The older idea of a commercial association, that the maufacturing and commercial facilities should alone be emphasized, gives way to the broader and more comprehensive policy of advertising those attractions which appeal to the higher nature of individuals whether in trade or in any other situation in life. "It has been truthfully said that commerce can make a large city but never a great city," said President Edward M. Skinner in his annual address in 1909. "Whether the reputation is deserved or not, Chicago is known to the world as an industrial and commercial city, a city where the interest in material things predominates, where the finer and nobler qualities of mankind are neglected. The work of this association the past year has gone far to show the world, which also means the uninformed and skeptical of our own country, that Chicago is a great city as well as a large one."

The leading principle actuating the purposes and plans of the Chicago Association of Commerce is that there can be no advance in the commerce of the city without bringing the contributing elements, the buyers and clients from every section, into actual contact with all the activities of the community, not only those of a commercial character, as for example the great business and manufacturing establishments, but the pleasure-giving attractions, the institutions of every kind and description, and above all, providing for the safety and comfort of every visitor to the city. Chicago abounds in attractions often but little known to the visitor whose knowledge of the city extends scarcely beyond that required for his business dealings.

PRESENT STATUS OF THE ASSOCIATION

The gradual evolution of its organization has brought the association to a high degree of efficiency in the line of its activities. Numbering thirty-eight hundred members at the close of 1910 its work is carried on by means of a staff of officers and a board of twenty-seven directors. The president is the chief executive officer and is chosen by the entire membership. There are four vice-presidents who are at the head of the four main divisions of the association, namely: Inter-State, Local, Civic-Industrial, and Foreign Trade. The Executive Committee is composed of twenty-four members of which the president is ex officio chairman. The Executive Committee is appointed by the Board of Directors, and acts for it in matters pertaining to the policy of the association.

This committee has large powers exercising an oversight of the standing committees and regulating and harmonizing their work, so that confusion will not result in the wide field within the scope of which they act. Its meetings are held weekly, and it alone declares the policy of the association. There are nineteen standing committees, and special committees are created as emergency service may require. One of the largest of the standing committees is the Ways and Means Committee which is the "open forum" of the association, holding meetings weekly throughout the year. The meetings of the Ways and Means Committee are open to the association's entire membership. "In no other public place, save in the great mass meetings of the association, can a member remotely in touch with association work, so quickly and with so much enthusiasm come to understand the association's aims and policies."

"The plan of organization and its executive methods," says Mr. Skinner. "have

been recognized as the broadest, most comprehensive and efficient of any commercial association in the world, and it has been adopted in whole or part by like organizations in many cities and towns throughout the country. The association, through its officers and executive staff, stand ready at all times to lend a helping hand to any business body in the country with advice and co-operation to aid in building up a strong organization representative of the commerce of its own city and environs."”

ACTIVITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION

The report of the president, Mr. Homer A. Stillwell, for the year 1910, is replete with suggestive references to the work of the association. "We believe the sum total of the year's accomplishments," he says, "is proof of advancement of the association as a factor in the development of a public spirit which makes for a stronger pride and greater confidence in our city, coupled with a determination to further its civic and material interests. We have kept prominently in mind our well-defined policy which excludes consideration of questions involving special or limited interests, yet we have reserved the right to decide for ourselves whether a particular question may be one of politics or one of business."

In the report of the Secretary, Mr. Charles W. Folds, it is said that “the development of the individual as a thinker on important public questions, and more particularly the number of business men upon Association committees, who are learning to express themselves easily and clearly before an audience, is one of the interesting and encouraging results of our work." The total income of the association for the year 1910, comprised almost wholly of membership fees, was $191,000, while the expenditures were about $167,000. This permitted the association to carry $24,000 to its surplus in the general fund, the sum of which has now reached with the savings of previous years the gratifying total of $109,000.

Nothing can better illustrate the wide range of the work of the association than a brief reference to the subjects discussed and acted upon during the year 1910. Several sessions of the Executive Committee were devoted to the Waterway ques

"After a most thorough discussion," says the report of the chairman, Mr. Harry A. Wheeler, "a policy for waterway construction was determined, the word 'deep' was eliminated in outlining this policy, and the following resolution adopted: 'Resolved, that the Executive Committee of the Chicago Association of Commerce hereby endorses the improvement of a waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf to the fullest extent practicable, the question of depth of said waterway to be determined by the Government's engineers.'" This is undoubtedly the soundest pronouncement which has yet appeared in all the voluminous discussions of this subject.

Four activities stand out prominently in the work of the committee for the year covered by the report. The first was an inquiry concerning the character of the charities seeking public support, in response to the suggestion made by Mayor Busse that the association take up this work. This resulted in the creation of a "Subscriptions Investigating Committee," the scope of which is to ascertain the merits of all applicants for subscriptions-charitable, philanthropic and civic. It is believed that the work of this committee will be the means of saving large sums of money to the business public of Chicago, or at least of diverting these sums into right and useful channels.

