The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-23

or Indirectly, to all trades and profes | sions of our city.
 The work of the league has continue | to engender and stimulate a spirit of co operation among the business men of ou I city. Merchants who were formerly wid apart are Tow together on many ques tions of business and public policy. Thi 1 has been demonstrated more than eve during the past year. The White Way l movement, while not In any way fostere' I directly by the league. conelusively show the promptness with which our merchant | now get together on such matters. II passing, it might be stated that nothin, so oonduces to the attractiveness ant 1 business getting of any city, or am 1 street of city, than light, and tha the merchants who started and who ar' pushing the White Way are entitled |, commendation.
 Our real work is focused on the on, object, TO bring more trade to Birmlng ham, This policy has been pursued con servetiYely and sanely, without favor tc any particular interest. The interests oi the less important line of business are a, carefully guarded as are those of tht most important. It is by this hewine strictly to the line that we have held the interest of our members and convinced them that the policy of our organiza- ton Is all for each and each for all, and all for Birmingham's trade develop ment.
 ',rhe clear cut and specific purpose of the league to bring more trade to the city has been strictly adhered to. No ef- fort has been wasted in futile work in other directions or in attempting to dc work which could be properly taken care of by other organizations.
 There is no question of the fact that the work of the league has been bene- fiCial fO inc ratafI da of In oh a nm Our records prove that it has brought in thousands Of out of town shoppers who have traded literally here
 Specific Work of League
 We do anything and everything that we can, legitimately, to increase Bir- mingham's trade. We secure every possi- ble concession from the railroads, both as to rates and schedules. We advertise Birmingham az a trading center We are constantly adding to our mailing list the names of actual or prospective shoppers. This list now embraces over 15,0OO names which we circularize regularly. Out of town shippers are classified by counties and by cities, ands aid us in distributing our Advertising.
 When shoppers fall to return here within reasonable time we write them a personal letter, asking why, and offer to remedy. if possible, any cause of dis satisfaction. In other words, we endeavor to go out after trade for the entire city in Just the same way any business house would go after trade for itself.
 While we refrain from meddling in politics of any kind. and our organiza- tion, as body does not attempt to in- fiuence legislation, our members have, as individuals, co-Qperated in furthering de- sirabie state legislation during the past year and also in frustrating such legis- laton as was considered pernicious to our b;usiness interests.
 ''The policy of the league is to avoid antagonizing the smaller cities and towns In our trade territory. To convince the out of town merchant that we are not after his local trade, but that wesdo want and will, if possible, have the out of town trade that has been going to the distant mail order houses. l am glad to add, too, that we are getting it.
 Advertising
 ''The advertising campaign has been continued along the same aggressive lines as heretofore. It consists of display ads In the local papers, varying from 32 inches to full pages; also in display ads in a large number of out of town papers, and by steel sign boards well located along the various railroads, a large number of leaflets, inserts, stickers and circulars Reading notices have also been used llb- erally. Our advertising was not only well distributed as to territory, but was mostly used at just such seasons as to make it most effective.
 The local and out of town press have been most generous in their cooperation In our work. Our records show that dur ing the year we paid for 21S2 inches of display matter in local papers. and 4S5t inches in od' of town papers. also thai VHrI hgA n hon 9... in local papers free of charge, the space being in 'fillers in. early editions. which were mostly distributed outside the city, giving effective advertising. The local papers also gave us gratis an ag- gregate of 19,1S5 lines of reading notices
 Conventions, Etc.
 We have. independently, or in coop eration with other local organizations brought here and financed or helped finance, number of trade bringing con ventions. among the most important of which might be mentioned the National Good Roads congress, the Alabama grand lodge of knights of Pythias. and the National Childs Labor convention.
 We have secured the Alabama State Educational convention for Birmingham for next spring. This will bring from POO to 30oo teacher delegates here for three days Just prior to Easter, and will mean much to the retail trade of our city, Tn fact it is considered the best convention in the state from the merchants view point These conventions have been oi will be secured without any contribution or other financial support from our mem bers, except their regular dues
 ''The Alabama State Fair, held October 5-14 was again conducted under the auspices of the Business Mems league It was most successful in every yav It's attendance was over 200,OO0, a large proportion of which was from out of town All the hotels and boarding houses of the city were crowded to overf1owing dur. ing the ten days of the fair, and 1t is estimated that over $500,000 was left here by those who attended
 Tt is thought that, if the Business Mems league had accomplished nothing more during it's existence than to hays conducted the last three successful state fairs, it has been a splendid investmen, to the general trade of the city Wher in addition 10 this, 1t has secured week end rates on the railroads has so i'm proved the railroad accommodation scfAd. ules as. to make Birmingham passenga, facilities the equal, If not the superior of auy city in the south; brought mum Der of trade bringing conventions here conducted a refund bureau for refundins railroad fares of out of town shoppers and given its members several times nor. specific advertising than they could hay, bought direct from the newspapers fo, the amount of their membership dues, tn, work of the lcleue should be appreciated l Had the merchants of this city not beer able to secure the week end rates, withou subscribing a lump sum of s5,O0O fo, that purpose alone. it would have been { good investment. All of the above bene