[Trade Journal]
Publication: Twenty Sixth Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. I,29-31,35,40,175-184, col. 1
TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
CINCINNATI
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
AND
MERCHANT'S EXCHANGE,
FOR THE
COMMERCIAL YEAR, ENDING AUGUST 31, 1874.
CINCINNATI:
CINCINNATI GAZETTE STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT.
MDCCCLXXIV.
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Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
September 8, 1874.
To the Members of the Chamber of Commerce:
In presenting the usual Annual Report, the Board of Officers take pleasure in referring to the present prosperous condition of the Chamber financially, as well as in the accomplishment of the objects and purposes of its organization.
When the present system of individual membership was first suggested, many of he most devoted friends of the Chamber feared that it would not accomplish the object sought, and that not only a reduced membership but a diminished revenue would be the result. Happily such fears have proved groundless, the receipts from membership for the past year having been $25,670 00, against $17,340 00 for the previous year, and the membership of the past year 1,132 against 1,252 for the preceding year. The Chamber had, at the close of the year 1872-73, $8,000 00 of U. S. 5-20 Bonds, at par value, but at the same time had overdrawn its account with the Treasurer to the amount of $617 72. At the close of this year (1873-74) the Chamber still has the $8,000 of bonds, and a balance of $2,583 48 in the hands of the Treasurer.
The Board recognizes the fact that its expenditure during the past year for telegraphing market reports has been quite large, and it has at all times labored to reduce that expense so far as it could without impairing the value of the reports. The Board believes that it is entirely safe in saying that in no other commercial body in this country are the reports of other markets so complete in detail as in this; and so decided has been the expression of the membership that the reports should be kept up to that standard, the Board has not felt at liberty to in any way abridge them.
The manner of admitting visitors to the Chamber has long been a vexed question, and one which every Board, for many years past, has found very difficult of solution; indeed, no satisfactory plan has as yet been adopted. Unless a rigid rule be adopted and strictly enforced, the Chamber is subject to be imposed upon by parties, far more numerous than is generally supposed, who regularly and systematically devise ways to get the benefits of the Chamber without bearing any of its burdens. The Board has recently adopted a ticket of admission for visitors, which it believes will go far toward removing the evil complained of, and which, it hopes, will meet the approbation of the members.
The Board has felt that the plan heretofore pursued in reporting the imports and exports of provisions has not secured that degree of definiteness which is so desirable in such an important branch of trade, and in order to remedy this defect, as far as possible, has directed that, hereafter, all imports and exports of the product of the hog shall be reported in pounds and not in packages, with the exception of barreled meats. A table, by which an uniform reduction of packages to pounds, prepared by a committee of the Board, has been adopted, and will be published for general information.
The Chamber was called upon during the past year to aid the sufferers by plague and by disaster in the southwest. The response was prompt and liberal. Two thousand dollars were voted from the treasury of the Chamber for this purpose, to which the individual subscriptions of members added about eleven thousand dollars in cash, and very considerable additional value in clothing and provisions.
The success which attended the Industrial Exposition for the year 1873, prompted the Chamber to continue its association with the Board of Trade and Mechanics' Institute, that the Exposition might be repeated in 1874. It subscribed twenty-five hundred dollars to the guaranty fund, and Messrs. Geo. W. Jones, Wm. J. Armel, Kenner Garrard, Wm. P. Anderson and Benjamin Eggleston, were appointed Commissioners of the Exposition on the part of the Chamber. The Board is pleased to make mention of the fact, that at this time the Exposition promises to surpass all its predecessors in the extent and excellence of the exhibition, and in the benefits to be conferred both upon visitors and exhibitors.
The Chamber has also manifested its interest in the Centennial Exposition, to be held in Philadelphia in 1876, by the appointment of Messrs. Wm. Henry Davis, Lewis Glenn and Edmund Dexter as Commissioners, to act in conjunction with like commissions from the Board of Trade and Mechanics ' Institute. The Board would make note of the fact, that a member of this Chamber, and one to whom much of the success of our own Exposition is indebted, is the Director General of the Centennial Exposition.
The bank suspension of last September was brought to the consideration of the Chamber, and its careful and considerate action contributed in no small degree to quiet the disturbed condition of the public mind on that exciting occasion.
The Congressional Committee on Transportation, while in our city, received the attention of, and were made acquainted with many facts in relation to the subject of their mission, by a committee of the Chamber.
The project of establishing a line of steamships between Charleston, South Carolina, and European and South American ports, was brought to the attention of the Board and the Chamber, by a Commissioner appointed by the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, and received the hearty approval of the Board and the Chamber.
