The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-26
BUSY MEETING Of
BOARD OF TRADE.
Will maugurate Fight on
"Fake Auctions"
COMMITTEE is NAMED
Will See City Commissioners in Eff
fort to Have Something Done
About Matter-Oppose Tear
ing Down All Signs

The Board of Trade held a lively |
meeting at noon yesterday and con- /
demned the fake auctions" and ap-
pointed a committee to get to work on |
the matter of having these birds of !
passage removed. Not only is the board |
opposed to the transient auctioneer,
but they are also decidedly against the
itinerant merchant and this phase of
the situation will also be attended to
by the committee.
1t developed at the meeting that
there is at this time of the year good
many fly by nights" who come to Bir-
mingham, advertise that they will hold
an auction sale lasting for certain
period and after the sale is we'll under
way, continues it Indefinitely or until
the people quit buying They send out of
town and have goods shipped in and
can by this method continue the ac-
tion all the year round. These auc-
| tioneers do not stay in the city long
enough to pay a tax, and the only ex-
penses they are put to Is the cost of
city license and the overhead ex-
| penses of conducting the sale. This
| the Board of Trade declared yester-
day was injurious to the reputable mer-
| chants of the city and should be
stopped forthwith.
Committee Is Named
| Accordingly the committee was ap-
| pointed. 1t is composed of P. III. Lin
nehan, chairman; j. n. Rose, Solon
Jacobs B. H. Cooper, j. d. Rosenberger
John Sparrow F. J. Holberg, Leo Loeb,
| Frank Lynch, F. w. Bromberg, julius
Jaffee and Joseph Thompson. This COM
| mittee met at o'clock yesterday aft
ernoon and 1t was decided to call on the
city commissioners In the near future
and find out what measures could be
taken to stop the fake auctions" in
| this city. One method proposed is to
have the city put a prohibitive license
| upon such, and this method will be in
vestigated
! Solon Jacobs, while speaking along
this line said: THE merchants of the
| city contribute to all charitable pur-
poses as well as paying taxes, and /
| believe 1t Is the duty of all civic or
ganizations as well as the citizens in
general to protect the reputable mer-
| chants"
The Board of Trade yesterday ap-
pointed committee to be present at
| the meeting of the citizens committee
with the governor of Alabama, at which
| time lit is proposed to urge the need
| of Birmingham for an extra session of
| the state Legislature. 1t could not be
| learned yesterday just when the gov
ernor will arrive In Birmingham, but
1T is believed that he will be here
either Friday or Saturday
The committee appointed to meet
with the citizens committee is made
up of the following b. Fl. Cooper,
chairman r. w. Ewing, M. e. Linne-
han. J. D. Rosenberger and j. H.
| finder.
The Board of Trade went on record
as being in accord with the city COM
| m ito affn rfS to mi, mi
grade crossing evil in Birmingham.
motion was passed indorsing any ac-
tion the commissioners might take look
ing to the lessening of the evil
Urged to Attend Meeting
The committee recently appointed to
represent the Board of Trade in the
| matter of remaining the streets of the
city, made a report yesterday in which
| 1t stated that 1t had attended the meet
ing conducted by the city engineer and
that that gentleman was to call spe-
cial hearing. The members of the com
mittee urged the members of the Board
of Trade to attend this hearing, the
time of which will be announced later. |
During the meeting of the Board of
Trade the matter of the recent order
of the city commission, anent the tear
Ing down of all signs, was referred to.
1t seems that the city had enlisted the
aid of the Boy Scouts to help destroy
the signs and these little fellows In
their zeal to do the right thing were
destroying any and all signs The sense
of the discussion was that the board
did not believe that the commissions
order included all signs, but only those
unsightly pasteboards and other varie
ties, which are placed with no thought
or care as to their general appearance;
that it did not include the bill board,
when the signs on 1t were neat and
not Objectionable in any other way.
The following committee was appointed
to call upon the commissioners and
place the matter before them: j. II.
finder, chairman; Leo Loeb, F. ]. Hol
berg, ]. N. Rose and Frank Lynch.
The following were elected members
of the Board of Trade yesterday: Frank
Lynch, p. II. Linnehan, Il. w. Brom-
berg, Ed Warren, julius Jaffee, A.
Meyer. Albert Ash, Joseph Thompson
and Arnold Masberg.