The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-04-23
.EVENTFUL HISTORY OF REFORM CLUB Its Great Mission, Its ProSperi-
 ty, Its Eclipse WORKED FOR CLEVELAND Once Had as Many as 32oo Members. Spent $7o,ooo in Preaching Tariff Reduction in 1ss8-lts JoI-
 lification in 1892.
WORKED FOR CLEVELAND

ends it's days as a social organization within two blocks of the place where they began.
 Nearly eighteen years ago the club, which sprang from the old Free Trade club, opened it's house at Thirty-third street, a few doors east of Fifth avenue. It then had about 300 resident members, made up chiefly of democrats, single tax CTS and mugwumps.
 MT. Clevelands tariff message of De- cember, 1887, gave the club an immedi- ate mission, and it's committee on tariff reform at once set to work with vigor, In the campaign of 1888 the club spent about S7O0O0 in preaching tariff reduction, and acted as a sort of adjunct to the dem ocratic party.
 Defeat did not interrupt the work of the club and for the next four years it industriously spread it's doctrines by means of printed matter. When the cam paign of 1892 came on, the club was more active than ever, and 1t spent many thou sands of dollars in the interests of MT. CIeveland's second election.
 On the night of the election, when 1t became known that MT. Cleveland was really successful some of the younger men of the club gathered in the cafe, or ganized a meeting in celebration of the event, and from time to time auctioned off the temporary chairmanship of the body to the man who bid the highest number of bottles of champagne When at length a bid of six quarts was high the bidder whose name happened to be Lincoln was forced 10 assume the name of Thomas Jefferson before he could take the chair.
 An interesting feature of the clubs propaganda in this campaign was the joint debates on the tariff question at county fairs in this state. John E. Rus sell and William M. Springer went out as the club champions. and General Gros- venor and Roswell G. Horr represented the Protective Tariff league
 Hofr and Springer were pitted against each other at several places. Springer was grave and argumentative Horr was comic in speech and aspect, and even the reformers voted him good fellow Horr's funniest hit, however, was an unconscious piece of humor.
 Addressing up in Ulster county a crowd Of farmers who stood gaping toward the oid man and staring beyond him to the round shoulder of a mountain that loomed over the scene, Horr exclaimed
 Forty years ago, my friends. forty years ago. you never put a knife into your mouth at table without seeing upon th eiif UT anu LII oHeIllelu.
 The farmers never smiled hut inc malt c1ous reformers exchanged significant glances, though MT Springer was either too dignified or too polite, when his turn came to speak, to touch upon Mr. Uoor's feats with cold steel
 When the agitation for the enactment or the Australian ballot law came on In tnls state the Reform club co-operated Wl,h several other organizations includ- cf o1a faxs labor party, in urging the enactment of the measure A comic sight of those tlmes was Ollie Teall in Tuxedo coat and immaculate linen drinking cocktails in the ciup care along with the representatives, or the labor party while the pIan of tbe paliot reform campaign was under dis cussion.
 During the years when the tariff oues- .ion was exciting special interest the club had It's great growth. It ran up to 19oo resident and about 20O0 nonresident mem pers, the latter recruited in every state of the Union. ''a'e
 ofder the stimulus of this growth the clup removed to the northeast corner of Firth avenue and Twenty-seventb street where 1t incurred a debt of about s3OO 0no In buying land and improving the house That was the period of club expansion in New fork, and all sorts of clubs hie and lteie' were buying houses and issuing bonds. iHe
 The Reform club grew and nrosnarod TOT tune after it's removal but, like al the heavily bonded clubs. if felt die astrously the hard times from 1909 to le9f. It's membership fell off, and when the Bryan campaign of 1896 came on tbe ciuo' seeing the tariff question sent to ehe rear and the silver question put for ward, turned upon the democratic marty and without calling itself republican,, on tered heartily into the movement for sound money
 subscriptions to its campaien fund poured in, and the doors of the club were thrown open to a host of men who on posed both free silver and tariff reduc- tion.
 When the silver issue was fought to a nnLsh % the ciup found itself with a heavy uept' decreasing membership. and large body of members indifferent or hostile to the principle upon which if Vas founded The club struggled along Wlth small annual deficit. until tba trustees seized the opportunity of . movement In real estate to sell the housa on flfth avenue for price that left tbe organization with a free and clear sur- plus of more than $500O0.
 Then came a fight over the fnturo oe the club. 1t was urged that with SEQ ooo in cash, furniture enough for bis ho,,sO
 
 ana membership of all classes amo,,nt- Ing to more than 1200 the club v.s ;, an loeai condition to take somewbat cheaper site and go on But tho n,an Who had been managing the organiza- tion for fifteen years believed thai tha thing to do was to kill the social side of the club and devote the bulk of its i,, come to the propaganda.
 In the end the club took it's house l., East Thirty-fifth street and tried to Lea,, the social side going. Few persons came to the house, however, and the restau~ rant was steady drain on the resources A good deal of money was also spent on the Parker campaign
 when It had become plain that only uesperdte eHort could keep the social side Of the club alive, the onnort,,,;.,, came to sell the Thirty-third street Iaass az handsome profit This was dono and after several meetings the clnb de, terhlned to shut up its house before ,ba end of March, 'he
 Arrangements were made with the Na- tlohal Arts club by which the members ot .nv heiorm club should enjoy tenn porarlly the privileges of that clubs res- snurant' ana the Reform club obtained also In the house of the Arts cInI th.' use of room for its committees '9
 There is no room in the Arts o,,,, 'he eNtenslVe library of the Reform club ana all or part of that may 20 10 Col, uiiipia university. The general library is considerable and especially strong in history. The economic library is lar.a but not fully mp to date The lihrar,, O. municipal affairs is probably the bast on that subject in the United States. ays cepi' or course. the Library of Congress-
 AS a matter of fact. the activities Inf the Reform club in city affairs were strictly academic. for the membersbin os tlt tluD WAS so mixed that | .,a.....