The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-12
Endorsement Given to Plans for Zig May Festival Here
 Next Year
FINE PROGRESS MADE ON
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Club is Impressed With Need For Some Sort of Traffic and Trans portation Bureau in Bihn-
 ingham.

The Commercial club held round the
 table information" meeting yesterday aft
 ernoon It was a meeting at which things
 were found out" The club discovered
 the great need of railroad rate bureau
 in Birmingham, discovered from G. B.
 McVay that the Credit Mems association
 already has such an organization, that nearly $5OOO has been subscribed, quarters
 engaged and offices opened. The oclub also discovered that President-elect Taft
 will winter in Georgia, and urgently in
 vited him to visit Birmingham. Great musical enthusiasm was aroused and a committee was appointed to assist in
 bringing about a great permanent May festival when the Chicago symphony or chestra may come to Birmingham.
 President John L. Raul presided and the following new members were elected | F. G. Mcconnell, G. W. Hayes, B. B. l Burton and J. R. Pill. Resolutions were unanimously adopted indorsing the Apa- lachian-White Mountain National Forest as a reserve area. resolution was also ] adopted thanking the Washington Cham i Der of Commerce for it's offer to secure seats for Birmingham citizens at the in auguration, and a still further resolu- tion thanked the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company for it's beauti- 1 ful and exhaustive booklet on Birming- ham, which has recently been issued
 Building We'll Under Way.
 Robert Jemison then reported for the ! building committee. He said that the 1 Chamber of Commerce building is pro- | gressing rapidly all the marble is on hand, the contractors are doing their work well, all the apparatus is on the 1 grounds and the concrete structure will l begin rising right away. He described the l interior fixtures and the many ad- | vantages, the large auditorium, showing little booklet of all the floor plans. He said the building should be headquarters for all organizations in the city, the l Chamber of Commerce to be a sort of l holding company, while the Commercial club, thet Board of Trade, the Manufac- ] turers' association and all the other or l ganizations will be subsidiary departments 1 with offices in the building and using the l auditorium when necessary. MT. Jemison mentioned the fact that the Medical so- ciety is considering the construction of a 1 home, but thought that they might be l induced to come into the Chamber of Commerce. He reported for Judge Stiles that the payments on the preferred stock are coming in promptly. This is not a i cheap building" he said. q have seen i many other Chamber of Commerce build 1 ings, but in my opinion it is second to none, the finest in the country
 l President Raul explained that about s1o,OO0 more is needed, but that this will probably be obtained by the sale of extra stock after it's value is better realized. 1 He stated that right after the holidays l he will take up the matter of bringing all the organizations of the city together under one head, so that they will all be ready to enter the new structure
 Report On Mobile Meeting. 1 F. Y. Anderson was then recognized | and he told about the Mobile Bay and | Tennessee River Improvement associa- l ton which held it's convention in Mobile. He and T. H. Motion both declared that l the delegation from Birmingham was one of the largest and that it made fine impressions; was hospitably received, wined and dined and Major Anderson de- clared that lie considered the issuance of l bonds by the federal government to im- prove the rivers very important that 1t 1 would reduce railroad rates and benefit more people than almost any other thing.
 Want Through SIeepers.
 Richard W. Massey reported that he 1 had been trying to arrange with the l Southeastern Passenger association, which recently met in New Orleans, for stop 1 overs in Birmingham on all tickets from the east through Birmingham to western | and southern points. He said another meeting would be held shortly in Atlanta, l ard he hoped to be able to gain the con- cession. This brought up discussion of 1 the Southern railway. Mr. Massey urged l the importance of a line of through l sleepers from New York to Birmingham, l and had conferred with the officials on l the subject. He also brought the thanks of MT. Waite Of the Birmingham Terminal company for the clubs offer to assist in | the opening of the terminal
 l Culpepper Exum called attention to the | fact that in coming to Birmingham from l New York a person has to stop over in l Atlanta half the night. Birmingham is | not in the Southerns schedule" he said. | MT. Raul stated that he, too, had suffered great inconvenience from this fact, but insisted that before raising a kick the club | must know just what 1t wants. MT. Mas | sey called attention to the fact that the Queen and Crescent has one excellent line of sleepers, but stated that another is needed
 W. N. Malone of the committee on loca- ton of industries said tha he had taken up correspondence with the railroads on the matter of securing better freight rates, and although none would make any promises. they were willing to assist in coming to an agreement He reported cor respopdence from w. A. Winburn of the Central of Georgia, F. B. Bowes, freight traffic manager of the Illinois Central; c. B. Compton. traffic manager of the Louisville and Nashville; President H. M. Atkinson of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic, and several others He read a letter defending the rates from Norfolk to Memphis by c. F. Michael, president of the Virginia Bridge com- pany.
 Will Invite Taft to Come.