The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-01-13
Chambers Pre- sid en- t
Urges Different M ethod
of Handling It's Affairs.
PRESENT METHOD
TOO CUMBERSOME
President Wood and Other Off
GERS, All of Whom Were Re
Elected, Tell What Cham
Der Of Commerce Accom-
plished During Year.
What Reports Show.

F.! Officers Of the Richmond Chamber
| OF Commerce rendered AN account of
| thclr labors a, the annual meeting
! of that body last night. Short. concise
| reports of departments and commit
tees were read and accepted without
! comment. because every one seemed
satisfied and pleased with the best
! years work ever accomplished by the
! organization. All the old officers wer.
( elected, with the exception OF the
| board of directors. which. ACCORDING,
! L" the bylaws. Should have ten new
( members this year According 10 the
custom OF the chamber. President
! Henry w. Wood was again elected to
/ that office by acclamation, he having
served but one term.
| In the waY OF reports, MIR WOODS
statement Of the work Of the cha .nbcr
Tor 1910 was complete and covered
every phase OF It's usefulness He
reviewed the things accomplished dur
| Ing the year in manner that i'm
1 pressed the members with the fact
/ that he had at all times been In touch
/ with the office and WAS familiar with
| every detail Closing his report Mr
| wood called attention to some inn
! portant matters now before the cham
! Der. first taking UP the question Of
4 Fairgrounds. for which. according 10
an act OF the last Legislature. cities
comm 'ssions, and strongly recommend
/ ed a commission for this city
City Government Problems.
| Another matter. he continued.
which trust may receive early con
Sideration at the hands OF the City
Council. IS the adoption OF some
simpler system of managing tho af-
fairs OF the city.
| While not prepared TO advocate tho
~ 1tSr tN,,
appears TO lie much that Is cumbcr-
some In our present system and the
! overworked committees OF the Coun-
! Gil could by improved methods he re-
! lieved Of some of the routine and de-
tails with which they are at present
bnrdcned. plan that could divorce
the legislative from the executive work
! OF our government is we'll worthy OF
earnest consideration, and am conf
dent would be welcomed by many OF
the Councilmen themselves"
After going over the years work
and making other recommendations,
Mr. Wood presented figures showing
the city's commercial progress for the
year IS compared with others Of the
the chamber.
officers AGnin Elected.
With great snow of enthusiasm
and not dissenting vote the follow
! ing officers were elected:
| President. Henry w Wood
| First Vice President, r. NJ. Caring
| ton.
! Second Vice President. " r. Reed.
| Secretary, II. a. Dunlop
Treasurer. John H. Montague
Business Manag ger. William T. Dab
ney
Board OF Directors -elected)-w.
Meade Addison. S, r. Beveridge. Chas
T. Borden, samuel Cohen. John G..
Corley, James ID. Crump. o. Herbert
Funsten. T. Peyton Giles, f. G. Laird,
John NJ. Miller. Jr., j. r. Ryland, Fritz
Sitterding, Alvin NJ. smith Warren T..
Taylor, Coleman Workman: new Ed
mund Strudwick Charles c. Reed. John
r. Marshall, w. y. Moncure, Charles
p. Lee. H. w. Jackson. II. $. Bins
wanger. Gordon Wallace Spot;swood
J. Allen and Richard H. Smith
The traffic manager will be elected
by the inland trade committee. which
Will meet for that purpose as soon
as appointed by President Wood There
is no doub, but that the present man
nser, l.. S Goodman. will succeed HIM
self.
Action, Not Words.
The meeting last night was char
acterized by less speech making than
any held by the chamber In many
years There We're many calls. but few
had anything much to say. After many
calls MIR. Reed. when elected TO the
office of first vice president. rose. but
only 10 tell them that he was Il man
of action rather than words This
exactly struck the business spirit of
the meeting, and he took his seat amid
great applause. Business Mana ger
Dabney cmpha sized the statement made
by Mr. Reed.
The committee on membership re-
ported that during the year fifty
three new members had been obtained.
At the beginning OF 1911 there were
i'll members in good standing. which
brought the total Zip to sci Deduct
Ing forty eight who resigned. died Or
were dropped from the roll the actual
membership on January was I76. Be-
cause of other important matters i'm
which the chamber was engaged dur
ing the year, the business manager en-
planned that but comparatively small
portion Of his time could be devoted
to getting new members. The com
mittec expressed the opinion that there
were in the city more than 1000 avail.
able members. and said that in all
probability that number or more would
be on the roll by the end of the year
New Concerns Coming Here.
One of the most gratifying reports
!. read was that OF the committee on
business enterprise. Of which the
chairman is r. NJ Darlington Ii
showed that great number Of this
city's manufacturing plants had been
enlarged during the year, and that
others were preparing to make extern
sions. Aside from that there are a
number of now firms making ready to
come here, Twenty-three new manu-
| featuring plants were started IN tho
city last year Tho committee stated
details were being worked out for tho
proposed manufacturers exhibit build
Ing. which Is now practically assured.
Continued on Second Page.)