CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



r give the colonies a preference in trade. Bal- 

 four, as Prime Minister and leader of the 

 party, tried to keep the tariff out of politics. 

 Chamberlain refused to compromise, resigned 

 from the Cabinet, and finally in 1905 forced 

 the issue before the people. The Liberals won 

 a sweeping victory, which was generally inter- 

 preted as the deathblow to tariff reform. In 

 1906 Chamberlain's health began to fail, but 

 he continued to advise the tariff reformers and 

 sat in Parliament until the year of his death, 

 though his active leadership was at an end. 

 He died on July 2, 1914. 



H [Joseph] Austen Chamberlain (1863- ),the 

 oldest son of Joseph Chamberlain, had already 

 won great honors before his father died. He 

 was educated at Rugby School and at the 

 University of Cambridge, and entered Parlia- 

 ment in 1892. From 1895 to 1905 he was a 

 member of the Balfour Ministry, in which he 

 held the posts of Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 

 Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Post- 

 master-General and finally Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer. This gradual promotion was partly 

 due, perhaps, to Balfour's attempts to keep 

 the tariff reformers from destroying the Union- 

 ist party, but it was also in recognition of his 

 ability. After 1906, when his father retired 

 from active leadership, Austen Chamberlain 

 was the acknowledged champion of the tariff 

 reformers. From 1892 until 1914 he represented 

 East Worcestershire in Parliament, but in 

 1914, after the death of his father, he was 

 elected by Birmingham West, the constituency 

 which his father had represented for twenty- 

 nine years. In May of the next year he be- 

 came Secretary of State for India in the coali- 

 tion Cabinet headed by Asquith, which the 

 War of the Nations made necessary. W.F.Z. 



CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, an organization 

 of traders and merchants for their mutual 

 benefit, or for the wider purpose of promoting 

 the business and commercial interests of their 

 community. In the United States, Canada and 

 England membership in these local organiza- 

 tions is voluntary, and their usefulness depends 

 on the energy and ability of the members. 

 The fundamental purpose of such bodies is 

 to increase the prosperity of the community, 

 and incidentally of its individual business inter- 

 ests. To this end a chamber of commerce 

 may investigate general business conditions at 

 home and abroad, transportation facilities and 

 their possible improvement, extension of credit 

 and any other business factors. The recom- 

 mendations of such a body frequently in- 



fluence local, state or provincial, and occa- 

 sionally even national, legislation. One of the 

 commonest activities of such chambers is the 

 distribution of printed matter in which the 

 advantages of the city or district are set forth 

 in terms to attract new industry. 



In Canada the functions of a chamber of 

 commerce are exercised by the chartered 

 boards of trade. These are corporations 

 formed under a Dominion statute, and must 

 include at least thirty persons who are "mer- 

 chants, traders, brokers, mechanics, manufac- 

 turers, managers of banks, or insurance agents 

 resident in the district." This corporation may 

 elect twelve of its members to form a board of 

 arbitration. Any three members of the board 

 may arbitrate any cases submitted to it. These 

 are usually disputes of local importance, but 

 sometimes of wider interest. In some of the 

 European countries, notably in France and 

 Germany, the boards have a semi-official char- 

 acter, and exercise certain administrative func- 

 tions which belong to the municipality in the 

 United States and Canada. 



Among the most active chambers of com- 

 merce in the United States are those of New 

 York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Saint Louis, New 

 Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco and Portland 

 (Oregon). Important Canadian boards of 

 trade include those of Vancouver, Saskatoon, 

 Regina, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary 

 and Halifax. 



CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE 

 UNITED STATES, an organization in which 

 membership is open to local chambers of com- 

 merce and other associations of business men. 

 It was organized at a national commercial 

 conference called by President Taft and held 

 in Washington, D. C., on April 22 and 23, 

 1912. Its purpose, roughly defined, is to do 

 nationally what the individual chamber of 

 commerce does locally (see CHAMBER OF COM- 

 MERCE) . 



It studies and encourages the organization of 

 associations of business men, and puts the re- 

 sults of its investigations at the service of 

 organizations which desire to add to their 

 efficiency. It analyzes the statistics of com- 

 merce and production, both at home and 

 abroad, watches dangers which might retard 

 commercial development, and makes note of 

 opportunities which might result in expansion. 

 One of its objects is to keep a close watch on 

 congressional legislation affecting the commer- 

 cial interests of the country. In a general way 

 it aims to do for the commercial interests of 



