The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-24
Sibley Succeeds Massey
 As Head of Ci0ic Body
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meeting this crying need or our county.
 Without assuming any patent right to
 the originality of the idea, throw out
 as a suggestion to these two commit tees that 1t might be feasible to estab-
 fish a joint city and county building,
 after the fashion of Memphis, Tenn.
 and locate same in the center Of cap
 itol park, one floor of which could De
 used as a great auditorium. The pres
 ent courthouse property and our city
 hall would probably sell for enough 10
 erect this suggested structure
 Tn conclusion permit me to say that
 in the conduct of my office l shall en- deavor to exemplify our motto, 'Not Tor self but for all,' and l wish every cit- izen to feel free to make any sugges- tion that will conduce to the commercial welfare of our city.
 "T thanlx vou again for your confidence
 and esteem in electing me to this hon. orable position
 Reds Win
 The gathering was attended by a pleasant rivalry between Capt. Solon Ja-
 cobs of the Reds and Capt. John c. Lusk of the Blues for the largest SCOT ing under their individual flags. When Mir. Massey rapped for an opening of the meeting the red and blue votes were | collected to show the actual returns, and | it was announced by the chair that the reds were victorious.
 | An exhaustive review of the events. l incpient movements and achievements of | the Chamber of Commerce marshalIed by | the chairmen of the respective standing committees consumed the major portion l of the session. Each committee reported fully of it's work and efforts with an l optimistic outlook for every department
 involved that promises to record 1912 as
 one of the most prosperous in the annals | of the association
 l H. ". Coffin, chairman of the com- mittee on railroads and transportation l submitted the first report for 1912, which l read in part as follows:
 There have been small individual re- ductions In rates to and from our city, but no distinct departure In any partic- | ular line from the rates which have prevailed for many years. Our city ex- perenees some rate disadvantages to and from the east, as we feel that we are not on an equitable rate basis with other
 nearby commercial centers with whom
 we compete in common territory. Your
 committee, acting through the freight
 bureau, has presented this question to
 the traffic officials of all the lines here,
 but they were unwilling to take any
 definite action in the adjustment sug
 gested until the commission has definitely settled the meaning of the long and short haul clause. This matter is before the
 railroads yet and we hope for an amic able and satisfactory adjustment.
 AS a rule, our freight service con tinues to show considerable improve men., though some complaints are made that we should have more package cars from Birmingham than we now have. Some of our large wholesale houses claim they are at a disadvantage in competing with other places for inter- mediate trade because of the lack of n1n on ha matter under consideration and if the claim is borne out by the facts we will take it up with the proper traffic offi- cials and endeavor to get such an ar- rangement as will relieve the situa- tion.
 We gre very much pleased to report a marked improvement among the car riers in the manner of settling claims. The freight bureau is endeavoring to have established here a public joint tariff file of all the rates issued by the roads which affect this district: this would be economical to the carriers and beneficial to the shipping public. It is also endeavoring to induce the car
 riers to furnish it a docket of subjects considered at the meetings of the class flied committee in advance of such meetings so that when any article is | sought to he changed from one class | to another the dealer or manufacturer
 
 present his reasons for or against such a change
 Through the efforts of this commit tee the time of arrival and departure of the local trains entering Birming- ham on the Central of Georgia railroad has been so arranged that the people living along the line are enabled to spend considerably more time here and return to their homes the same day" Local Trade
 The committee report on the promotion
 of local trade, prepared by the chairman,
 Robert W. Ewing. was read and was .n part:
 When your committee, composed of R. w. Ewing, chairman; J. H. White, George McCleery, Herman Salss and R. H. Baugh, was first called together the first thing that was done was to start an investiga- ton as to whether or not the local mer- chants and manufacturers were being pa tronized as fully as they should be by
 our own people. investigations developed
 the fact that they did not in all instances
 appear to be enjoying the amount of local
 patronage they should enjoy. This was
 attributed, to large extent, to the ignor- ance of our people as to just what things Birmingham manufactures.
 "A campaign of education was, there fore, undertaken in various ways to bring our merchants and manufacturers to ats- vertise their wares more fully in various
 ways and also bring people to the at ttude Of mind where they would stop, think. and inquire before making pur7 chases as to whether or not the exact articles or others which would answer their purpose, could be procured of Bir- mngham merchants or of the manurac- turer in the Birmingham district.
 This campaign of publicity did some lt- tie good and great many more people in Birmingham now understand more fully just what is made and sold in Birmin,,
 ham and that they have contracted the
 habit of asking for tho Birmingham prod ucts wherever possible, and therefore prac- tce the injunction of the slogan adopted, Trade in Birmingham Steps were then undertaken to see to it that, the people
 in the Birmingham area understood more
 thoroughly the facilities of the Birmins- ham merchants anad manufacturers for supplying them, in order that they too
 might be Justified in Trading in Birmng- ham, The committee has on several oc- casions exercised it's good office in trying
 to bring buyer and seller together to the end that building might be let contrac- tors. that local firms and auditors might be employed and locaf merchants and
 manufacturers given the preference. an,l
 satisfactory results have in quiet way in
 several notable Dlstances been accom-
 plished in the past year along these rn... Travelling Mems Dinner
 with view of boosting Birmingham S mercantile and manufacturing interests in
 the Birmingham, trade territory. the idea
 was conceived by your committee of
 hayiuv a travelling men's hoocferc d;ppa-