STEPHEN CLARY. THOMAS H. BEEBE, NATHANIEL K. FAIRBANK, JOHN V. FARWELL. 1848. Secretaries. W. L. WHITING. 1855 to 1858 inclusive. W. W. MITCHELL. 1859 to 1861 inclusive, and part of 1862. SETH CATLIN. 1862 to 1868 inclusive, except early part of 1862. JOHN F. BEATY. 1869 CHARLES RANDOLPH to March 1, 1884. 1884. GEORGE F. STONE from July 1. NOTE.-During 1848 and 1849 the Board was a voluntary organization; from 1850 to 1859 it was organized under a general incorporation law of the State. Since early in 1859 it has remained under a special charter granted by the Legislature in February of that year. DIRECTORS: TERM EXPIRING 1887. W. S. SEAVERNS, GEO. F. STONE, Secretary. THOS. WHITNEY, Asst. Secretary, from Feb. 23 to July 23. EXECUTIVE ON FINANCE ORSON SMITH, ON MEMBERSHIP. ON ROOMS... ON MARKET REPORTS.. ON PROVISION INSPECTION.. TERM EXPIRING 1888. G. G. MOORE. CHARLES S. FELLOWS, Asst. Secretary, from July 27. ON FLOUR INSPECTION ON FLAX SEED INSPECTION. ON COMMERCIAL BUILDING.. ON OTHER INSPECTION ON CLEARING HOUSE ON RULES. ON LEGAL ADVICE.. ON COMMISSIONS.. ON TRANSPORTATION ON WAREHOUSES.. ON WEIGHING. ON DISTILLED SPIRITS ON METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.. ON CLAIMS AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS.. WHEELER, HATELY AND MOORE. CATLIN, HOLLEY AND PARKER. HATELY, HENRY BOTSFORD, S. A. KENT, J. G. BEAZLEY AND R. L. ROLOSON, SCROCKER, HOLLEY, NORTON, ISAAC PIESER AND C. REIFSNIDER. HOLLEY, BEEBE, A. M. HENDERSON, S. D. FOSS AND A. C. LAUSTEN. SEAVERNS, NORTON AND GREGORY. RUMSEY, BALL AND GREGORY. NORTON, BRYANT AND PARKER. (RUMSEY, WHEELER, CROCKER, CATLIN AND BRINE. BALL, BRYANT AND CATLIN. BRYANT, NORTON AND GREGORY. SHATELY, SEAVERNS, MOORE, A M. WRIGHT, C. E. CULVER, WM. DUNN AND J. H. NORTON. WHEELER, HATELY AND BRINE. BEEBE, RUMSEY AND CROCKER. BALL, NORTON AND PARKER. MOORE, SEAVERNS AND GREGORY. SCATLIN, WHEELER, BRYANT, CROCKER AND BRINE. ? In Memoriam. NAMES OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRADE WHO HAVE DIED DURING 1885. CHAS. S. SHEPPHERD, JANUARY 16. JOSEPH G. HILL, FEBRUARY 14. JOSEPH BRENNER, FEBRUARY 17. ROBERT C. STEEL, JUNE 13. HENRY A. SPENCE, JUNE 15. JOHN SNOWELL, JULY 4. CHARLES B. POPE, AUGUST 31. WILLIAM E. ESDAILE, OCTOBER 2. BENJ. DAVENPORT, OCTOBER 10. EZRA I. WHEELER, OCTOBER 31. GENERAL REVIEW. CHICAGO, January, 1886. E. NELSON BLAKE, Esq., President of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago: Sir, It is alike my duty and pleasure to present you with the Twenty-eighth Annual Report of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, accompanied with such national statistics and observations as are interwoven with the business of the Exchange, and without which any conception of the trade of this city would be narrow, incomplete, and unworthy. The area of the states and territories under the national flag is, in square miles, 3,583,822, and in acres, 2,293,645,988, with a population which increased from 5,308,483 in 1800 to 57,093,000 in 1885, not including the inhabitants of Indian Territory, who have not the privilege of citizenship. The number of persons to the square mile, excluding the territory of Alaska and the Indian Territory, was, in 1880, 17.29; the number of dwellings in the United States was, at the last census, 8,955,812; persons to a dwelling, 5.6; number of families, 9,945,916; persons to a family, 5.04. The largest state in the union is Texas, comprising 274,356 square miles, or 175,587,840 acres; of the territories, Alaska is the largest, covering 577,390 square miles, or an acreage of 369,529,600. The states most intimately connected with Chicago, whose products, in a large degree, find a market here, and whose wants are here principally supplied, are Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota, with 470,170 square miles of territory, or 300,909,064 acres, which contained in 1880 a population of 10,415,634, being about the same as the population of the states of New York, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts together, upon a territory of 104,052 square miles. Were we to add to this list of states the territory of Dakota, with her 150,932 square miles, and the great state of Colorado, with her 104,500 square miles of magnificent arable lands, and reflect, even for a moment, upon the productive power of all this vast domain, and moreover, that it has as yet scarcely begun to be peopled, we must stand amazed at the future which is spread out before this favored city of Chicago, situated at the head of a mighty chain of inland seas, whose waters could float the commerce of a continent, and which, by the Creator, seem evidently designed for a highway along which to |