The age-herald., 1899-05-25
MERCHANTS FORM BOARD OF TRADE For Advancement and Protection Of
 Their Interests. 0. CHAL IF0Ux, PRESIDENT Nearly All of the Big Firms Are
 Members. THE BIRMINGHAM AMENDMENT Will Be Fought By the New Associa- tion-It Was Not Organized to E Antagonize the Com-
 mercial Club.
THE BIRMINGHAM AMENDMENT

| tAc OdJAu6 c4iQ SCiilAl5 Ol HSICnduuASSI III other words. the merchants of Birming ham, met last night at the Jefferson Vol | unteers' armory and organized the board l of trade of Birmingham, and from the en-
 thusiasm displayed during the meeting the organization will be most successful one.
 This movement which has been under
 discussion for some days past, is not, it Is l declared, for the purpose of fighting the
 Commercial club, as some people suppose, | but to assist that organization by looking
 out for the interests of the merchants of | the city, just as the Trades council looks | out for the interests of the laboring peo- l pie.
 An interesting fact brought out during the | meeting was that there is now a move
 ment on foot among the merchants of the | city to have a test case made of the "Bir-
 mingham amendment" which was passed l in the election last August authorizing tho city of Birmingham to double its municipal I taxes. There have been a number of ru- | mors during the past ten r-onths to the | effect that somebody was Ho,, to fight this | increase of tax, but never until now have | they ldhcll St QGuull0 lOIIIl Vhk uOlldS Ol ! the May & Thomas Hardware company, was said last night to be at the head of the | movement. and quite number of the mer- | chants said that they had agreed to support l him in the case he was making. l 1aeeting Called to Order l The meeting last night was called to or | der by T. L. McGowan, with about thirty l five merchants present. He stated, in brief, | the object of the meeting; namely, the ad- vancement and the protection of the mer- l chants of Birmingham. He spoke of the | great advantages of cooperation among l merchants; that they should assist one an- | other in their business as the merchants | do in Atlanta. and not run each other down | as there Is a tendency to do in Birming- l ham.
 l MT. McGowan was made temporary chair man, and committee consisting of John | O'Neil, H. H. Sinnige, simon K1otz, John ! L. Parker and Joe Loveman was appoint l ed to make nominations for permanent of 1 hcers. The committee retired and finally reported the following officers, which were unanimously elected by the meeting: | Oliver Chalifoux. president.
 l H. H. Sinnige, first vice-presdent. 1 T. L. McGowan, second vice-president. l David J. Fox. third vice-president. l Joseph Loveman, fourth vice-president. Charles s. Simmons, fifth vice-president. | John ONeil, secretary.
 l MT. O'Neil will serve temporarily until l paid official is obtained for this position. These officers will hold until the regular I election is held which will be provided for | in the bylaws.
 Board of Control 1 It Is understood that when the constitu- l tion of the board of trade is drawn up, it | will provide for board of control to be | made up of representatives from each line | of business in the city. Each line, such as l the druggists, the grocerymen, etc., is to | form an organization of it's own, and each I line is to elect it's own chairman. This | chairman will be the representative for | that line of business on the board of con- | trol. It is understood that meetings will be held during the next few days, and the chairman of each line selected, in order to be reported on at the next meeting of the l board-next Wednesday night. On motion of John L. Parker the follow | ing committee was appointed to draw up | the constitution and bylaws: Messrs. i Hirch, Spiro, McGowan, Klotz, Loveman, | Sinnige and President Chalifoux Other | committees that will probably be provided | for in the bylaws will be one on excur- l sions and suburban trains, grievances fire | insurance, the Van Hoose canal, county roads. taxation, store rents and others. | Speeches of Endorsement President Chalifoux, on taking the chair. | made short speech in which he pleaded | for cooperation and brotherly feeling | among merchants, for liberal exchange | og ideas, and for giving, publicity to these | ideas, if necessary. through the newspa- | pers.
 | A number of interesting speeches were made during the evening in support of the | movement
 | H. H. Snnige said that he had been fre- | quently asked since this movement had l been under discussion whether 1t was not | antagonistic to the Commercial club. He said decidedly not. He and many other | merchants had helped to organize the Com-. | mercial club, and in it's work, which was | for the general up-building of the whole ! Birmingham district, it was all right; but that there were a number of questions l which affected the merchants of the city | only. and these details were of such a na- | ture that the Commercial club could not | handle them. For taking charge of all such | questions as these was the object of the l board of trade.
 | Mr. Sinnige told the old story of the bum | dle of sticks which an old man gave his | sons and which none of them could break until he unbound them and broke them one | by one.
 | If the merchants of Birmingham are | bound together" said MT. Sinnige, "there | is nothing that can break them" There | were many obstacles of to be overcome, he said, such as excessive freight rates for | Birmingham, which, he said, was consd-