CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. A body of merchants and traders, associated for the pur pnse of promoting the interests of its own mem bers, of the town or district to which the society belongs. and of the community generally, in so far as these have reference to trade and merchan dise. Of the means by which these objects are !,ought to be accomplished, the following may be mentioned as the most prominent: (1) 13y rep resenting and urging on the legislature the views of their members in mercantile affairs; (2) by aiding in the preparation of legislative measures having reference to trade, such, for example, as the bankrupt acts: (3) by collecting statistics bearing upon the staple trade of the district; (4) in some places. by acting as a sort of court of arbitration in mercantile questions; (5) by attaining, by combination, advantages in trade which might be beyond the reach of individual enterprise.
Chambers of Commerce originated on the Con tinent of Europe. when, with the gradual disin tegration of the old guild system, they were clothed with some of the municipal and adminis trative functions which had in earlier times been exercised by the craft guilds. The first of these organizations on record is that of :Marseilles, which was originally established about the year 1600. and acquired a definite organization in 1650. Similar bodies were created at Dunkirk in 1700, and in the following year at Rouen, Toulouse, Lyons, Bordeaux. and other points. During the Napoleonic period, when the French influence extended to Holland. Germany, Aus tria, and Italy, similar organizations were estab lished in the principal cities of those countries. Before this time they had spread to Scotland.
where the year 1783 witnessed the establishment of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and to the American Colonies, where the New York Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1768. It was not until the early part of the Nineteenth Century that the institution took root in England. The Chamber of Commerce of :Manchester was organ ized in 1820, but that of London not until 1882. At the present time such organizations, whether under the name of Chamber of Com merce or -under that of Board of Trade, arc well nigh universal, and no town of any considerable importance lacks such a corporate representation of its mercantile interests, In the United States. and in England and her colonies, Chambers of Commerce are purely vol associations. They select their own mem bers and are accountable to no one for their ac tions. Their sole purpose is to render themselves serviceable to mercantile interests, by such ac tion as will influence public opinion and law making bodies. In European countries they have a somewhat more official character. They are there elected bodies chosen by ballot among the mercantile classes. The prescribes who shall have the right to participate in such elections. In some countries it is made their duty to ex press their opinion in advance upon proposed legislation. and in the Hanse citics they inu,t by law he consulted before certain kinds of legis lation can be considered. They are also intrusted frequently with minor administrative duties, sue]] as the prescribing of port regulations and the like.