unless you do something for your
selves" Mr.. Bennett urged the necessity
of advertising and then giving the visitors
everything advertised.
C. S. Montgomery, in discussing the gen.
eral proposition, declared that the city Is
going ahead as it has never done before, and
that by united effort the festivities this
fall can be made the most attractive of any
ever held in this or any other state New
features, he said, can be secured and on
the whole it can be made an entertainment
that will advertise Omaha from one end of
the country to the other.
c. s. Elgutter declared that in the past
too much secrecy has surrounded the work
of the progress being made in building the
floats. He thought it would be the proper
thing to have pictures of the floats printed
and circulated throughout the country in
order that strangers coming here may have
some idea of what they are going to see
upon the night when the climax of the fes-
tiyities is reached