The age-herald., 1900-03-03
COMMERCIAL CLUB
 WILL INVESTIGATE Question of Fire Protection to be
 Looked After. REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING The Avondale Cotton Mill Will Pay Dividend of IF Per Cent on Money Actually Paid mother Inn
 portant Matters Up
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING

| mercial club was held yesterday afternoon. | President Anderson in his report urged the l appointment of committee to investigate the cause of the inability of the fire depart ment to prevent the destruction of so much 1 property by fire on February g, and also to consider the question of adequate | water supply.
 B. B. comer president of the Avondale cotton mill. made a short statement to the | club in which he said the earnings of the l company this year would pay interest on l the borrowed money and all running ex- 1 penses and leave a balance to be distrfo- | uted among the stockholders equal to lI per cent on the money paid into the treas I ury by the stockholders.
 | The board of directors of the club met at l 3:45 with President Anderson and Secretary | Gibson and the following members of the board present: B. Steiner, M. V. Joseph, | R. N. Rhodes, T. H. Motion. A. R. Dear I born, S. E. Thompson, J. D. Chichester, J. l A. Rountree, c. T. Rainbow and s. A. | Wood
 Presidents Report
 l After the reading of the minutes of the | previous meeting President Anderson suo- mitted his monthly report which was as | follows:
 l ''To the Members of the Commercial Club: "Since our last meeting a destructive fire 1 has occurred in our city. At one time the entire square, bounded by First and MOTHS | avenues and Nineteenth and Twen- | tieth streets was threatened. The | concensus of opinion seems to De | that the destruction was far more than l should have occurred, and that thfs loss | was chiefly due to the lack of water It l cd l shown the importance of having an h- | crease made in the force of the fire depart ment The work done by the department 1 was exceedingly commendable, but It was | evident that had there been an unfavoranle l wind driving the flames against adjoining | buildings the force would have been en- tirely inadequate. I hear many rumors as | to the inferiority of the water works pipes | to stand the pressure in order to turnlSn l sufficient supply of water for large hre, | and it seems to me that this matter Is or such grave importance to our citizens gen | orally as to incte this club to have an ln- l vestigation made by special committee l and find out if such defect exists. and II so, to suggest a proper remedy.
 l sI call the attention of the members or | the club to the meeting of the Southern | Industrial convention, which will take | place in Chattanooga on May S. This con | vention will have representatives from all | the southern states, and will be or suf- l
 SSipnea1 "F. Y. ANDERSON l President"
 The following new members were elected: w. w. Coghin, H. F. Wilson, Jr George Rover, George E. Lum, B. F. Barbour The board then adjourned and at o'clock the club was called ito order
 Meeting of Club
 Chairman Wood of the special committee appointed to take up the question of se- curing one of the Spanish guns captured bv tine United States in tine Spanish ! American war; stated that he had com- municated with Representative Underwood, but that the matter had not progressed far enough to justify a report from the com
 nittee, and further time was granted.
 B Steiner asked the secretary if the city had taken amy steps, and if so, what were | trey, to protect the parks set aside for public use. This had special reference to l the recent sale of the Lakeview property to a new company, wGno announced that the park would be divided into lots and placed on the market The secretary replied that he had communicated with the mayor with reference to the matter but had re- ceived no answer to his letter.
 | Cotton Mill company. said he wanted ito make a few remarks about the mill. He said there had been tendency on the part of some of the stockholders recently to sell their shares and he urged them not to do so. He said the mill is making money and found a ready market for its product at good prices. Every promise made while
 the subscriptions to stock were being raised, was true, as time had verified He said the company would pay a dividend oi about r per cent. this year after paying interest om the s2O5, GOO of borrowed money and all running and necessary expenses The mill cost, he said, when completed $5so.oOo, of which amount ss75,OOo had been paid in, the baGa1lce of s2O5,OOO being bor- rowed.
 Fire and Water Question
 T. H. Motion called up the presidents re-
 port and moved that a committee of five
 members be appointed to consider that por-
 tion of the report respecting the fire de-
 partment and water supply. The motion
 was adopted and the president stated that
 he would announce the committee later.
 H.. c. Orem, secretary of the Board of
 Trade. stated that he had received @ com munication from Edward A. Moseley, sec-
 retary of the Interstate commerce commits
 sion asking that the board endorse bill
 now pending in congress enlarging the pow
 CTS of the commission with reference to the l regulating of rates by the commission. | Secretary Gibson stated that similar | communication had been received by the
 club and the latter was. on motion of MT.
 Orem, referred to a special committee con-
 sisting of H. c. Orem. R. N. Rhodes, B. B.
 Conner, B. Steiner, S. A. Wood and J. W. | O'Neill. This committee will investigate
 the provisions of the bill and report back
 to the club at the next meeting.
 The secretary also read a communication
 from the Philadelphia Commercial museum | asking the club to endorse the bill pending | a. for nf