The border vidette., 1909-08-14
BOARD OF TRADE MEETING.
Annual Report of Secretary Rathburn
 lengthy But Interesting.

| the secretary of the Board Of Trade
 read Tuesday evening at the third an
 nual meeting of that organization:
 The Nogales & Santa Cruz County Board of Trade has nov completed
 successfully the thrrd year of it's exis
 istance, and in order that 1t may be
 seen how necessary to the community it has become, and how imperative it is that the organization should be con tinued and allowed to widen it's scope. it will not be amiss to glance for
 moment at the things for which it has | stood. and the things at which it has aimed, as well as the more tangible things it has brought to successful conclusion.
 That phase of the matter so aptly
 illustrat ted by the tale of the old man
 who showed hIs boys that you could
 break bundle of sticks if taken sep arately. but that the bundle as whole
 would resist all attacks, has been SO thoroughly demonstrated by the histo- ry of this organization thas it Is prob
 able that none of our merchants
 would care to look forward to the flu ture conduct of business in Nogales,
 without it's existance While the in fuence of the Board may not measure up very large from cursory glance at the balance sheet, it is wise to remem- Der that the growth of most things is not so planilyl seen in early stages as later. The history of the Boards' ac- tivity in behalf of the merchants in dealing with transportation companies. has demonstrated beyond cavil the im- porfant fact that Railroad Companies grant concessions to trade organiza- tions, where a single individual. be he ever SO important. would receive little consideration. That the City of No gales, at this crucial time, W hile the question of new adjustment of rates, to meet new extentions of lines is being made, cannot afford to lose the pres tige which the Board of Trade has given us, goes without saying. Rail roads do not grant the most satisfac- tory tariffs to the indifferent. Rail road tariffs may be dull subject to the uninitia ted, but every businees man here tonight knows that these same tariffs hold it within their pow CT to break the community. First then. the Board has made a record as a skillful arbitrator between the mer- chants and tine railroads
 Perhaps there may be some here who look back to the. promises of 8 public building for Nogales, and reiterate for the hundreth time that the building is no nearer realization than before the Board of Trade came into existsnce.s Rome was not made in day, and the present situation of affairs with regard to this building which would be of SO much use to Noeales. is that of the knot which wavers from one side to the other and back and forth across the chalk line of a tug-of- war. The bill has been introduced, and will certainly pass if it has steady and continuous support from this end of the line There are number of other towns in Arizona desirous of secu in 2 such build- ings, but it is generally conceded that Nogales stands before them all in pri- ority of claim, owing to the large num- Der of Government offices concen trated at this place. The history of securing this building. in the future, as in the past. will certainly rest largely with the Board of Trade. As with the rail roads, SO with our representative in Congress; an organization such as this cannot safely be ignored. if there were any disposition on the part of our Con- gressman to ignore it. But we have every rerson to believe that the Con gress which convenes the coming win ter will pass the bill now before that body for such building at Nogales, provided the citizens of this town do not think the battle won and SO get lazy. Let us pass. now to the matter of Irrigation. Perhaps some without the gift of sight will say: "The same old suhject". Yes, 'the same old thing" Tine citizens of Athens, whom we are told in Holy Writ, sought con- tinously in the days of Paul for some new thing, brought their city at last to it's destruction.
 Probably no step forward in the Boards fight for the irrigation of the Santa Cruz Valley is more momentous than the passage through the last Leg islaeure of bill providing for the euag- ing of the Santa Cruz River, with the Nogales Board of Trade the deposit ory of the funds for it's maintenance, such funds being appropriated from the territorial treasury for that pur- pose It means that this fight is no longer one of this town or county. It has enlisted the interest and co opera tion of the whole territory. Be sure that this fact will not be overlooked by the representatives of the Govern ment. A project which can command the attention of the Legisla lature is sure to receive careful consideration at the