The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

as much If not more than any other class
to make the city what It is. You can COM
pare them with any other body of men
in existence for wit. intellect, energy or
honesty and optimism; few will equal
them and none have more. Birmingham
is to be congratulated on her travelling
men and what they are doing for the
city
"As for the subject I am to discuss. |
know that everybody-man woman and
child-wants to pull together. The ques-
tion is, how shall We do it? We must
first find where we are; then find out
whatsis wrong with us; what are the OBJ
stacles in our way, and next decide upon
goal or where we want TO 90. I have
my ideas of what is wrong with this city
and no doubt you ha We yours. But IL
we differ, we will pull apart and do harm
instead of good. What we need is some
smart man to find a common ground upon
which all of us can get together and
pull together to overcome our faults and
attain our goal.
Must Have High Ideals
IN pursuit of this idea as to what our
problems are and how we are to find
them out, we must realize that if the
prosperity and happiness of a people is to
be real or permanent they must apply
the rule of high ideals to their funda-
mental operation. They must not make
the mistake of allowing the wholesome
and beneficicnt movements of their civic
and commercial life to be destroyed or
nullified by the sordid activities of the
underworld and it's powerful protectors
who are backing up agencies that are
ever al work sapping the foundations of
our social structure"
Franks Means, told how the travelling
man was and could be a booster. He
stated the biggest bugbear the travelling
man had to meet was the talk of a panic
and he was glad that at last there were
assurances no such event would occur
He stated that if a travelling man is to
be successful and an asset to his town
that honesty and integrity must count
more in his estimation than a dollar
and ne plead with the jobbers and mer-
chants and civic workers and citizens in
general of Birmingham to give talking
points to the drummers on how to boost
Birmingham, to quote figures and con-
stantly keep them informed of compari-
sons which come to every citizens no.
tice.
j. d. Moore stated the travelling man
had come to stay. That he was the most
necessary part of any concerns business
organization. He said that many efforts
had been made to conduct business with
out the travelling man, but all had failed
and no doubt all would continue to fail
He emphasized the point that the travel
ing man is teacher; that his opportunity
for leadership and education among the
people he meets in the rural and semi
urban communities in the way of making
them workers for Alabama and Birming-
ham is tremendous.
Johnson Makes Talk
w A. johnson stated that while he
was comparatively a new man in Bir-
mlngham he had learned its many good
points and he prophesized a great future
He said that the travelling man and the
merchants who have for the basis of all
their relations and operation the dollar
are misfits and should change their oc-
cupation. The keynote of the good work
of travelling man for his city and his
mouse, he said, was co-operation
Y. S. Gage pointed out the fact that
outsiders are very prone to Judge a city
by the character of the travelling men
who circulate out from it. He stated
that the travelling mans most important
work was to encourage Alabama farmers
to raise the many articles that now have
to be shipped to Birmingham from other
states. He said the sales force was the
most important branch of any business
organization.
1t was announced that the regular meet
Ing of the United Commercial Travellers,
which was to have been held last night
will be held Tuesday night Secretary
Radcliffe of the Chamber of Commerce
stated that there may have been some
travelling men of the city who had been
missed, but that it was unintentional and
that If there were any such that they
should send their names to the chamber
office now so that they would be on
the invitation list for next year. A tele-
gram was read from Jalhes A. Woods
who was in Shelbyville. Tenn, In which
he said no city had a greater future than
Birmingham and expressed his regards
for the Alabama travelling men.
The printed programmes were given to
the committee in charge by Roberts &,
Son, the we'll known printers and at
tracted much attention with their neat
and attractive appearance box of
cigarettes was given to each diner by
the r. j. Reynolds Tobacco company,
there being 5000 cigarettes circulated.
The Programme
The programme was as follows:
Chairman, Harry jones'
Toastmaster, w. p. G. Harding, pres
ident Chamber of Commerce.
Get Together for Birmingham. i"
Hon. George B. Ward, president board
of commissioners.
1.-THE Travelling Man Booster"
Frank Means. president Alabama di-
vision, Travellers Protective associa-
ton
Travelling Men One of City's Best
Assets" ]. d. Moore. .
Cooperation" w A. Johnson, Unit
ed Commercial Travellers Association
of America
Wholesale Trade as a Builder of
Cities" V. S. Gage
railroad Transportation" L.
SEWER.
The menu was as follows:
Oyster Cocktail
Michigan Celery Queen Olives