The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-06
SELMA INTERESTED
M0NTGOMERIANs TELL OF THE
 FREIGHT BUREAUS WORK.
Miss Bertha Marsden Commits Suicide By InhaIing Fumes of Chioro- form--Hcr Body Shipped to
 Washington for Burial.
Advertiser Bureau.

| Advertiser Bureau. | Selma Feb. !. Only a few business men answered the call to a meeting issued by E. c. l Melvin Vice-president of the Conner
 cial and Industrial Association, for this morning at the council room in the city hall The meeting was called for the business men of Selma to meet and confer with 6 committee from the Commercial Club and Industrial As- sociation of Montgomery, The com mittee from Montgomery consisted of I W. F. VHndiver and N. Lobman, with | F. H. Lewis of the Montgomery Freight I Bur. au.
 The meeting was called to order at 1i:30 by Mayor V. B. Atkins. He stated the object of the gathering and introduced the visitors. Mir. yandiver addressed the meeting and went into
 details regarding the trouble and ex- pense that the, merchants of Mont Comery and Selma experienced In the matter of freight rates from all centers. He told of the advantage that merchants in Birmingham and Atlanta and many other points had in the mat ter of rates over Selma and Mont gomery.
 He dwelt on the advantage that the Alabama river should afford the busi- ness men in the matter of securing cheaper rates than the inland cities he had mentioned. He told of the ex- I perienee that he had with the heads of freight departments that he had travelled many miles to see and said | that the object of the visit to Selma
 was to get the business men to CO., operate with the business men of
 Montgomery who had established the
 Montgomery Freight Bureau.
 | At length he explained how this
 bureau proposed to go apout the work | nf SeNnrfrw al points. as good or better than the
 rates that at present are enjoyed by ! Atlanta, Birmingham .Ind other points
 which did not have a navigable river
 as competitor to the railroads. He
 said that the merchants of Mont
 gomery wanted the business men of
 Selma to form a separate organiza-
 tion to help in the matter of secur-
 ing cheaper rates or to join the as- soctationt that he represented. He wanted this city to have an equal
 number of representatives on the board
 of directors and to share equally the
 expenses. MT. Vandiver told of the
 way that the Montgomery Freight
 Bureau had come Into existence and
 the manner in which 1t proposed to
 work. He explained the way and
 told why the association had secured
 the services of such a capable man
 as F. H. Lewis and how he, being
 lauiiiar WitH the workings or tne different railroads would go about the
 matter of securing cheaper freight
 rates for the two cities
 MT. Lobman next addressed the
 meeting and reviewed some of the difficulties he had in his business in
 regard to the higher freight rates that
 were charged merchants in Mont gomery over those of inland cities
 who did not have the advantage of q river. Mr. Lewis also addressed the
 meeting and told in detail how he as
 manager of the Montgomery Freight
 Bureau proposed to go about in the
 work of securing a cheaper freight
 rate for the two cities.
 i Mir. Vandiver stated that the run
 ming expense of the bureau would
 amount to about $5,o00 per year and
 that the work would probably have to
 be kept up for about three years,