[Trade Journal]
Publication: Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce (18th Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce)
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. 1,5-8,73-75, col. 1
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
AND
MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE,
FOR THE
Commercial Year, Ending August 31, 1866,
CINCINNATI:
GAZETTE STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, CORNER FOURTH AND VINE STS.
1866.
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Report of the Board of Directors.
ANNUAL MEETING.
CINCINNATI, September 11, 1866.
The Board of Officers submit the following brief retrospect of the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce for the past year:
A number of important questions, referring either directly to the welfare of the Chamber or incidentally thereto, and directly to the business interests of our citizens at large , have been under consideration, with results that are believed to be in the line of the continued prosperity of the Association.
Among the matters first to receive attention was the condition of flour inspections in this market. The absence of proper legal control of the business rendered our action of little use. New samples of the various grades adopted by the Chamber some years ago, however, were procured and placed in proper care for the use of inspectors to work by; but this could not effect the needed reforms .
Conventional rules as to grain inspections were, soon after this, adopted, and put in force on the first of January. They also lacked the binding force of legal authority. This authority has since been supplied by an act of the Legislature of our State , providing a general law for the organization of Boards of Trade and Chambers of Commerce. In framing this act, your Beard was favored with an opportunity of making valuable suggestions, particularly in regard to this subject of inspections. It is believed this law confers all the power needed to control the appointment of inspectors and regulate their duties. The Chamber has accepted so much of it as was necessary to acquire this authority, and the proper regulations under it are provided in the recently amended by-laws. Some further steps are necessary to perfect the application of the regulations, such as the appointment of the designated committees and of inspectors. Possibly some further details than those provided will have to be arranged, but the necessity for this will recur to our successors. Much good, it is believed, will result to the various interests affected by this law.
An acknowledged necessity for better rooms for the occupancy of the Chamber of Commerce has been a traditional subject with successive Boards for a long time. Various plans and projects for procuring them have been frequently discussed, but we are still without them. The steady increase of our membership makes the necessity more pressing. Your Board took energetic measures early in the year to institute some plan to achieve this object. Public-spirited members, acting as committees, devoted a great deal of time and labor in the effort to find a place for the erection of a suitable building and in devising plans of improvement, but their diligent work has failed, at least, of present success. It is hoped, notwithstanding the discouragements encountered, that the matter will not be allowed to rest here, but that something creditable to the wealth, enterprise and taste of the members may yet be achieved in the way of a building. The failure of this effort seemed to devolve upon your Board the necessity of having the rooms now occupied renovated and repainted. This work has been accomplished, together with some greatly needed improvements in the way of a rostrum, desks, etc.
If the construction of any public work has been considered as likely to have a more important influence than another in promoting the growth of Cincinnati, it is that of a railroad directly in her interest to the interior south, connecting it with regions of country, the products of which may so readily be exchanged at this point. Particularly impressed with a sense of the necessity of having such a line of road constructed at an early day, your Board deemed it a matter of imperative duty to endeavor to quicken the enterprise of our citizens in regard to it. The many and great advantages to result from the completion of such a work, have been talked over and universally confessed for more than thirty years, but it still remains without that practical aid that it is right to suppose Cincinnatians might contribute. Many manifestations of the anxiety of the leading cities and towns in the South to have easy commercial intercourse with this place have been made. Committees of prominent influential citizens of Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Charleston and other places, have visited the city, generally accredited to the Chamber, during the year past, each presenting, in a nearly unanswerable way, the great desirableness of direct railroad lines to their respective places. Besides the personal visits of public-spirited men in regard to this matter, numerous letters have been received urging the subject in most forcible arguments. With these incentives, various efforts were made to arouse such an interest in regard to the matter, as might result in practical measures which would insure the undertaking and completion of the work. Every body confesses a conviction as to its desirability, but earnest practical co-operation has been hitherto wanting. The plan of raising a bonus, to be given on certain safe conditions, to capitalists who would put the work through, has not met with the encouragement it merited, although a few zealous members have, in a truly commendable spirit, devoted a large amount of their time and personal labor to visiting merchants, manufacturers and capitalists in their various places of business. It must be admitted that Cincinnati will be permanently disgraced if, in this day of progressive enterprise , this much needed work should fail from any lack of determined persistence on the part of her own citizens to be built. Other cities are pushing vigorously for the trade that belongs here. It should be said, with practical emphasis, at once, that they cannot have it. If the plan now being pursued is not feasible or acceptable, no time should be lost in devising another.
In view of the great importance of our river commerce, the condition of the work undertaken to enlarge the canal around the falls in the Ohio River at Louisville, seemed to require looking after. A committee of the Chamber was, accordingly, appointed some months ago to investigate the matter. They reported that the work had been suspended for lack of funds, and suggested that efforts should be made to obtain, at the hands of Congress, a loan of the Government credit to acquire the requisite means. These efforts were made, but have not yet been successful. They should not, however, be remitted, unless some other plan for effecting the object shall be found to be more practical in pushing the work to an early completion. The matter has already been too much neglected.
In response to inquiries made by a committee of Congress concerning systems of weights and measures, there was an approval of the decimal system. The importance of this matter may make further consideration of it necessary.
The Chamber may recur, with much pleasure, to the prompt aid furnished, directly and indirectly, to sufferers in the South, whose cry for bread was echoed over the land. The readiness with which the matter received the laborious attention of your Special Committee in charge of the matter, merits warm commendation.
A visit of the Legislature of Ohio to the city, in March last, was a pleasurable event, productive, no doubt, of good, by giving to our lawmakers an opportunity, personally, to examine our institutions, work-shops, stores, public works, etc.
It was discovered early in the year that the by-laws required amendment in several important particulars. The work was accordingly effected, and, so far, is found to have been judicious. An edition of them, as revised, has been printed.
The finances of the Chamber are shown by the Treasurer's report to be in a flourishing condition. This would not have been the case, however, under the necessarily increased expenditures, notwithstanding the increase in membership, had there not been an increase in the fees charged.
The Superintendent's report shows that our membership comprises 422 business firms and corporations, 347 individuals and 75 ticketholders, making a total of 844, which is a gain of 47 on last year's report, and is the highest number ever attained.
The "Annual Review" of the trade and commerce of the city, prepared by the Superintendent of the Exchange, is replete with valuable information, and more than usually interesting in its analysis of the leading features of the present commercial status of our city.
The important influence that the Chamber has upon the commercial and manufacturing interests of our city, and its leading position among kindred associations, should stimulate a still more watchful care in directing its course in the path of usefulness, and in maintaining a high standard of business intercourse. Too great jealousy as to its legitimate sphere cannot be exercised, and it should be made even more indispensable than it is to every merchant and manufacturer depending upon this city as an exchange point or market.
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