The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-17
Certain Merchants Want Sc Fare to EnsIey-Cotton Spinners Invited to rmingham-State
 Falr lndorsed.


 of the regular monthly meeting of the Commercial club yesterday afternoon. The club rooms were full when the meeting was called to order by President Sterling A. Wood, and the crowd was enthusiastic.
 Probably the two most important feat ures were the opening of the campaign for Greater Birmingham and the deciding of "hands off, of the much talked of pro- hbition fight. The sentiment appeared to be that the prohibition fight will be hot one and that members of the club will be lined up on each side, and for this req son 1t is feared the club organization would be disrupted should 1t take a stand in the matter. An executive committee and a general committee of 100 were ap pointed to handle the fight for Greater Birmingham, Jere c. King being appoint ed chairman
 Refers to Prohibition Fight.
 Frank Nelson referred to the prohibition fight which the Pastors union and Brooks Lawrence propose to pull off this fall. MT. Nelson stated that he did not think it was right tor the club to take any hand in the fight, but thought 1t was of suf- ficent importance for the club to take notice of; that the matter was one of vial importance to every merchant and manu- facturer in the city, and that while he personally was in favor of prohibition, that he thought the matter should be con- sidered well and studied from every standpoint. He then moved that commit tee be appointed to confer with commit tees from the Board of Trade other com mercial organizations and the Board of Aldermen to discuss the matter, and to report to the club as to whether or not this fall would be a fit time for the hold ing of the election, this report not to be binding on the club.
 The motion received a second and was opened for discussion. John w. Shelby moved that the resolution be laid upon the table, stating that he thought 1t would be unfortunate for the club to enter into a thing of this kind; that personally he was a prohibitionist but he thought 1t would almost mean the disruption of the club, and for this reason he thought the club should keep out of 1t.
 MT Sibley's motion received a second and was opened for discussion. R. w. Dunlap began, replying to MT. Nelson's speech, but was called down on account of the discussion being for or against the tabling of MT Nelson's motion. By unan- imous consent he was allowed to pro- ceed Mir Dunlap's talk was to the effect that the loss of revenue on the part of the city would be made up in money saved by those who have been in the habit of spending all they had for whis- key.
 Lieutenant Governor Henry B. Gray then spoke against the advisability of the club taking any hand in the matter. MT. Gray said that he was for prohibition, but that it would be detrimental to the club for It to take notice of the fight; that the club was too much divided on the sub ject to take any stand at all.
 T H. Motion then spoke in favor of MT. Nelson's motion, saying he thought 1t was ! only right that the club should take notice of the fight.
 The question as to whether or not the | motion offered by MT. Nelson should be | tabled was then put and by vote of 29 to 23 was tabled. Quite a number of the members did not vote
 Brings Up Greater Birmingham. Representative Jere c. King said he did not know whether there would se a pro- | hibition fight or not, but there was going | to be one on Greater Birmingham and moved that committee of three be ap- | pointed to confer with committees of other commercial organizations and representa- 1 lives of the different municipalities in re- | gard to starting the campaign. He stat | ed that the election would be held some | time between November and January 8 and suggested that a campaign committee of 100 with an executive committee be ap- | pointed to carry on the fight. He said there were 1000 voters in Birmingham ac- | cording to the vote cast in the last may ors election and that the last county | election showed 2700 outside of Birming- | ham.
 J.B Gibson suggested that an endeavor be made to get the boards of aldermen and mayors of the different towns to con- suit with the mayor and board of alder men of Birmingham and arrive at some amicable settlement.
 F. NJ Jackson opposed this, stating that the campaign was sure of success; that this would result in great number of souabbles and that it would be best to get Greater Birmingham first. Lieutenant Governor Gray said he did not think it would pc practicable to han dle the matter in the way MT. Gibson suggested "Get Greater Birmingham first and settle the other afterwards" said he. "The present mayor and board of aldermen of Birmingham at the time f.z&z hardly be the same, and it will not be fair to bind it upon these men," MT Kings motion was then put and pa ssed. with an amendment making the committee five instead of three by w. M. Drennen. This committee is as fol- lows: Jere c. King. chairmani F. M