[Trade Journal]
Publication: Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Cincinnati, OH, United States
p. I,45-48,74-75,280-289,Appendix 36-57, col. 1
THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
CINCINNATI
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
AND
MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE,
FOR THE
COMMERCIAL YEAR ENDING AUGUST 31, 1887.
CINCINNATI:
COMMERCIAL GAZETTE JOB ROOMS PRINT.
1888.
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CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
CINCINNATI, September 20, 1887.
To the Members of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce:
The report of the Treasurer, for the year ending August 31, 1887, shows the total receipts to have been $61,012 35, and expenditures $38,295 35, exhibiting a net surplus revenue of $22,717, a slight increase over the previous year.
The assets of the Association, as revealed by the statement of the Board of Real Estate Managers, dated August 31, 1887, are $520,158, in which amount is included the sum of $120,037 31, expended to date in the construction of the new Chamber of Commerce Building, and of $100,000 which was paid the Government for the lot.
The assets of the Association, at the close of each year in the past seven years, have been as follows:
August 31, 1887..................................... $520,158 00
August 31, 1886....................................... 491,649 99
August 31, 1885....................................... 438,448 77
August 31, 1884....................................... 407,477 34
August 31, 1883....................................... 375,935 23
August 31, 1882....................................... 229, 413 21
August 31, 1881....................................... 44,301 22
The total membership of the Association, on August 31, 1887, was 2,229, of which number 2, 181 are certificate members, 42 non-certificate members, and 6 honorary life members, one of whom is represented by a certificate.
During the year, 150 applicants for membership have been elected by the Board of Directors on the transfer of certificates of membership.
During the business year ending with this date, the Board of Directors has held thirty meetings for the transaction of routine and other business, and the Association has been called together, for various purposes, fifty-nine times.
In November, 1886, the Board of Directors, responding to a petition of grain dealers, authorized the continuance of the Grain Call Board, the expense of which, for several months previous, had been borne by the personal subscription of members, and F. M. GUTHRIE was appointed Caller of the same.
JAMES H. PERKINS, ESQ., who has served the Board of Directors for the past two years as legal adviser, was engaged to continue in charge of the case of McCoy against the Chamber of Commerce, pending in the Superior Court.
Four charges of unmercantile conduct have been filed with the Board of Directors in the past year, all of which were amicably adjusted by the various committees of investigation to which the complaints had been referred.
The following members were appointed delegates to the National Board of Trade: JOHN A. GANO, S. F. COVINGTON, E. V. CHERRY, LEVI C. GOODALE, JOHN A. KREIS, CHAS. B. MURRAY, JOHN A. TOWNLEY, LOWE EMERSON, A. HICKENLOOPER, J. WALTER FREIBERG, and W. V. EBERSOLE.
In December, 1886, the Board of Directors appointed the following members to represent the Chamber of Commerce as Commissioners of the Fourteenth Cincinnati Industrial Exposition: C. C. WAITE, LEE H. BROOKS, GEORGE B. KERPER, E. O. ESHELBY, and LEVI C. GOODALE.
After due consideration it was deemed unwise to hold an Exposition in 1887, and the same Commissioners were re-appointed to represent the Chamber in the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and the Central States, to be held in Cincinnati in 1888, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the city and State.
The matter of telegraphic market reports received the early attention of the Board of Directors, and anew contract with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, to take effect January 1, 1887, was concluded, more favorable in its terms than the one under which the reports had been previously received, the Association to receive not to exceed 35,000 code words per month, at the rate of $500 per month, and to pay one cent per word for each additional code word, and to be entitled to an abatement of one cent per code word on the difference between the number of words actually received and 25,000 words, whenever the number in any one month should fall below said 25,000 code words.
The Board, on June 9, 1887, adopted the following rule regarding Distillers' Finished Goods, to be known as Rule 13 of the "Rules regarding the Sale of High wines":
"Rule 13. Distillers can quote their aggregate sales of finished goods on any one day by giving the total number of barrels, and the basis price on which such sales are made, or if based on different prices, the total number of barrels at each basis. Sales can not be quoted after the sounding of the gong, and the majority of the sales at a certain basis shall make the distillers' basis for the day."
In July, 1887, the Law Committee, to which had been referred the subject of auction sales of securities on 'Change, submitted a report defining the requirements in the case of sales of stocks and other securities on 'Change, which was adopted. The Board of Directors, in the exercise of authority granted by the by-laws of the Association, unanimously elected JOSEPH RAWSON, SEN., to honorary life membership in the Chamber of Commerce.
In September, 1886, the Association appointed a Committee to receive subscriptions for the relief of the city of Charleston, S. C., recently the scene of a disastrous earthquake, resulting in a great loss of life and property. The report of the Committee shows the receipts and disbursements to have been $2,151.
