The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-04
CITIZENS |NDORSE PLATFORM FRAMED FOR CIVIC CHAMBER Meeting Held Yesterday Afternoon at South
 ern Club
PLATFORM DETAILS
 GIVEN TO PUBLIC
Entire Reorganization of Chamber of Commerce to Be Effected-General Secretary to Be Held Responsi-
 ble Only to the Directors


 the Birmingham Chamber of Com
 merce, over 30 well known citizens of birmlngham met at the Southern club yesterday afternoon and indorsed the proposed programme for the coming year. Col. Tom O. Smith presided at the meeting, and among those present and giving their sanction to the work were the following: Charles Lutz. P. G. McGeever. J. W. Whatley, F. B. Wins
 low. Harry w. Coffin, A. w. Carey. Ersklne Ramsay R. l.. McMeans, J. G. Darden, Walter Stallings, W. D. Wood U. H. Ungerman, Morris Adler Sidney W. Lee, B. M. Allen, T. M. Mcclellan James Bonnyman, B. A. Schroder, .. H. Nesbltt, J. l.. Yancey, Glenn Gazzam j. J. Gilmore, Daniel B. Dimick R. AI Jenkins, B. A. IngIis. w. M Cosby George Gordon Crawford, w P. Redd
 Lee c. Bradley, A. R. Forsyth and Os- car Hundley
 Platform of Activities definite and concrete platform of activities has been presented to the citizens of Birmingham by the directors of the Chamber of Commerce. This
 platform is prefaced by a letter from crawford Johnson, president of the or ganization. The letter is as follows: To the citizens of Birmingham: You already know of the extensive 1 and enthusiastic movement now under way to rehabilitate the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and to establish
 an organization equipped with the men,
 the money and the policies that shall stimulate the growth and foster the welfare of the whole Birmin gham dis trict
 We wish you to know just what the
 directors of the chamber propose to
 do We wish you to understand why
 this work in which we are engaged is
 essential to our city.
 For this reason we present herewith
 platform of activities outlining the
 scope of the organization as a whole
 We trust that you will scrutinize
 this platform most carefully so that
 you may be ready to join when the
 committee calls next wek to invite you
 into the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce."
 The preamble to the platform of ac- tivities runs as follows: The board of directors of the Br- mingham Chamber of Commerce re- alizes:
 That the modern commercial or gantzation must be the central civic force for good.
 That it must be as broad in it's scope of activities as the whole community That it must be thoroughly demo- cratic and representative of every in- terest of the city and the surround ing territory.
 That it must be nonpartisan and nonsectional. efficiently for the welfare of the whole city and for all the people of the city That it must be established upon stable and sound foundation. ITO this end a thorough survey has been made, a plan of organization has been adopted. and a platform of activi- ties presented.
 Platform Is Presented "A Sound Financial and Comm ercial Organization-To insure efficiency
 commercial organization must have proper mana agement representative membership, adequate working funds and the element of permanency. It must have the same characteristics that insure the success of any corpo- rate business enterprise "Business Management-The business
 management of the Chamber of Com merce will be. as in the past, under the supervision of the board of direc- tors. There will be a definite platform of activities, comprehensive system of handling the interests of the organi- zation The working machinery of the chamber will be laid out in accordance with the most modern standards of commercial organization practice. Representative Mempership - A membership. thoroughly representative of every element of the community, is essential to sound commercial or- ganization. To secure such mem- bership an active campaign will be prosecuted next week. during the course of which campaign every indi- vidual who is financially responsible will be invited to join the chamber. The importance of thorough repre- sentation cannot be over estimated: no single interest or group of interests should be called upon to bear more than its share of expense; nor should any such interest be allowed to domf- nate.
 Adequate Working Funds-Uniform dues of $25 a year have been decided upon. Until now the dues of the Cham Der of Commerce have been lower than those of the corresponding organiza- tion in any other large city It Is necessary to place Birmingham on an equal footing with other cities of this country. Individuals, firms and corpo- rations will be asked to take member ships in proportion to their ability to pay and to their material interest in the community.
 Element of Permanency-It would
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