The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-16
HOT AFTER THE DELINQUENTS Commercial Club Officers Talk Straight. BIG MEETING DWINDLED Then Officers Handed Out the
 Roast. The Failure of Tuesday Night Meeting Was Last straw, and Patience Was At End--The Explosion
 Came:

What was to have bee. the fall rally of the Commercial Club last night, petered out to thin meeting which. however. started something. Except for the vigor of the officers of the club. the meeting was of no consequence.
 More tl.an two hundred members, some of whom have not paid their dues, were expected. Seventeen were present i've of whom staid in the smoking room, one reading copy or Puck" two sweating over a chess board, and the, other two trying to read the Puck over the shoulder of the man who had 1t, and watch the chess game at the same time.
 President Forbes did not call the meeting to order. He did not have the heart to put such blemish on the rec ord of parliamentary rules; so he just got up and thenked those present for coming, and then told them what he thought of those who stayed away. What he thought of them was inter esting, certainly original and to the point. He also mentioned the matter of delinquent debtors, the members who promised so much to start the club going, and who, after deriving benefts from 1t. have doged the clubs collector ever since. When MT. Forbes finished, for lack of breath, MT Dave took up the thread ot thought and sad some original things too.
 MT. Dave told how at times the club did not have money enough to buy stamps to answer letters of inquiry re- celved from business concerns wishing to do business here. and that some- times the employees of the Commercial Club of the Capital City of the most naturally rich State in the Union, went home when the end of the week came and called the landlady out in the haD and asked her to hold their trunks as security, for as far as the Montgom- cry Commercial Club was concerned, the members seemed too busy swear ing at the collector to ever think Of paving a bill to keep him away. Some even, after promising a certain amount when the club started, have not paid yet, and it was proposed at the meet ing last night that these cases be put fin the hands of the law and suits filed. This suggestion met general approvsl and a concern whose trade mark IS Bad Debts" will be asked to Inter view the delinquent members and per- suade them to act like business men and gentlemen.
 was to have been the final settlement of the question. Shall Alabama accept the leadership offered her in the com ing Southern Commercial Congress to be held in Washington The subject was sadly mentioned and discussed by
 
 as a question because there were not enough members present to answer
 One gentleman explained the absence of so many members by saying that the play at the opera house with Fanny Rice was resposible. Another nervous ly suggested 1t might be because of the presence of John Barleycorn In town. Then after these startlingly brilliant witticisms, the matter of city wharf was discussed.
 It was said at the meeting that the tardy action of the City Council con- corning the bond issue election woulo deprive the State of it's share of the coming rivers and harbors appropria- ton. that the coming session Of Con- eress was a business one and that the day of pap passing was over, and that to get money for river improvement, the people must do something TOT the river themselves, and If they did not think it worth while to build wharf, they could not expect the government to keep the channel open for boats that, as was cited in one instances, came up the river to deposit $3 worth of cotton seed at an expense or $lOO'
 Secretary Dave read letter from the Chairman of the Board of Direct ors of one of the largest cotton mills in Fall River. Mass asking for in- formation concerning the advisability of bringing the mill to Montgomery. and what river facllltleS TOT tTdnspoTt- ation and water power were offered here MT. Dave said to answer this man truthfully about the river as far at Montgomery facilities for wharfage were concerned. would be to end all thought of the proposition, and that he would wait while until he could say some day we may have a wharf and some day we may not.
 Some time ago the Commercial Club asked for suggestions from its 300 members for local commercial improve ment. A few of the suggestions fol- low:
 One man suggested advertising the fact that Montgomery has the best golf links in the South. Another said paint all the stores white. This proposition was amended by a facetious gentleman who suggested painting the town--but to continue. Another made the pungent and startlingly original suggestion of getting business houses here. Another suggested checking baggage from the house to it's destination, and vice versa, thinking, of course. of a certain little law that is soon to go into effect, One suggested building a railway through Fillmore County to Montgomery, and se- riously, 1t is said this proposition is under advisement. The last suggestion