On October 30, 1886, a Committee, of which HON. S. F. COVINGTON was Chairman, to which was referred the subject of the proposed bridges of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Cincinnati, and the Illinois Central Railroad at Cairo, Ill., submitted a report advising against the construction of these bridges, as an obstruction of the free and safe navigation on the Ohio River, and in violation of the national law governing the construction of bridges across navigable rivers. The report was adopted by the Association.
The Board of Real Estate Managers submitted to the Chamber in December, 1886, a report of the finances and the progress of the work under its control and management, and recommended the issue of bonds by the Association in the sum of$150,000, to furnish funds with which to complete the edifice of the Chamber of Commerce, the foundations for which were then in process of construction .
On December 24, 1886, the Association approved of the plan suggested by the Board of Real Estate Managers, and authorized the issue of $150,000 of 4 per cent. bonds for the purposes stated.
The project of the new City Hall and the issue of $1,000,000 4 per cent. bonds for that purpose, was indorsed by the Association at a meeting on December 27, 1886, and a Committee was appointed to co-operate with other Committees in securing the necessary legislation.
In January, 1887, resolutions were adopted by the Association approving of the passage of the Bill then pending in the State Legislature, providing for the issue of $100,000 in Bonds for the erection of an Armory in this city.
The following resolution, having been adopted by the Board of Directors, was indorsed by the Association at a meeting held April 9, 1887:
"Resolved, That it is the spirit of this Board that the Chamber of Commerce of Cincinnati should subscribe $20,000 to the proposed $1,000,000 Guarantee Fund of the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States, said obligation not to be binding unless said Guarantee Fund exceeds the sum of $500,000, and that this Board recommends the indorsement of their action and authority for its officers to execute such guarantee."
The provisions of the foregoing resolution were subsequently carried out.
The corner-stone of the proposed Chamber of Commerce Building, into which had been deposited an appropriate collection of historical documents and other interesting matter, was laid without ceremony on Saturday, June 18, 1887, about 12o'clock noon.
The Chamber of Commerce has lost by death during the year ending August 31, 1887, twenty-three members, as follows:
DAVID K. ESTE, FRANK HARFF, C. S. SAWYER,
JAMES GORDON, CHARLES H. LUCAS, HENRY R. LANDMEIER,
M. F. MAURY, JOHN R. WALLS, JOHN C. GADDIS,
SOL. LANGDON, FRANK KAUFFMAN, CHARLES G. ENYART,
JESSE A. WHITE, NATHANIEL NEWBURGH, BERNARD FOX,
JOHN POLLOCK, CASPER LITMER, SAMUEL C. TATUM,
CONRAD WINDISCH, HENRY KUNNEN, WILLIAM GLENN.
HUGH F. KEMPER, JOHN C. BRUCKMANN.
Among the last acts of the Board of Directors was the election of an honorary member, as provided for by the By-laws, by which MR. GEORGE H. PENDLETON was unanimously chosen for this distinction.
The executive and clerical force of the Chamber has been unchanged during the year.
Respectfully submitted in behalf of the Board of Directors ,
AMBROSE WHITE,
Secretary
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POTTERY, ETC.
There is little change to note in connection with the pottery business of the city during the past year. There has been a slight increase in the amount of business transacted, and prices have undergone very little change. The potteries of our own country continue to advance in the quality of their wares, the potteries of Cincinnati coming in for a full share of the improvement which is taking place. The low prices for foreign goods constitute a competitive force, the pressure of which finds no relaxation, which isa constant menace to profits. In artistic pottery, in which this city may claim to be a pioneer, there has been a slight enlargement of working forces, and an increase in the scope of distribution in this country; besides, our ware, with some success, has been introduced during the year in London. It may be remarked, however, that while the production of goods in this line has not become large, there is probably nothing among our manufactures which, in late years, has attracted more attention at home and abroad than goods of this class, to the introduction and perpetuation of which the gifted and enterprising ladies of this city have contributed so much.
In the business of domestic glassware, the year was in general satisfactory. There was specially an active trade in fruit jars, the capacity of the furnaces in Cincinnati having been taxed to their utmost to supply the demand. In artistic glassware, the demand in the summer was more or less affected by the apprehension concerning the results of the dry weather, which reduced the inquiry from the interior, and left the factories with stocks but little diminished at the close of the year. There was, however, during most of the year, a demand for what are known as specialties, and, although prices were somewhat lower, the business of the year may be regarded as having been mainly satisfactory.
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MEMBERS
OF THE
CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE.
JANUARY 31, 1888.
(The first column indicates the number of the Certificate of Membership. Where a blank exists therein, the membership has no Certificate.)
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