The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-24
EIGHT CONVENTIONS
WILL BE HELD IN SAVANNAH THIS
SPRING AND SUMMER.
THOUSANDS OF VISITORS
BY THIS MEANS WILL BE SHOWN
ADVANTAGES OF THE CITY.

Visitors to the Number of $500.
Second Largest Gathering to BE
That of Local Freight Agents.
Wesley Bi-CentenniaI Also VIII
Attract Many-Other Organizations
to Meet Here, Travellers Protect
i've Association, Colonial Danes.
Episcopal Diocesan Convention,
Tennessee Press Association and
Sociological Society.
Savannah will be advertised this
spring and summer as it has never
been before, that is if favorable pub
licity is to be obtained by securing
and entertaining conventions, and
meetings of all sorts that will be at
tended by many people who will spend
from one day to seven in the city.
These conventions. which are eight
in number, will follow each other in
rapid succession. At least one of them,
the Southern Baptist Convention with
bring to the city not hundreds of per-
sons but thousands. The others will
range in the number of delegates from
fifty TO five hundred. Taken in
chronological order the gatherings will
be as follows: Travellers Protective
Association, annual convention, April
9-10; Georgia Society, Colonial Danes,
annual convention, April 16: Southern
Baptist Convention, May ZIP: Annual
Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal
Church, May 10: Annual meeting
Georgia Sociological Society, latter
part of May; annual outing Tennessee
Press Association, June 8; annual
meeting of the Local Freight Agents
Association, June Q and the Wesley BIZ
Centennial Celebration, June 26.
Thousands VIII Come.
OF these the one of greatest i'm
| portance numerically is the Southern
Baptist Convention. Between 1000 and
| $500 persons are expected to attend
and the accommodations of the city
| will be taxed to take care of them The
Baptists have set about making their
| arrangements in time, however, and
! are already assured of accommoda-
| lions for 1900. Furthermore, of the
| $780, the estimated cost of incidental
expenses of the meeting quite a part
has already been received in subscrip-
| tions and the remainder will be raised
| without trouble and in a short time
As has been stated before this con-
| vention will draw to Savannah in adj
| dition to the speakers, who are in most
cases gentlemen of national promi-
nence, people. from all over the coun-
try and in all lines of business, a class
| which, If favorably impressed with the
city, can do it a world of good when
they shall have returned to their
homes after the convention.
Next to the Baptist convention the
largest in the number of members and
anticipated attendance is that of the
local freight agents, which has
| membership of 642. the greater part of
which will attend the gathering. AS
in the case of the Baptists this organ
ization seeks no financial aid from the
city and probably in even a greater
degree than is true of the Baptists will
prove of value to Savannah, making
| known in many parts of the country
her prestige as port and her beauty
| as a city.
Committee on Entertainment.
While no financial assistance is
sought for the entertainment of the
agents yet it is desired to have the
prominent citizens take part in the pro-
| ceedings of the convention as a COM
mittee of entertainment, rather to plan
| programme for the visitors while
here, than for any other purpose, and
| to form such a committee representa-
|
with the the Savannah members of the
| agents organization in the long room
| of the City Exchange to-day at II
| o'clock.
The date of the Wesley bi-centennial
is yet too distant to figure with any
thing like certainty on the number of
persons who will attend the observance,
but the strength of the denomination
i'll this section of the country, the
amount of advertising that will be done
and the great interest that attaches to
| Savannah as the one place in America
| where Wesley personally conducted the
work for which he has become famous,
| all tend to assure an exceptionally
large gathering.
Il. p. A. Coming in Force.
The meeting of the Travellers Pro-
| tective Association will bring to the
city between 200 and 300 and, should
the Atlanta post quit sulking by that
time and take part in the gathering
| these numbers will be considerably
swelled. The date OF this convention
| is so near that in a short time now
| the complete programme for the occa-
| sion will be made public. 1t is stated
| that the headquarters of the visitors
will be the Screven House, that open
| house" will be held at the De Soto, and
that somewhere on the programme will
| be sandwiched in a banquet at Thun-
derbolt.
The Tennessee Press Association will
not meet in Savannah proper, but at
| Tybee, and will draw to that place
| some $50 to 200 persons, chiefly the
members of the organization and their
| families.
The Colonial Danes convention will
| mean many visitors to the city, prob
| ably more than have been attracted TO
former conventions, greater interest
| than usual being taken in this meet
| ing because of the proposed trip to
| Frederick, there to view the fort built
by James Oglethorpe, which is now
being restored under the auspices of
| this organization, and which is soon to
| be surmounted by a Celtic cross of gray
| granite as a monument to its illustri-
Gus builder.
other Important Bodies.
The diocesan convention will bring.
of course, most of the clergy of the
state and in addition the usual dele
gates of the church and of the Brother
| hood of st. Andrew; probably, however
the members of the convention will
not number more than 100, If that
many. Just how many win attend the
/ meeting of the Sociological Society IL
| is impossible to estimate as the So
ciety was so recently formed that this
| win be its first annual meeting.
| Though not to be classed as a con-
\ vention another body whose visit 10
| Savannah means much in the way Of
advertising her great advantages from
a commercial viewpoint is that OF the
committee seeking data relative TO the