El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-09
VALUABLE
SUGGESTIONS
MADE BY THE SECRETARY OF
THE HOUSTON BUSHES
LEAGUE WITH REGARD TO THE
CONDUCT OF A BUSINESS MEMS
ORGANIZATION

The New Orleans Picayune, of March
5th, contains a column report of an adj
dress delivered before the Progressive
Union, a business organization of New
Orleans, by Tom Richardson, secretary
of the Houston Business Mems league
Mr.. Richardson went to NewOrleaHs by
invitation of the Progressive Union. to
deliver the address. Much of the adj
dress covers the same topics which he
discussed at the Austin Commercial
convention last January, but there are
some additional points that deserve at
| tention by the members of the Ell PasoL
chamber of commerce.
Mr.. Richardson said that business
organizations should be >monarchies.
not democracies. The power should
be concentrated in the hands of few
intelligent and conservative men. All
successful organizations of this kind
! had found this out by experience
The membership of the Houston Bu-
slness league was 1876, and they had an
annual revenue of $1,000. 1t was folly
to make the dues equal for all men,
, Ders. The members should be taxed
according to the ability and willing
ness to pay. In Houston they have
some members who pay $3.50 year,
some $3.50, some $12, and some of the
q best and most energetic officers were in
. the class paying but 81 per month
, Membership dues should be kept in
q tact for regular expenses, salaries, ETC.
u When any special event required an
!, expenditure, the money should be rails
J ed on the outside. If, for example a
doctors convention was to meet here.
. a special committee should be appoint
ed who would organize the local physi-
clans, and see that they contributed to
the success of the convention, finan-
= cially and every other way. The
Houston Business league last year
spent 500, 900, and that in a city of onlv
A 900 people.
The organization should not hold
meetings unless there was a special
reason for it and the success of the
meeting was assured. They should
not waste their time discussing trivial
matters, which, after being settled do
not amount to anything, anyhow
The organization should not go into
politics unless it went into it strong
enough to win, and that can only be
done by quiet work. He cited an in
stance of this which occurred at Hous-
ton. and how successful it had been in
bringing the merchants together
The way to make an organization
successful was for twenty good men to
get together and determine to raise the
necessary money to run it. Standing
committees were superfluouS. Special
committees should be appointed to at
tend all events and matters as they ap-
pear.
AS an illustration of the power of
organization, he cited the fact that ST.
Louis had got her appropriation for
the exposition in 1903 by working for
it and never sleeping until the bill was
signed.
He told about the plan for selecting
officers in vogue in Houston and how
the petty feeling sometimes engen-
dered in these matters was avoided. A
ticket was made up with twenty can
dldates for ten positions on the board
of directors. The polls were open for,
a week and then the returns canvassed
The successful candidates were then
: announced, but the vote was kept Sc
, cret
Il 1t was unwise for the organization
. when it had big event, to go out and
get advertisements for it's program and
thus trench upon the territory of the
, newspapers, because they were always
asking the newspapers to help them.
and while the newspapers did not say
anything, they resented it.
There was nothing on earth that
could not be accomplished if they went
at it the right way. Saint Joe. Mis-
souri,, was said to be asleep, but she
woke up and had taken two or three
packing houses from Kansas City You
must quit saying. I'VE can't do it,
When you quit that you will succeed
Human nature is the same in all cit
les. You want just as few charters
and bylaws as possible for two years
They only have meetings at the call
of the president, and when there is
some special subject to be considered.
1t is necessary to get down to actual
work.