Evening star., 1909-02-18
BACKED UP BY MONEY
Citizens Prove Their Interest
in Auditorium Project.
MASS MEETING is HELD
Movement Warmly Endorsed by
Business Men Present.
STOCK SUBSCRIPTION $1eo,eoo
Plans Submitted for Reaching the
Half Million Wanted to Build =.
Big Convention Hall.
STOCK SUBSCRIPTION $16o, 600

! Of the half million dollars to build an.
! auditorium such as will fill the needs of.
! Washington and bring to the city the
! HumbcrlesS large conventions which arc
now meeting in other cities because OF
! lack of accommodations i'll the National
/ capital the amount already subscribed to
stock in the Auditorium Company. Which
has undertaken to erect the building, Is
ROW $IGU6U3. This figure was reached
: Yesterday afternoon. when S2O,6o0 was
/ subscribed at mass meeting OF clliZens
ul the New Willard Hotel.
| Yesterdays meeting was attended by
! many persons who had not been present
! at prior meetings, and the makeup of
| the gathering indicated that interest III
! the project is growing rapidly: and the
speeches made by men who understand
! existing conditions in Washington star
| tied the ignorant by the information they
conveyed
/ This was particularly true in the case
: of William T. Guide, president OF the
! Chamber of Commerce. He cited
number. OF definite instances showing no"
large conventions which wanted TO conc
/ to Washington went TO other cities ana
spent Thousands of dollars SIMPLY pc
cause they could not get suitable ACCOM-
! modations i'll Washington.
Capitals One Great NeeG.
In the course of his address Mr. Guide
said:
IF there is any one thing tAis city.
needs more than another it is the audi
torum. IN 1898. when | was president OF
the Society of American Florists, adTo-
Gated an annual national flower snow.
That show was held. but it did not come
here. 1t went To Chicago Nhy. Be
nj.
meet. 1t lasted two weeks ana 'iie mo-
/ lists spent $500. 900 in Chicago.
/ "On the tventy-tirst birthday annivef-
/ s;,ry of oar floral society, we had 10 hiie
/ three halls in this town for our meet
| ing MI three of these halls were dls-
/ connected and not suitable for the pur-
nose The same difficulty was met WIN
! in the case of the meetings OF the Rose
! Society the Carnation Society ana the
| national Superintendents of public parks
! Mr. GUIDE said he went To Columbus
! Ohio not long ago with the posl'iFe as
s,rrance beforehand that the convention
! officers OF the American railway oupplH
( peoplc would gladly welcome proposltloh
/ from Washington for them TO bring theli
! convention to Washington. They "ahleo
! to see the capital.
! I'VE began to dig around among facts
and | had to own up that we had nothing
! i'm thiS CITY in the way of a convention
hail That settled it. They spent S-CV,ooo
| on their convention.
"The National Automobile Society and
| tic National Bowling Society are going
| tn hold bic conventions Are they going
/ to meet in Washington Not tins year
We have no convention hall.
| The Chamber of Commerce has been
| trying 10 bring conventions TO Nashl ~
! ton but we cannot ask people to visit us
ut our house because We have no house.
That is tho situation. l am ashamed for
! this city.
Milton +. Allies. chairman of TIE
tod hot
had boen subscribed and described tue
method of raising funds decided upon
bv his committee. Two hundred m"n
from various walks in life had been
selected to he cbalrmen OF supcoin
mittees representing their trades or
! professions. These subcommittee. he
said, were expected TO bring in $2,'uo
| each.
Other speakers were George II. Ha:
| ries who spoke for the Board of Trade;
| Gen. John NJ. Wilson, r. Ross PERI.
Judge c. G. Bundy Charles w. Need
! ham president of George Washington
/ | University; John w IerkeS. commits
! sioncr of internal revenue. and Mrs
/ Katie Wilson Green. All the speakers
| ardently advocated the project under
{ discussion, and gave vital reasons tor
the necessity of all auditorium
Yesterdays Subscriptions.
| The following were yesterdays sub
| scriptiOns:
Mrs. Ellen y. Warder, $4,000; Mrs.
! Gardner Hubbard. $1,000: Chester y.
| Snow. 81 .0JO; B. III. Warner. 81 900,
| Joseph Strasburger, 5000; William 7.
| Guide 500: H. Hunt. 500: \. r. i.
! Blair. $500: Daniel Levy, 500: Julia -.
/ Strong, Sl0n: j. NJ. Burrel, 500:
! Charles w Neediam. 500: II. Ham
mer $50: Q. q. Staples, $1,000; G. {.
! Lancaster $3.50; Mrs SilaS Hare. S1D0
George w. Stewart $50; Swartzel
! Rheem * Hen&ey. $500; +. w. Mckee.
! 5000; Clifford NJ. Lewis. $500; e. L.
/ Johnson 500: Conrad T. UiTicl, $500
r. a. Lewis 500: r. w Wheeler $.Nt0
Huntington Mills, $3.50: j. .. Ball 5000;
! w. y. Engel. SoUO: William Vundcr-
! heidc, 500; Levi Woodbury. $500
john r. :ileman, jr., Sloo and Conrad
/ Rc, k,r