Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-01-25
BOARD OF TRADE BANQUET
Congressman Browning and Moore
and Hon. d. O. Watkins Address
Large Gathering

With Congressman j. Hampton
Moore as the notable speaker, the
Woodbury. Board of Trade held their
most successful banquet last Friday
evening, So members of the Board be-
ing present including many guests.
| A more representative assemblage
of the well-wishers of Woodbury.
could not have been selected. Presi-
dent Coombs, of City Council; Presi-
dent Underwood, of the Board of Edu-
cation; Supervising Principal of the
Woodbury. schools, H. G.. Dixon; P. r.
Rice, of the Blasius Co.; A. w. Du-
rell, president of the Country Club,
Superintendent Bailey, of the. trolley
company; Warner Cooper of the Mill
& Lumber Co.; real estate promoters
Hendrickson and Mayhem, representa- !,
tives of the press, and many others
were present, and drank deeply #
the enthusiasm with which the adj
dresses of Mr. Watkins and Con-
gressman Moore were pregnant. And
to cap all, and as the crowning of all
| the work of the Board of Trade, was
the midnight announcement of Con-
gressman Browning that the site for
the post office building was to be the
very place selected by the Board of
Trade, and that favorable recon-
mendation would be made to Congress
/ for an appropriation to make Wood
bury Creek navigable, which practi-
cally assures that the time when
Woodbury. may be reached by water
/ without heed to tide, is in the very
near future, if only the Board of
Trade will continue to further the
project.
This announcement by Congress-
man Browning is. distinct triumph
for the Board of Trade For many
years, the deepening of the creek pro
gram has been agitated, and the pre-
liminary work apparently begun, but
not till this body of men took up the
proposition, has there been any real
! initiative of an united character ex-
erted That the efforts of the Board
| have born fruit, is now undeniable,
and that such body of men is need
ed if a Greater Woodbury. is to be
realized is without question, for
through them the post office site has
| been definitely announced, and the
| improvement of the creek become a
hthe declaration of Mr. Browning It
has passed into the province of the
actual
It was shortly after eight o'clock
when the announcement was made
that the places at the banquet table
might be occupied. WI Livermore,
chairman Of the Boards Entertain
ment Committee, bade the guests of
the Board welcome and bespoke for
| them pleasant evening, and then
President Shivers assumed the duties
of toastmaster.
For two hours the banqueting was
| indulged in; at twenty-five minutes
after ten, Hon. David O. Watkins be-
| ing presented as the first speaker of
the evening. Music was furnished by
the Moose quartette, their selections
being one of the most appreciated
parts of the evenings program. The
food as prepared by John Rachor, Jr.,
was beyond and above criticism, and
/ the speaking and spirit of the evening
were highly enthusiastic.
Mr.. Watkins urged that we work
! for homer I'VE are derelict," he
said, sin allowing Woodbury. Creek to
| be nothing more than a streak of
! mud II can remember the time
| when sloops and schooners were com
! ing up the creek and when there was
a direct line of travel by steamer,
three times a week, between Wood
bury and Philadelphia. Its present
wretched condition is the outcome of
our own neglect 1t is the duty of
our people to insist that the improve
ment be made and with a united eff
/ fort, the widening of the creek will be
accomplished. 1t is not hard, nothing
/ is hard if the people are back of it.
We should not let petty jealousies and
4 trivialities sidetrack civic welfare and
development, as it has done in the
| past, merely because one person was
! not getting the credit or consideration
which he thought was his due"
! The speaker cited the first COM
merce on Woodbury. creek; when food
was obtained from Indian women by
settlers who, when their stock of
provisions had run low pushed up our
creek and sent bark of trees across
/ to the women to be loaded with maize
and corn. In those days Woodbury.
was as important a place as Philadel-
phia or Burlington but due to her
superior water transportation facili-
ties Philadelphia has come to be a
city third in Importance in the United
States from the population aspect.
After Mr. Watkins had finished his
truly remarkable address, Mr. Shiv-
ers presented Congressman ] Hamp-
ton Moore, of Philadelphia, perhaps
the greatest student and highest au-
thority on the subject of Waterways,
in the United Safes. For an hour and
ten minutes Mr. Moore addressed his
audience, and the seventy minutes
seemed no more than forty, SO we'll
did he hold his audience as he grad
ually fastened into the intellects of
his hearers the fact that in so far as
a community is favored by navigable
waterways, Just to that extent will
commerce, and the benefits cluster
| ing around barter and exchange, be
enjoyed by that community.
Mr.. Moore opened his speech quot
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