The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-24
BOARD OF TRADE
 CHARTER LIKELY
 TO BE ANNULLED
Organization Once Powerful in Civic Affairs Becomes
 Dormant.

dicate that the board may fall from | the commanding position that it has
 held in the civic and commercial af-
 fairs of Bridgeport.
 | Meetings haven't been held lately,
 there Is doubt as to who holds the
 presidency and the famous charter that gave the board great powers, may be annu11ed.
 No annual election of officers has been held for the last two years, ac- cording to the records of Wallace A. Smith, the secretary, and during this time there have been but few meet ings of the committees. The charter calls specifically for annual elections of officials and directors with an ar bitration board of five members. Among the active members of the | Board of Trade as last scheduled by
 the Bridgeport City Directory as be-
 ing in authority there is quesaon as to the exact tenure of their office. c. D. S. Miller, of the American Tube & Stamping Co.,, who acted on the last nominating committee said today that the nominations for two years ago l had been made but never legally act ed upon by the body. The last date of annual election was January Il, 1916 There was no te1ection- At the office of, the Chamber of Commerce it was asserted by Secre-
 tary Cove that many members or the Board of Trade, in fact a, large pro- Iportion of the members are mem l bers of the civic department Of the Chamber as individuals, but that the
 failure of the Board of Trade to send
 representatives to the general meet
 ing in preparation of the annual elec- ton had necessitated reorganization
 of the Chamber to permit Of the 1 Chamber proceeding.
 Fred Enos, former president of the
 Board of Trade, while having little to
 say on the matter and referring in l 1I1o n as 1 he has resigned as president and his 1 resignatfon was su omitted nearly two wears ago. His attitude seemed to be I to-day that he was merely requested | to reconsider his resignation, Wh1ch
 remains in the archives of the Board
 of Trade without official action having been taken
 | Members admit that his resignation
 was submitted and that he was asked
 to hold it in abeHance, during which 1 time he has temporarily acted on
 matters for the organization in which
 he once was the prime mover.
 l Thus a serious situation seems to l have arisen through a misconception
 of authority and general lack of inter est by members in the parent organ ization following the establishment and 1 activities of the Chamber of Com
 merce. On one side it would appear that former President Enos dpes not consider himself officially at the helm of the great civic organization. On the other side it would appear that the other officers, for the time allow ing matters of great importance to eS-
 cape their attention have believed that
 former President Enos' resignation is
 not effective and that he would care
 for the work connected with his off,
 fee.
 I What has actually happened is now l a matter of some dispute but as view 1 ed by some astute local business men, who, from a vantage point in the
 Chamber of Commerce, have watched
 events impartta1ly these actions are of
 record:
 Two years ago there was to have | been an election of officers and direc- | tors A meeting of the nominating | committee was held and nominations made. These were transmitted to the | president but no quorum of the board l of directors responded to 9, cali for 1 election. No call for an election seems | to be issued for 1916 according to the l records of the secretary.
 l The history of the Board of Trade | in this city is one that any organiza-
 ton may be proud of. A number of
 Bridgeport's foremost business apd
 manufacturing residents met early in 1875 for the purpose of forming a protective associations
 At that time there was no Manufac- | 1 were Nathaniel Wheeler, David M.
 Read, Jarrett MorfeFd, George Nal Iory, George w. Bacon, Robert q. | Clarke M orris W. Seymour, William H. Noble, IT. R. Cruttenden, Nathan
 Buckingham, Frederick Hurd, David
 w Sherwood, Edmund " Hawes. l James Staples,f Rowland B. Lacey,
 zalmon GoodseIl, William H. Steven son, Thomas L. Watson, Morris B..
 Beards1ey and William H. Adams. | The presidents named in the order
 of their election were; Robert T. | Clarke, David M. Read. Charles R. BrothwelI, lZa1mon Goodsell, John Mc- Neil. D.. N. sperry, N. H. Heft, Henry
 A. Bishop, Isaac w. Birdsey and oth- l CTS at later dates.
 | In 1876 a charter was sought. The one obtained was probably the broad est ever issued in Connecticut. This act of incorporation approved by the legislature in 1876 after reciting the
 petitioners and the name Bridgeport Il Board of Trade,'' sets forth in the or dinary language that it may sue and be sued, that the object of incorpora- ton sha1l be 'tthe promotion or trade the giving direction and impetus to commercial and manufacturing en-
 terprises, the encouragement Of inter
 course between business men, the inn
 provment of facilities for transporta-
 ton, the diffusion of information con-
 corning trade. manufacturing and other interests, and for the genera
 growth and prosperity of Bridgeport
 also for the cooperation Of this W1tt
 similar societies in other, cities.'
 Paragraph sets forth that the
 property affairs, etc, shall be man aged by a president, two vice presi ldents, a secretary, a treasurer ana seven directors who together sha1 lconstitute a board of directors to b' elected annually at such time ana place as shall be provided in the by Jaws of said corporation, "a-nd sucf officers shall hold their respective of lfces until others shall be elected il fheir.~ places sThe paragraph thel lcontinJes as to the method of the frs lelection. continuing: