CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



1263 



CHAMBERSBURG 



the nation what the American Federation of 

 Labor does for labor. It should be noted, 

 however, that the methods of the two organi- 

 zations are quite different; the Federation of 

 Labor maintains agents in Washington and 

 operates through a central organization, 

 whereas the Chamber of Commerce maintains 

 no lobby and operates through its constituent 

 members and their influence upon the members 

 of Congress. 



Unlike the chambers of commerce in France, 

 Germany and other European countries, the 

 Chamber of Commerce of the United States 

 has no official relation to the government. The 

 government pays no part of its expenses, nor 

 is an arbitrary tax levied for its support, a 

 condition which exists in some European coun- 

 tries. The chamber, however, acts voluntarily 

 as an adviser, with respect to appropriations, 

 executive order and legislation, and since its 

 organization has exercised a considerable in- 

 fluence in the framing of paragraphs of new 

 laws that relate directly to commercial and 

 industrial operations. 



Membership. The membership of this na- 

 tional Chamber of Commerce includes organiza- 

 tions and individual persons or firms. Every 

 commercial or manufacturers' association, not 

 organized for private purposes, is eligible to 

 membership. Such associations include or- 

 ganizations whose membership is confined to a 

 single trade or group of trades, and also those 

 local or state organizations whose chief pur- 

 pose is the development of the commercial and 

 industrial interests of a community. Indi- 

 vidual persons or firms which belong to any 

 association already a member of the chamber 

 of commerce of the United States are eligible 

 to individual membership. The number of in- 

 dividual members is limited to 5,000, but there 

 is no limit to the number of organization mem- 

 bers. The membership in 1916 included about 

 700 associations and 3,600 individuals. The 

 national headquarters are at Washington, D. C. 



Control of Its Policy. One feature of the 

 work of the Chamber of Commerce of the 

 United States is unique the method by which 

 its policy is framed. The board of directors 

 has no right to commit the chamber to any 

 project or policy. Expression of the cham- 

 ber's opinion upon any public question can be 

 made only after a referendum has been taken 

 and the vote of the organization members 

 recorded. The right to vote is restricted to 

 organizations; individual members are required 

 to express their opinions through their re- 



spective local organizations. This is a unique 

 procedure, one which has never been used to 

 obtain an expression of public opinion either in 

 the United States or in any other country. 

 While it was first regarded as a complicated 

 piece of machinery, it has been found that 

 legislative bodies are susceptible to a statement 

 of this actual vote when they would never 

 be influenced by the action of a board of direc- 

 tors. H.W. 



CHAMBERS, ROBERT WILLIAM (1865- ), 

 a popular American novelist and writer of 

 short stories, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. Before 

 he began his career as an author he studied 

 art in the Julien Academy at Paris, and for 

 a time made illustrations for Life, Truth, 

 Vogue and other New York periodicals. In 

 1893 he published In the Quarter, and hia liter- 

 ary activity since that time has continued 

 without interruption. Among the best-known 

 of more than twenty of his stories are lole, 

 The Fighting Chance, The Firing Line, AiUa 

 Page, The Common Law, The Business of Life, 

 Athalie and The Girl Philippa. 



Chambers has undeniably the gift of writing 

 an interesting story. He belongs, however, 

 to that group of American novelists who have 

 chosen as their themes some of the baser as- 

 pects of modern life, and his books have an 

 unwholesome tone that makes them dangerous 

 reading for young people. 



CHAMBERSBURG, PA., an industrial bor- 

 ough in Franklin County, of which it is the 

 county seat. It is situated in the extreme 

 southern part of the state, about midway be- 

 tween the eastern and western boundary lines, 

 on Conococheague and Falling creeks. Harris- 

 burg is fifty miles northeast by rail. The Cum- 

 berland Valley and Western Maryland rail- 

 roads afford transportation, and electric lines 

 extend to adjacent cities. The population was 

 11,800 in 1910; it had increased to 12,192 in 

 1914. The area of the borough exceeds three 

 square miles. 



Chambersburg is located in a cultivated and 

 thickly-settled section of the Cumberland Val- 

 ley, where marble, limestone and freestone 

 abound. It is largely engaged in making 

 hosiery, dresses, paper, iron, foundry products, 

 silk and condensed milk, and also contains the 

 shops of the Cumberland Valley road. Besides 

 the public schools, there are Wilson College 

 (Presbyterian), for girls, organized in 1870, 

 Penn Hall Preparatory School, also for girls, 

 and a public library. It has a hospital, and 

 homes for children and the aged. Beyond the 



