[Trade Journal]
Publication: Twenty First Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. 1,5-8,, col. 1
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
— OF THE —
CINCINNATI
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
— AND —
Merchant's Exchange,
— FOR THE —
FISCAL YEAR, ENDING AUGUST 31, 1869.
CINCINNATI:
GAZETTE STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT.
1869.
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REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS.
ANNUAL MEETING.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
CINCINNATI, September 8th, 1869.
To the Members of the Chamber of Commerce:
The official year just closed presents but few matters for consideration in the Annual Report which it becomes the duty of the Board of Officers to present at this time.
The adoption of the twelve per cent. tare on sugar, alluded to in the last report, has failed to be effective, on account of the want of co-operation on the part of the Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in other Western and Southern cities, although by private agreements the increased tare has, to a considerable extent, been adopted.
The market reports received by telegraph have had considerable attention from the Board of Officers during the year; and, through new arrangements, the reports are now on amore complete scale, and furnish more ample details for the information of the members than ever before.
In the early part of the year the attention of the Board was called to the necessity of adopting rules for the conduct of cases before the Committees of Arbitration and Appeals, so that the latitude as to evidence, so common in informal trials, would be restrained, and the presentation of the points in dispute be effected
with at least a certain degree of regularity. In March last a short and succinct code was adopted and printed for the use of members. The clear understanding of the method of procedure which members of committees, parties and witnesses can now derive from the rules prevents disputes, and the business before the committees is greatly facilitated. The Board has also ordered that hereafter no member shall be permitted to bring a case before the Board, or the committees, when he is in arrears for fees or desk rent.
The matter of grain and flour inspection has received some attention during the year, and it is believed that it is now settled on a more satisfactory basis than before.
The Board has, upon the suggestion of Professor Cleveland Abbe, of the Cincinnati Observatory, taken the initiatory steps to have a daily weather bulletin placed in the Exchange. It is proposed to have the changes in temperature and the state of the weather telegraphed from various points in the West and Northwest, which, it is hoped, will enable an observer to predict the state of the weather for twenty-four or forty-eight hours. It is believed that these predictions can, through extended observation and experience, be made sufficiently reliable and accurate to be of great use in a commercial point of view, as well as in reference to agriculture, navigation and the science of meteorology. The position of our city is favorable for the attainment of such results, as it is situated in the center of the Ohio Valley, and in the line of storms both from the southwest and northwest.
The claims of various enterprises and miscellaneous matters have been presented, and received attention, during the year. Among these were the rebuilding of the levees on the Mississippi river; the proposed ship canal from the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico, below Fort Phillips; emigration to the West; the Tennessee river improvement; the Niagara Ship Canal; the Memphis and New Orleans Conventions; the projected James River and Kanawha Canal; the relief of sufferers by inundations in Switzerland; the plans of Colonel Fontaine, of New Orleans, for controlling the currents of rivers; the Bankruptcy Laws of the United States; the proposed ten per cent. interest law; the completion of the Louisville Canal, etc.
The matter of the discrimination of railroad companies in rates of freight against this city has been referred to a committee, but as yet little progress has been made in gathering facts, owing to the unwillingness of shippers to give information as to special arrangements. The existence of such discrimination to an alarming extent is undoubted, and should receive the attention of the Chamber. It is a matter of vital importance to the trade of our city, and the most energetic measures are demanded.
The session of the National Board of Trade in this city has marked the past year, and the occasion, it is hoped, has been the means of extending the acquaintance of our citizens among the leading commercial cities of the nation. The Board would again advert to the necessity of exercising most careful discrimination in choosing delegates to the National Board, and would urge upon the members the advantages to be derived from the discussion of subjects to be presented to that body, and the importance of suggesting matters for such discussions in time for its annual meeting.
The expense of maintaining the National Board has been found to be inconsiderable, and the Board have ordered the payment of $580, the share of the Chamber for the last year.
The project of building a new Chamber is one in which the members of the Board have not received sufficient co-operation from the members to justify them in persevering in the work of obtaining subscriptions. It is awork, however, which the members of the Board hope their successors will not lose sight of, and that in due time we shall have a place of meeting which will not be a discredit to the public spirit and enterprise of the community which we represent.
The Board again take occasion to regret the non-adoption of the cental [sic] central system in the measurement of grain, and would urge on their successors continued efforts in that direction.
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