The Board points with pleasure to the rapid progress now being made in the construction of the Southern railroad. Fully three fourths of the line is now under contract, at favorable prices; a considerable part is already graded, and the entire work is being pushed forward with great activity and energy. The long cherished, and we may add, long delayed hopes of the friends of this important enterprise are about to be realized in an early completion of the work.
The Chamber has labored long and earnestly for the enlargement of the Louisville and Portland canal, and a reduction of the tolls thereon, and has, by its persistent and intelligent action to that end, secured to the commerce of this great central valley benefits of inestimable value. The enlargement of the canal has been completed, and the tolls reduced to the mere cost of operating the canal. While the Board claims so much for the efforts of the Chamber in this behalf, it would not be unmindful of the invaluable aid rendered in Congress by so many western members, and especially by both the Senators from our own State and by the Representatives from our own city and county, as well as those from adjacent districts.
The Chamber may also, with much propriety, claim that its influence contributed largely to the securing of the necessary and proper appropriations for the erection of the government buildings, now in course of construction; and here, also, the Board would acknowledge the public indebtedness to our Senators and Representatives for their well directed efforts in that behalf.
The large and increasing daily attendance at the Chamber is a matter for congratulation, in that it shows the interest felt in the transactions on 'Change, and at the same time evidences the rapidly increasing importance and value of the general commercial interests of our city.
The Board points with pleasure to the benefits conferred by the Chamber in the settlement of misunderstandings in commercial transactions between members, and the saving of time and expense incident to resorting to the courts for such purposes. The vast volume of business transacted between the members, and the very few cases referred by them to the courts, support this declaration. It is believed that an important step has been gained by the change made in the Constitution of the Chamber, as to the appointment of Committees of Arbitration and Appeals. The cases presented for the action of the Committee of Arbitration have been comparatively few, and but a single case has been carried to the Committee of Appeals during the past year.
In conclusion, the Board desires to express the opinion that the Chamber is increasing in influence in much greater ratio than in membership. The great care with which its statistics are compiled and presented, and the comprehensiveness which distinguishes all the statistical declarations of the Chamber, have made them a recognized authority, not only in all that pertains to the commerce and business of our city, but in all matters to which they refer. The regularly published reports of this Chamber were of great service to our friends in Congress, whenever any measure in relation to the commerce of the West wa [sic] was under consideration, and did much toward giving members from other sections correct ideas as to its value and importance. In addition to this, the careful and impartia [sic] impartial consideration which the Chamber has given to all subjects of public interest brought before it, and its prompt rejection of all schemes for the promotion of personal ends, has enabled the Chamber, whenever it saw proper to exercise its influence, to accomplish all its undertakings. Whether in the national or State legislatures, its committees have always had a respectful hearing, and its opinions have not infrequently been sought in relation to various matters of public importance, by legislators, as well as by other and similar commercial organizations. The Board, in retiring, would express its confidence that the Chamber will continue to occupy its present high position, and that its demand upon every member for the maintainance [sic] maintenance of the highest order of commercial integrity and honor, will secure to it even greater power for the accomplishment of good to all who maybe brought with its influence.
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GENERAL REVIEW.
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In hardware, the year has been a somewhat trying one. With a dull and almost constantly declining market for the raw material, and a general combination of circumstances, calculated to depress prices, the business has been prosecuted at a great disadvantage to the trade. Notwithstanding this, it is probably true that this department of business never has, in Cincinnati, been pushed with more vigor. The untoward circumstances appear to have appealed to all the business energy of this great branch of our trade, so that the business, notwithstanding the great decline in prices, falls but about $1,750,000 below the preceding year. The entire hardware business of the city, for the commercial year, including shelf and heavy hardware, nuts, bolts, & c., aggregates about $12,532,000. In queensware and glassware, though the market has been a declining one in price, and the aggregate has not been what it would have been with larger inducements for dealers to meet their future wants, the volume of business has been fully maintained, though a few houses report reduced sales. In this department of our commerce there is a growing feature, in the shape of home production. The white granite and cream-colored wares, which are being manufactured here, are each year, by their superior qualities, urging themselves with larger force upon public attention. This, combined with the fact, that dealers here have drawn more largely than usual upon their supplies at home, and less upon their depots in New York and elsewhere, will, to a great extent, account for the largely increased exports of crockery as compared with the preceding year. The manufacture of glassware in the city has suffered none in volume. The production and sale of fruit jars has been greater than ever before. Prices of the latter, during the year, declined about 10 per cent., though there was improvement at the close. The prices of, and business in other kinds of goods were well maintained, A growing and already important department of our trade is that of jewelry, silverware, & c. The production for the year has been about $500,000. The aggregate value, owing to somewhat lower prices, has diminished about twenty per cent., but the volume has suffered comparatively little abridgment. It must be remembered that these figures do not represent the entire business in this line, which would quadruple this amount, but refer exclusively to the goods actually manufactured here.
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