So long as the primitive communities had mud roads, oil lamps at the street corners, in dividual wells in the back yards; so long as locomotion was on foot or on horseback and there was plenty of space between the struc tures, the administration of local government was a routine affair. But when it became necessary to provide waterworks, grant f ran chises to a variety of public utility corpora tions, undertake such matters as street paving and the cleaning and sprinkling of streets, erect expensive bridges, maintain an efficient fire department, administer a complicated building ordinance, provide parks and technical schools and consider comprehensive schemes of city planning, it began to be realized by business men that the administration of a city was very much like that of a large business. And so there came a demand for "a business adminis tration." In relation to this demand commercial as sociations have proved to be a convenient means for free and informal discussion. They have provided a centre where the progressive elements of the community could gather. They may be called the "planning department" of the city government, to borrow a term from 'Sci entific Management.' They are training schools for a new type of citizenship. This function has been defined by Pres. H. A. Gar field of Williams College, in an address be fore the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce as follows: "If I may so express it, the centre of political gravity is gradually settling, and if it passes from our legislative bodies to the electorate there must be found a work able way of securing deliberation among the voters. If it should come about that the only place for free and effective deliberation is among the voters prior to election day, then, plainly, bodies like the Cleveland Cham ber of Commerce will become normal centres for the consideration of public questions, and their influence will become increasingly im portant." The Economic Membership com mittees of commercial associations have often to deal with the man who says, "How can I feel it in my business?" "What is there in it for me?" This brings up a critical economic point, the answer to which is, in brief, that business has been rapidly- changing in charac ter, and changing in such a way as to produce a more intimate local solidarity in economic matters. Business units have grown larger, margins of profit have grown smaller, more care is needed in buying, delays in local traffic are more hurtful, competition for labor is ad vancing to a higher plane, a wider and more even market is demanded, more science is available and more is needed. Of the local solidarity of business let us select one phase only,— namely, that which pertains to the equipment of a. place as a market. How does a city become a good buying and selling centre? Merchandising involves measurement of quan tities (systems of weights and measures), meas urement of qualities (systetns of grades), means of protecting merchandise while it is being held (warehouses and warehousing law) and an adequate assortment for the buyer. A suffi cient assortment can only be ensured for out of-town trade buyers by a systetnatic survey of the merchandise requirements of the trib utary territory. A market also requires fair prices. The formula for fair prices is to bring to bear upon each transaction all possible ele ments of supply and detnand. This means to bring past and future supply and demand to bear upon the present by providing adequate warehousing and cold storage. It means to bnng to bear upon the market of one conunod ity the state of the market for other commod ine.s which are either its raw materials or its manufactured derivatives; a thing which can be ckne by having the converting or manufac turing interests actively represented. It in volves bringing the pnce of money to bear upon the price of goods by taking such steps as will interest the banks actively in commer cial transactions and will make out of goods in storage an acceptable collateral for loans. It means, also, to bring different markets to bear promptly upon each other, by adequate market reports. A perfect market must have flexible credit for persons of ability and char acter. It must have efficient local trucking.
It requires prompt railway transportation, which means not only the presence of railways but proper rates, frequent train service, a mini mum of delay, convement package car accom modations and a low percentage of loss and damage. A market is completed by an ade quate information service of trade and general papers, and by a wide range of service indus tries to facilitate each item of trading transac tions. From this bare enumeration it can be seen that a market is a complex thing. A large market is, indeed, about the most com plex thing the mind of man has devised. Mar kets, well organized and of high efficiency, are still rare in the United States. Such a market does not merely happen; it does not grow like Topsy, nor emerge Phcenix-like from the fires of competitive hatred, nor blossom from the narrow stem of policy known as "every man tninding his own business? It is the result of persevering joint effort. The eco nomic activities of commercial associations can be scarcely more than suggested by means of a few illustrations. The Commercial Asso ciation of Bridgeport (Conn.) maintains a trade school. At Grand Rapids vocational guidance for boys over 15 years of age is provided. The Lynchburg (Va.) Chamber of Commerce promoted a new hotel, and finally a municipal public market. Atlanta (Ga.) manages a buyer's convention twice a year. The New Orleans Merchants' and Manufac turers' Bureau publishes a Spanish magazine, Mercurio, twice a month; the Saint Louis Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association also publishes a monthly journal in Spanish. The Galveston (Tex.) Cotnmercial Association sent a party of merchants to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama in 1913. The San Francisco Chamber of Conunerce helped to found the Remedial Loan Association. The Spokane Chamber of Commerce has aided the North Pacific Fruit Distributors to organize The Minneapolis Civic and Commercial Asso ciation took a census of farmers' opinions on good roads. The Houston (Tex.) Chamber of Commerce maintains a bureau which chron icles all freight delays in and out of the city. Hannibal (Mo.) has a Commercial Club which bought a large tract of land between the tracks of three raihvays and sold it to new plants. A number of associations, including those of Davenport, Iowa, Williamsport, Pa., Rockford, Ill., Jacicson, Mich., and Boston, Mass., have loaned credit to new business concerns. It is now estimated that there are over 3,000 paid secretaries of commercial associations in this country. In 1912, President Taft, through Secretary Nagel of the Department of Com merce and Labor, invited the commercial or ganizations of the country to attend a national conference. The result was the formation of the Chamber of Conunerce of the United State& This organization serves as a means of formulating the opinion of the business men of the country upon such oconomic questions as require a certain national co-ordination in action, or which rise into the domain of prac tical politics and require legislation or the attention of the administrative departments of government. The organ of this Chamber is The Nation's Business. See CHAMBERS OF COM MERCE Bibliography.—Brand, E. A., 'Commer cial Org-anizations) (in Bulletin of United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Manufactures, Agents' Series, No. 60, Washington 1912); Doonan, Geo. W., (Com mercial Organizations in Southern and West ern Cities' (in Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com merce Bulletin, Special Agents' Series, No. 79, Washington 1914); Sturges, Kenneth, (Amer ican Chambers of Commerce' (New York 1915); Proceedings of the Conventions of the National Association of Commercial Or ganization Secretaries (yearly since 1915); files of the American City, The National Mu nicipal Review and of Town Development. As representative publications of individual or ganizations there may be consulted Current Affairs, published by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Chicago Commerce, which is the organ of the Chicago Association of Com merce.