Evening star., 1934-07-01
BY JESSE C. sUTER.

@IvIc NEWS of greatest
immediate interest and i'm
portance Is the impend-
~ ing merger Of the Wash
ington Board of Trade
and the Washington Chamber
OF Commerce. At this writing 1t
seems to be only a carrying out Of
the details already agreed upon by
the governing bodies. While these
have been disclosed 1t Is under
stood the Chamber of Commerce
as the junior organization will give
up its identity and be absorbed
into the 44-year-old Board Of
Trade.
Mergers of the so-called trade
bodies have been discussed and
urged periodically for many years
but alway insuperable Difficult
ties have been encountered. At
about the time the Chamber of
Commerce was organized there was
an ambitious civic merger earnestly
advocated which included the Board
Of Trade, the Business Mems
Association and the Jobbers and
Shippers Association and even
the neighborhood citizens associa-
tions. whose members were urged
to disband and join the new
ly merged body as individuals.
Considerable opposition developed
as the idea was regarded as an
OF 10 I4
was considered as being entirely
out Of the question to weld into
one compact group the conflict
ing commercial and nom CONNER
cial interests.
The Chamber of Commerce was
organized by a merger of the
Business Mems Association and
the Jobbers and Shippers Associa-
ton. 1t was not long before it
was found that in its develop
ment along both commercial and
n-commercial lines the new
organization was not meeting the
expectations or the needs of the
merchants and the manufacturers.
This resulted in the formation
of the Retail Merchants Associa-
ton which was later enlarged
into its wider scope and the pres
ent fine business organization
created known as the Merchants
and Manufacturers Association.
This latter organization organized
into logical trade groups, confines
itself strictly to the problems of
the business men and only in
vades the civic field when there
is a direct bearing. of the problem
in question, on local business.
The Chamber of Commerce
closes its separate existence with
an enviable record of achieve
ment. Its brilliant meetings dur
ing the past season, addressed by
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, POST
master General Farley and DR..
Stookdale, will always stand out
as distinct successes in civic as
semblies. 1t was the Washington
Chamber of Commerce which was
responsible for the organization
of the Federation of Citizens AS
sociations. 1t was the Chambers
Suffrage Committee which secured
the first hearing before the Senate
District Committee in advocacy
of national representation for the
District of Columbia. This really
represents the beginning of the
present united movement for
national representation through
the Citizens Joint Committee on
National Representation, Of which
Theodore w. Noyes is the chair
man.
For a long time there has been
somewhat Of a duplication OF work
by the Board of Trade and the
Chamber of Commerce, as there
has been to large degree
duplication Of membership. Both
of these organizations have been
affected by the depression and this
has been particularly true because
OF the membership Implications
There is a general feeling that the
merger will be most helpful from
the standpoint Of the general GOOD
Of the community through closer
concentration of civic effort ana
that surely it will be highly oene-
ficial to members who were paying
dues and striving to work IN ootn
organizations.