The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-11

< Directors of the Chamber of Com [ : merce that the administration of 1 %- President A. H. Ford, which is com- ' l ' ing to close has been conspicu- | < ous for intelligent and sustained ' < effort for the public good, and has ' < resulted in untold benefit to the < Chamber of Commerce and the city < of Birmingham. < Be it Resolved, further, That < < President Ford has been an inspir- | < ation to his associates, who here % with tender him this tribute of \ l < appreciation of his able, unselfish '
 < and patriotic labors. < Be 1t further Resolved That a '
 ., copy of these resolutions be spread ' < upon the minutes. ' l l An enviable record is contained in the reports of the president and sec retary of the Chamber of Commerce. which were submitted at the annual meeting last night. 9,.,s
 Retiring President A. H. Ford: "The Accomplish ments of the Chamber of Comme cree in the Year 1910" Secretary Joseph B. Babb: "A Com | parison of Birmingham in 1900 with 1910"
 1 MT. Ford in happy speech, attrib- uted the success of his administration to the pull together spirit of the mem bers He narrated a few of the big things which the organization accom- plished in the past year.
 Secretary Babb told briefly of the | work of the year and, pn the ground l that figures count. gave the chamber the benefit of the actual figures of the growth of Birmingham in 10 years
 These figures have never before been so fully compiled and go even farther l than the census report in proving the l remarkable growth of the city.
 Here are a few of the percentage increases over 1900, which he gives: Bank clearings. 296 per cent; bank. de- posits, 227 per cent; coal production' 1 90 per cent; cars handled by railroads, S4 per cent pig iron production. o2 per cent: steel production. 51 per cent; city tax assessment. 2s6 per cent; coun- | ty tax assessment 210 per cent; post office receipts, 26S per cent. The moot remarkable figures in the report arc those showing the work started and under. way or completed during 1910. He gives the improve ments in detail and gets total of s27,74s,O44, not including twelve mil lions of capital stock of new corpora tions-,,. 4ArN s.sss,t. -a,t ss,s
 In his address President Ford said; Members of the Chamber of Commerce
 of I3irmingham:.
 l Gentlemen-A busy year in the history Of our organization draws to close to- 1 night. Reviewing the work we have done and the steps forward we have taken. | although we have few failures of effort | to record, I am impressed with two con- ditlons which seem to have been In evi- l dence all through the year, viz. spirit l of cooperation has taken possession Of every member. Our motto, Not for self l but for all," has governed, and this has l been strikingly demonstrated in the splen- l did team work done by the committees. l The individual members have been, talk ing part in the activities of the chamber l and have made our meetings large in att | tendarice and instructive and helpful to l every one attending. New men have ] come into the ranks of the workers and new voices have been heard in the dis 1 cussions of important questions which l have stimulated the whole organization
 
 The reports of the various active com l mittees which will be made to you to- night, giving an account of the past years 5 | work, tell a story of patient, thoughtful | effort of groups of busy men. on public l and commercial problems In which every | one of us has more or less direct in- l terest. These committees and the reports | they submit really stand for the value
 which this organization is to the civic and | commercial life of Birmingham --csides the subjects handled by the committees | I might mention briefly the following spe- | cial matters which have received et- | tention:
 We instituted the farm movement de- | partment, which looks to the improvement of white labor conditions in the district and the reduction of the cost of living. l
 regard this as the most important work | which the Chamber of Commerce is un- dertaking.
 movement to build an annex to the | Jail was condemned as unwise and un- judicious. A committee waited on the
 Board of Revenue to present the resolu- ton.
 A tablet in memory of Gen. Rufus N.
 Rhodes was ordered installed in the audi | torium. ss5if
 We approved the Boys Corn club of the
 state of Alabama.
 We pledged all members of the Chamber of Commerce to trade in Birmingham and appointed a special committed, with R. w. Ewing as chairman, to cooperate with @ similar committee from the Business Mems league to carry forward this move ment.
 ''The Story of Coal and Iron in Ala
 bama,' by Miss Ethel Armes, was pub lshed and a committee appointed to as-
 sist the author in placing this important work before the public. MT. Jones C.. Moore was appointed chairman of this committee.
 On request of Congressman Underwood committee from the board of directors suggested the amount of the appropria-
 ton for a site for the new postoffice building. Congress appropriated $200 900 and the site on the corner of Fifth ave- nue and Nineteenth street has been se- lected The Chamber of Commerce adopted resolutions thanking Mir. Under-
 wood for his services and congratulating him on his success
 A committee was appointed to see that Birmingham received a proper census enumeration. This committee was active in arouslng the people of Birmingham to a sense of cooperation with Census Enumerator John T. McEniry and per formed valuable and effective service We adopted resolutions condemning the clause of the national court of commerce bill relating to long and short haul of freight.
 committee was appointed to formu- late @ plan by which the natural gas of Fayette field could be utilized for Bir- mingham. nf f+ss
 Packing houses were requested to place the fire insurance on their property with