[Trade Journal]
Publication: Twenty Eighth Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. 1,29-31,189-198, col. 1
TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
CINCINNATI
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
AND
MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE,
FOR THE
COMMERCIAL YEAR, ENDING AUGUST 31, 1876.
CINCINNATI:
A. H. POUNSFORD & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 9 & 11 WEST FOURTH STREET.
MDCCCLXXVI.
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CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
CINCINNATI, September 12, 1876.
To the Members of the Chamber of Commerce:
Your Board of Officers have the honor to submit the following report of the important transactions of the Board and the Chamber, and a statement of the affairs of the organization during the past year.
The Board of Officers take pleasure in directing attention to the financial exhibit. In this will be found the source for much congratulation, showing, as it does, an exceedingly healthy and growing prosperity. The balance in the Treasury, September 1, 1876, was $19,763 01, against $14,320 50 in the year previous. The balance consisted of $6,763 01 in the General Fund, and $13,000 in United States bonds, an increase of $5,442 51 in the General Fund, as compared with the preceding year, the amount invested in bonds remaining unchanged.
The receipts from membership dues were $26,923 50, an increase of $898 50. The receipts from rents were $4,546 50, an increase of $552 67; from Clerk's tickets, $375, an increase of $45; from interest and premium, $1,272 88, an increase of $434 88; from sale of annual report, $99 84, an increase of $12. There was a decrease of $520 in receipts from subscribers' tickets, $70in receipts from initiation fees, and $67 25 from sale of pork-packing statistics. The aggregate decrease in expenditures, as compared with the previous year, was $12 19.
All obligations to the Chamber have been paid.
May 6, the Board rented to the Board of Trade Telegraph, space for an office, in the north-east corner of the Exchange, at an annual rental of $500.
The item of expense for telegragh [sic] telegrpah reports was $105 79 less than for the previous year, though those interested in market values have had occasion for congratulation on the decided increase and improvement in this important service, arrangements having been perfected for the more rapid and frequent receipt of dispatches from western points, whereby they are transmitted direct to the Exchange in full text, making a saving of about twenty minutes of time over the old system.
The assessment against the organization by the National Board of Trade amounted to $360, or $206 less than for the year previous. The expenditure for printing the Annual Report was reduced $66 99. The form of the Report underwent a complete change. The increase of interesting matter, and the general enlargement and improvement of the Report has been noticeable.
There has been a most gratifying increase in the attendance on the floor of the Exchange during the year. The increase has been especially marked during the summer months, there having been a larger attendance than ever before known in the history of the Chamber at that season. A more rigid system for preventing unauthorized persons from entering the Exchange was adopted by the Board, and has worked advantageously.
The final and only assessment by the Commissioners of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition of 1875, of fifteen per cent. on the Guarantee Fund of that enterprise, entailed an expense on this body of $375.
March 2d, the Chamber adopted a resolution requesting the Senators and Representatives in Congress from Ohio, to vigorously oppose any change in the present law of Congress, requiring a "draw " to be provided for in every bridge to be hereafter built over the Ohio River, below the present Suspension Bridge at this point, it being the judgment of this body that a " draw" is essential to the free and safe navigation of the river.
February 10th, the Secretary of the Treasury requested the Superintendent of the Merchants' Exchange to prepare for that Department statistical and other information relating to the commerce of Cincinnati, and the various commercial movements, by rail and river, at this point. This the Board authorized the Superintendent to do as far as practicable, and a large amount of statistical information was forwarded.
In cases where charges were preferred against members, arising out of differences of opinion as to business transactions between them, amicable and satisfactory adjustments were usually induced by the regularly constituted committees of the Chamber.
During the year the President was called upon to announce the death often members : John S. Sloan, E. J. Buckingham, Jacob Graff, Leverett E. G. Stone, John H. Gerard, Alfred Mathers, Jason Evans, R. M. Dodson, John Gerke, Wm. McAlpin.
The Board had the pleasure of electing our distinguished fellow-citizen, Reuben R. Springer, Esq., an honorary life member of the Chamber of Commerce. This action is authorized by an article of the Constitution, which provides that the Board of Officers may, by a unanimous vote, admit to such membership any person who, from eminence, shall seem entitled to such consideration, but not more than one such person shall be admitted in any one year.
The imperative and growing need of a Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Exchange building must be apparent to all interested in this body. It is hardly necessary to call attention to the inadequate proportions and the general imperfections of our present quarters, except for the purpose of keeping alive the interest that has been manifested in favor of a new building. The lease on the premises now occupied by the Chamber expires January 1, 1880, or within three years and four months, and it is to be hoped that active measures will be inaugurated, looking to the erection of an appropriate building at an early day, and that they will be successfully carried out.
Respectfully submitted, with the best wishes of the Board for the future prosperity of the Chamber of Commerce.
In behalf of the Board of Officers.
BRENT ARNOLD, Secretary.
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