Evening star., 1915-04-11

operation in the departments. BY CO
operation with the Department OF Com
merce and the bureau of foreign and do
mestic commerce, it is able also to fur
nish speedily to members special informa-
ton of value as to developing markets
and selling goods. Further, the chamber
publishes a large monthly journal. the
Nations Business, edited by DIR. Louis T.,
Van Norman, with Robert d. Heinl as
associate
"As mouthpiece for business in the
expression of opinion the chamber has a
large duty to perform and grave re-
sponsibility to assume. Obviously it must
not be swayed by partisan consideration.
1t must not undertake to advance any
special interest of any particular Industry
or business if it is in any way inconsis-
tent with the public interest,
"Hence, in this extremely democratic
organization Of ours there exists sys-
tenn of ascertaining with precision what
is the opinion of the business of the coun-
try on any given subject. In the interim
between annual meetings this expression
of opinion is secured through the medium
of carefully prepared referenda- They
are usually based on the report of com
petent committee, which always presents
varying sides of public question when
ever there is a difference.
Our organization acts on these reports
and their votes, assembled in our Wash
ington headquarters, constitutes a de-
pendable expression of opinion. such as
brought out by open and public consid-
Grafton of a question, are receiving the at
tention they deserve from members of
Congress. because they come in an order
ly way from the men at home. whom they
know and whose dependablity they thor
oughly understand.
ANY organization has the right to pre-
sent for the consideration of the Chamber
OF Commerce of the United States any
project which 1t considers of national
Importance. and II the board Of directors
decides that 1t is national question IL
then becomes the duty of the board to
see that the question is submitted, with
every fact available bearing upon II To
the constituent membership of the cham.
ber.
This work in crystallizing the busi-
ness opinion of the country on import
ant public questions already has had a
marked effect The officers of the
government. this being a representa-
tive government, have an earnest de-
sire to know what the people of the
country need and what they want
What does business want?' has been
question heretofore hard to answer,
and there has resulted much misunder-
standing. The referenda of the Cham
ber of Commerce of the United States
are producing the required answers,
but also are causing much wholesome
discussion by men who have heretofore
not interested themselves overmuch in
public affairs.
"And right here. would like to point
out that in recent years there has de-
veloped among the business men of
the country an unselfsh and patriotic
interest in public affairs. The new
development in local chambers of COM
merce, such as I have indicated in the
foregoing, which development, by the
way, began only some fifteen years
ago, is directly traceable to that spirit.
You would be astonished II you could
know of the many active business men
in all parts of the country who are
sacrificing their own time and their
own profits to further the general good
through the mediums OF commercial
organizations.
'Co-operation with government de-
partments is a large part of the work
Of the Chamber of Commerce of the
United States. The government has
had in operation for some ten years a
Department Of Commerce. Secretary