Evening star., 1915-01-31

I tion spoke it was the voice of all labol
! speaking in union.
! So with agriculture. When the Kan
sas and Iowa farmers wanted bigger
seed appropriation they appealed te
the national watchdog of their inter
ests. the Nationa! Grange. and IT p.eaa
ed the case of all the soil. 1t got re-
i suits. too.
| Don't think for d moment that Busl-
ness was without organization: I'm
posing groups. national and local. were
dedicated to special interests, there
were chambers of commerce. boards OF
trade and commercial clubs everywhere
But they were isolated outposts tha'
lacked cohesion and concentration Tor
the general welfare Of trade.
Was Mortuary Chapel.
The old chamber of commerce was a
mortuary chapel. full of well meant
but embalmed Intentions. It's chief
function was to give dinners and pass
resolutions
Then came the new chamber of COM
merce, which was n live. alert, wide
awake civic and commercial force. But
it was hopelessly sectional. The San
Francisco chamber could not agitate 4
movement for the benefit of the whole
country: so with Chicago. Boston and
New Orleans.
Presidents VINO wanted TO Ieel lHe
pulse of business found no official wrist
to hold. No one realized this more than
Mr. Taft. That energetic American n
traveller had sat at the banquet table
of many OF these live wire commercial
organizations. He saw in them the
leaven of a larger loaf.
"All they need is co-ordinaton, he
said.
At his suggestion a meeting of rep
resentatives of all such ORGANIZATIONS
was held at Washington. and out OF II
emerged the Chamber of Commerce OF
the United States, as the spokesman
and envoy of business.
Democracy. lies at its base. The
board of trade of Alton, ILL.,. comes IN
on the same equality with the Mer-
chants Association of New York city:
dues are based on the income OF the
member body.
Its First Big Job.
The chamber came into being AT
time when Congress was the real stew
ard of American business. when ne"
laws were crowding thick and last
upon commerce. The first job was to
find out what business thought OF these
laws. and put this opinion up to Wash
ington.
It could not hold a convention OF
members every time there was neeo ol
such a census. 1t therefore ioopteu ~
referendum as the agency Win "niIn
to tap sentiment. rms Wcfo sounus
high brow and has the flavor OIL a can. . .
paign platform plank. AS matter ot
fact, it simply means finding out What
the people think and want. lneie
where the chamber took on lts rsai
human interest and got close orhs 70 III.
and our old friend John Jones, the III
tle merchant of Four Corners, any
where, will illustrate.
The chamber got out Referendum
on the new federal reserve pankins s
act analyzing the law and making
some recommendations, chief OF wnlcn
was for an advisory council composea
of practical business men, AT the SAM
time the chamber sent out much iiteL s1s
ture explaining the law, "ha' II "''-
and meant to everybody.
Vow. John Jones-and he was mercy
, type of the average business man a. a.
over the country-knew ph prac.aJaH;yt i
nothing about this law, althoueh
about 1t in the newspapers, nui II hn I,u
not get down to his mental level. Junii
Iones is a member of the Four Cor
ners' Commercial Club and 1t, IN Turn
10 afiliated with the Chamber or Com
nerce of the United States. The CLUB
got the referendum on the banking
law and all the literature about IL. IT
was not considered in private commit
tee session, but in open meetlng' Whese th e
John Jones and all the rest u '"o
members could take part.
What Jones Found Out.
Jones found out that under the pro-
nosed law there was a wider and more
elastic use of commercial paper; that
If he we're a manufacturer. however
small. he could take an acceptance
from a slow-pay customer, discount It
and get more financial elbow room for
himself.
Naturally, he was moved to say:
This law is a pretty good thing for
all kinds of business.
|. The net result, in a WORD is tnas
laws, permanent tariff commissions,
national budgets. government bureaus
or statutes that regulate interstate
commerce. are text books for the bus'-
ness man. no matter what his station.
They make him better merchant or
producer, a more intelligent and eff
cient citizen. He is enabled to keep
closer tab on his congressman, and he
learns to demand a higher quallty or
service from him.
How about the effect on Congress? A
concrete and somewhat historic episode
in this drama of business awakening
will demonstrate.
One October afternoon, in 1913, two
groups assembled in committee room
in the Senate wing of the Capitol, at
Washington. One was the Senate COM
mittee on banking, the other delega-
tion from the Chamber of Commerce of
the United States, headed by it's then
president, Harry A. Wheeler of Chi
cago.
It was critical time for business
and Legislation, because the Owen
Glass currency bill was up for discus
sion.
Here is a referendum on the banking
law" said Mr. Wheeler, that we be-
lieve, expresses the intelligent and
united business sentiment of the coun-
try"
Senator Nelson Shrugged.
Around the table where the men sat
was Senator Knute Nelson of Mime
sofa. At this statement he smiled in
diligently. shrugged his shoulders and
said:
How do you know that this repre-
sents united business opinion? l know
something about these chambers OF
commerce. / am a member of one back
home. They mean well, but they don't
get very far
But this referendum does mean
something" replied Mr.. Wheeler. 1T
is the voice Of l34 commercial bodies
scattered throughout twenty five
xt. = NJ. S<, Il l..