[Trade Journal]
Publication: Twenty Fourth Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. 1,23-24,130-139, col. 1
TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
CINCINNATI
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
AND
MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE,
FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR, ENDING AUGUST 31, 1872.
CINCINNATI:
GAZETTE STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT.
MDCCCLXXII.
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REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS.
CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
CINCINNATI, September 1, 1872.
To the Members of the Chamber of Commerce:
In compliance with duty and custom, your retiring Board of Officers have the honor to submit the following brief summary of the history of the Chamber for the year just closing:
It is not necessary that the finances of the Chamber should receive more than a passing notice, as this is accompanied by the Treasurer's report. It is sufficient to say, that the Chamber is in a healthy financial condition, and but for the extraordinary expenses incurred — such as the contribution to the Chicago relief, $5,000; the Northwest relief, $1,000; the expense of fitting up the Cotton Exchange, and several other items, all aggregating $8,226 30 — there would be a small sum to add to the surplus fund.
The increased attendance the past year has elicited frequent remark. It is safe to say that the average has been larger than any previous year. This fact indicates the growth and prosperity of your organization.
Immediately after the organization of your board, Mr. William Smith, who had faithfully filled the office of Superintendent of the Merchants' Exchange, for seventeen years, tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted; but not until assurances received that it was irrevocable. Appropriate resolutions, expressive of regret at the loss of so valuable an officer; of his fidelity, industry, extensive acquaintance with mercantile usage, and the comprehensiveness of his annual reports, were adopted by your board and by the Chamber, which have been placed on record. From a number of applicants for the vacancy, Col. Sidney D. Maxwell was elected his successor, and your officers cannot but congratulate themselves on their selection as he has more than fulfilled their expectations. The duties of the Superintendent are arduous and peculiar, and they have been faithfully executed by the present incumbent. Col. Maxwell is entitled to great credit for his admirable compilation of the statistics of the "Pork Packing in the West," published under the direction of your Board. Commencing late in January, when the packing season was more than half over, and without any data whatever, he prepared one of the most perfect and complete reports of the hog packing in the West, ever issued, by which he has established a reputation as a statistician.
We cannot refrain from warm commendation of the noble spirit of charity that animated your body, when the intelligence of the devastating fires in Chicago, and Michigan and Wisconsin was announced. Your prompt action in the formation of committees, and your large donations of money and supplies are all fresh in our minds. The Chamber of Commerce took the initiative, and directed through her committees every movement in this great work of charity for Cincinnati.
The formal conjunction of the Cotton Exchange with the Chamber of Commerce, which took place on the 30th of January, it is hoped, inaugurated a new era in the history of the Chamber.
The Cincinnati Southern Railroad has engrossed much of your time and attention during the year, and the hope is entertained, that the result of your deliberations, united with the influence and wealth at your command, will in this enterprise, be as successful as with the Louisville and Portland Canal, now rapidly approaching completion. There is no question in the minds of those who have watched the latter undertaking, from its inception to the present moment, that, had it not been for the influence of your intelligent body, properly directed, and the untiring zeal of your committees, the Louisville and Portland Canal, instead of being an accomplished fact, would now have been in the condition of the Southern Railroad, with the great work yet to be constructed.
The importance of a trunk road from Cincinnati to Chattanooga cannot be exaggerated. It is a matter for congratulation, that the proposed road is in the hands of an able Board of Trustees, who have succeeded in removing, by legislation, the legal barriers in the way of the enterprise, and are pushing it to completion with commendable energy. Other projects have received your consideration and been acted upon by you — the Cincinnati & Terre Haute Railroad, the Ceredo Mineral Railway Co., the improvement of the Ohio River, and lastly, the Red River trade, which has not met the encouragement its importance demands. Your action on the above enterprises has been duly recorded.
The death of six of your members has been announced during the year, as follows: Thomas Kirby, Robert E. Lee, H. Clay Evans, Col. James Morgan, George Shillito, and lastly, William Smith, whose unexpected death created a profound sensation. There was probably no member of the Chamber whose loss would have been so generally felt and regretted as that of Mr. Smith. As a mark of respect to one who had, for so many years, commanded its confidence, the Chamber attended his funeral in a body.
The subscription of twenty-five hundred dollars, by the Chamber, last year, to the guarantee fund of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition was renewed this year, and the following committee appointed to represent your organization: C. W. Rowland, L. C. Weir, Wm. W. Taylor, Lewis Seasongood, and Geo. Sharples.
Your Board of Officers have had more than the ordinary amount of business to transact during its administration, and has had some very unpleasant duties to perform, growing mainly out of trials for unmercantile conduct. Suffice it to say, however, that your officers have endeavored to discharge the duties imposed upon them, conscientiously, and in strict accordance with justice, equity, and the constitution.
In conclusion, your Board would respectfully recommend to the Chamber, that article 6, section 2 of the constitution be so changed, as to confer on the Board of Officers the power to fix the penalty to be inflicted in cases of unmercantile conduct, the same as is exercised by almost all similar commercial organizations in this country.
In behalf of the board. N. S. JONES, Secretary.
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