The second one of these activities is concerned with Sidewalk Encroachments, a subject which has received careful study, and it is hoped that some relief will be found for some part of the congestion in the loop district resulting from this cause. The third is concerning the abuses arising from the system of salary loans, which it will be the endeavor of the association to have rectified by suitable legislations and the fourth is concerning the Electrification of Railway Terminals. This latter subject is in process of investigation in co-operation with the city authorities.

ENTERTAINMENT AND PUBLICITY

Frequent banquets are given by the Association to which are drawn distinguished visitors, and on such occasions the purposes of the organization are rehearsed and enlarged upon. "Trade extension trips" are made from time to time, a party of the members visiting many points throughout the various states and Canada, and even to places as far distant as China, Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines. Diligent efforts are constantly made to attract various conventions and associations holding annual meetings to gather in this city, and such bodies are assisted in procuring accommodations both in the matter of suitable halls for their meetings and comfortable places to stay while in the city. The General Publicity committee has a News Bureau from which is issued daily to some three hundred and fifty publications-newspapers, magazines, and trade periodicals-bulletins of information and

news.

There is likewise a weekly publication issued entitled, "Chicago Commerce," devoted to the subjects of interest to the Association.

Other publications are a "Chicago Guide," and a "Handbook of Museums and Libraries." A volume entitled, "Chicago," a work prepared by Mr. George E. Plumbe, a man well qualified for the task by long experience in journalism, setting forth the industrial advantages of the city, was completed and sent out during the year 1910. It had been felt that some stronger and more convincing arguments should be made regarding the industrial and commercial advantages possessed by Chicago than had heretofore been presented. Ten thousand copies of this little work were distributed through various channels, and it has met with a most cordial reception. "It is used in some of the city schools and public offices as a reference book," says the report, "and has been called for by commercial bodies and historical societies very generally in the Mississippi Valley, and has been placed in the library of every important college and university in the United States. Many copies have been sent abroad at the request of American consuls and others in the diplomatic service. It has given a wider publicity, not only at home but abroad, to Chicago, and its advantages as a market and industrial center than any previous publication of a similar character, as it was very widely distributed among industrial concerns which were considering changing the location of their establishments."

There was also a most useful publication issued by the Association, entitled, "The Way to Ship," intended to aid shippers to route their freight deliveries so as to obtain the best and quickest service to the numerous points of destination to be reached. By means of this book reliable and definite information is given so that shippers may be enabled to make use of "through package cars, thereby placing shipments as near their final destination as possible without transfer."

Owing to the thorough manner in which the public has been kept informed of

the movements in hand, and of the hearty enthusiasm with which the work is carried on, the Association has won the respect and enjoys the co-operation of the newspaper press of the city. The harmonious relations established between the Association and the municipal authorities, each having at heart the welfare and prosperity of the city in all its material interests, is especially noteworthy, and cannot be otherwise than productive of the higher development of the municipality, and of its financial, commercial and industrial advantages.

Add to this the full and thoroughgoing reports on all branches of the work which are printed in attractive and readable form each year, and it is readily perceived how wide an influence is exerted by the enterprising body of men who compose the membership of this association.

EXTENSIVE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

A summary of some of the other work accomplished in the year 1910, besides what has already been mentioned will give an idea of the broad scope of usefulness represented by the activities of the Association.

The pollution of the waters of Lake Michigan, caused by dumping the dredgings from the bed of the Chicago river into the lake near the intake cribs, thus endangering the purity of the city's water supply, was sought to be remedied; and through the efforts of members a bill was passed by Congress, the only body having the power to regulate the matter, providing that such dredgings must be deposited at least eight miles from shore, or within a breakwater where the waters were almost entirely confined. This method of disposing of the river dredgings is now in complete operation.

Attracting conventions to Chicago is an important part of the work of the Association. The three hundred and five convention events which Chicago entertained during the year brought an estimated attendance of about 400,000 persons, with an average stay of four days for each one. The amount expended in Chicago by the visitors was estimated to be in excess of twelve millions of dollars. Among the most important events of 1910 was the Triennial Conclave of Knights Templars, and the United States Army tournament.

The long standing lack of signs to indicate the names of Chicago streets has also received the attention of the Association, as it seems to have grown to be an almost insoluble problem from long neglect. At its own expense the Association has provided many streets with signs at the street intersections, and an effort will be made to complete the work as fast as funds can be obtained from private sources, such as improvement associations, etc. Other subjects claiming attention are street cleaning, waste paper disposal, garbage crematories, and disposal of all manner of waste materials,-always working in co-operation with the regular city departments.

BROAD SWEEP OF THE ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME

The spectacle of a great body of citizens, such as is represented in the membership of the Chicago Association of Commerce, nominally devoting itself to commerce, but widening its field so that it takes cognizance of all the multifarious subjects included within the broad sweep of its activities as shown in the annual