Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-01-19
BELLOWS FALLS NEWS
Important Board Of Trade Matters.

Important Board Of Trade Matters,
Various matters in connection with the
| Bellows Falls board of trade have been
of general interest the past week. The
annual meeting last week Tuesday even
ing of which The Phoenix had an account
last week, showed the organization to be
| in excellent condition and doing a valu-
able work along various lines. The new
officers have organized and, together
with the committees, are laying plans
| for a much extended and more agrees
! sive campaign the present year.
The annual banquet in Hotel Windham
Friday night was one of the most sue
cessful functions from every point of
! view in the history of the board. Much
| interest had centred in meeting and
hearing Timothy e. Byrnes of the New
! Haven and Boston & Maine railroad sys-
| TENS, who was born here and with his
parents went west when he was seven
years old. He came to Bellows Falls Fri
| day afternoon in his private car, accom-
panied by his secretary. They were met
| at 2.35 by a committee of five from the
| board of trade, who spent an hour or
! more very pleasantly in a social way.
| Mr.. Byrnes then devoted most of his
time to his own work, having brought his
| work shop with him, until o'clock. At
that hour large number of the members
/ of the board and citizens had gathered in
! the hotel parlors at Hotel Windham, and
| until 8 o'clock the time was spent very
| pleasantly in an informal social inter-
| course.
Landlord Willis had the banquet ready
promptly on time at ., and the party
repaired to the dining room. Seated at
the head of the table were the guests of
| the evening, together with Vice President
L. L. Hldreth and Secretary Carl S.
Hopkins of the Bratteboro board of
trade, and Z. X. Morrison, president of
the Acworth board, together with the
| officers of the local board Covers were
laid for 81 persons, and very few were
| not used The banquet was a regular
| course dinner and did much credit to the
management of the hotel the service
| being excellent and the viands well
cooked and hot The tables were dec
| Grated with a profusion of flowers, and
the dining room presented an attractive
| appearance. 1t was remarked during the
evening that II was one of the best
spreads which those present ever had
partaken in local hotel
At 1890 President Edward Kirkland
introduced Deacon C. w. Osgood, who
had charge of the post prandal exercises.
| He called up Secretary Hopkins of Brat
tleboro and President Morrison of Ac-
worth, each of whom made brief remarks
of an interesting character. Deacon
Osgood caused much amusement in his
| introduction of the speaker from Brat
| lleDOTO ny ltlllHB llt SlOIy VI lhe DOy
who, in competition, swan across the
river three times, as stated by a
story teller, and the question had arisen
as to why he had not gone the fourth
time in order to get back to the side
where his clothes were The application
of the story involved the question as to
which side of the Connecticut Brattle-
boro was now on in connection with the
railroad controversies of the past year.
Deacon Osgood then called upon the
speaker of the evening, who held the
closest attention of his audience a little
over two hours, and at its close many
expressed the wish it might have been
continued longer.
In a mastery way Mr.. Byrnes secured
the sympathies of his listeners by relat-
ing many incidents locally Of his child
hood days, including his rescue from
the canal, into which he had gotten be-
yond his depth, and circumstances in
connection with a justice court where a
boyhood friend was tried, which caused
him then and there to decide to become
a lawyer, to which decision he attributed
many successes in later life. He paid
an eloquent tribute to the integrity and
manhood of his father, who was a section
boss and later road master under Super
intendent Madison Sloat, to whose exam
| pie he owed much. He brought his
hearers to the subject nearest his heart,
that of railroading, and gave those pres
| of the problems with which the manage
ment of large railroad systems have to
contend and an intimate glimpse of the
| personality of President Charles S. Mel
len, the great New England Railroad
| manager Many interesting facts of loca
interest developed during his talk, includ-
ing the fact that it was the present in
tention of the New Haven system,
within the next year or two to construct
scenic railway from the base to the
top OF Mount Washington, 10 miles long,
circling the mountain number of times,
giving continued glmpses of the beautiful
scenery of New England and at the top
to erect a large and magnificent hotel;
also, If it is possible, it is the desire of
the system to construct a first-cas
double track line the entire distance from
| Greenfield to the mountains, as the pres
ent summer traffic, its steady increase
year by year. and the proposed added at
fractions at Mount Washington seem to
fully warrant the additional outlay
Only cursory reference was made to
the complications with the Central YER
mont in this valley, he giving his hearers
the impression that the Boston e Maine
much preferred one double track route
owned by the two corporation now, and
with joint trackage rights instead of either
paraleling the others lines, The whole
address was of the greatest interest to
all and it was nearly l o'clock when the
| party broke up.
An interesting incident brought about
| by the speakers warm reference to local
matters in Bellows Falls was the decis-
ion of the officers of the board of trade
, to present Mr.. Byrnes, before leaving
with a heavy, leather-bound copy of the
recently published History of Rocking
ham and Bellows Falls" suitably inscrib-
ed as from the board of trade, as a
souvenir of his first public visit to his
native town.
In a meeting of the officers and di.
rectors Monday evening the committees
for the coming year were appointed. The
new bylaws adopted last week provided
for an increased number of these com