Mr. Edson, Treasurer; and Mr. Goodwin, General Secretary.

From the first, the National Chamber had a firm hold on all matters pertaining to the business life of the country, taking advantage of and basing its system of procedure on investigations made during preceding years into the needs of the Nation's business. Elaborate study and inquiry by men of broad experience, keen analytical power, and patriotic enthusiasm had yielded much valuable data, which was pressed into immediate use by the National Chamber in the pursuance of its work in behalf of the National commercial interests. Headquarters were opened in the Riggs Building in Washington, whose windows look upon the United States Treasury Building; and here there was developed the extensive system that in less than three years has placed the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America in the dominant position in the international family of commercial bodies. Every means was provided. for the scientific study of the business issues and problems of the Nation, for action thereon, and for the dissemination of propaganda that would educate and nationalize American business.

An information and co-operative bureau with extensive ramifications was established, and has been so maintained as to exercise a large usefulness for American business men. This bureau is educative and advisory; it and other departments of the National Chamber help business men and local organizations to help themselves. The local industrial associations throughout the country and their members thus became units in a vast machinery working for the common business good. Soon after the organization of the National Chamber was effected a weekly bulletin service was inaugurated. Through out the year all activities in Governmental departments affecting business are analyzed and discussed in weekly bulletins. This service was supplemented by weekly circulars during the sessions of Congress explaining and giving the status of all proposed legislation bearing on business. Additional bulletins are issued whenever occasion requires-on business or crop conditions, or any important developments in the trade field. The National Chamber next turned to the publication of a monthly newspaper treating constructively all phases of business. This journal-"The Nation's Business "-now is widely read by business men throughout the country.

Attracted by the work of the National Chamber, thousands of new members became interested in the local Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade, and new local commercial unions were organized to participate in the National co-operative movement. The number of commercial bodies represented in the National Chamber increased from three hundred and seventeen to six hundred, with a constituent membership of more than a quarter of a million. Cordial co-operation was everywhere manifest.

With each week after the beginning of the work of the National body, the officers and directors broadened their activities and left their impress more on the business mind of the country. One of the earliest achievements of the National Chamber was the dealing of a severe blow to the lobby system. It is told that the lobby method of seeking to influence business legislation has practically ceased to exist at Washington as a result of the opposition to it by the National Chamber.

Meetings of the officers, the directors, and the Executive Committee were held in different sections of the country; and these commercial patriots carried the gospel of business by word of mouth to many thousands of people in scattered sections of the United States. They told of this great National body, nonpolitical and non-partisan in character, that was establishing a new spirit in business; that was forming a basis of relationship between every community and the Nation at large; that was converting a tremendous divergency of individual interest into a unity of action; and that was carrying the voice of business into the halls of Congress and demanding, impartially and legitimately, that this voice be heard. They told of establishing the definite confidence of Congressional leaders of all parties and the executive heads of the Governmental departments in the work of the National Chamber. These speaking tours partook of the character of a crusade and evoked great enthusiasm. They achieved National interest in and National co-operation with the Chamber of Commerce of the United States; they created in the minds of business men the thought of service to the State.

In November, 1912, the National Chamber first tested its strength in ascertaining the business sentiment of the country by issuing a referendum on a subject of National importance. The response was SO general that the officers of the body were

assured of solid co-operation among the local commercial organizations of the country. After this the National Chamber plunged into a campaign of active work. Less than three years old, this organization now has developed a greater numerical strength than that attained by commercial unions of Europe in half a century. By the time these lines are read the delegates to the third annual convention of the National Chamber will be in session in Washington, and the reports submitted to this convention may establish an adequate estimate of the position occupied by this body in the life of the Nation.

The work of the National Chamber is so broad that the present account must necessarily limit itself to a sketch of what the association has accomplished. This organization has handled scientifically such questions as the rehabilitation of the Merchant Marine, the extension of American trade into foreign countries, and the promotion of American business abroad by the appointment of commercial attachés to our foreign embassies. Moreover, it has taken an active part in framing laws bearing on banking and currency, trust and tariff regulation, and other branches of trade promotion and protection. An adequate telling of the work of the National Chamber can be written only when the achievements of this body can be viewed in broader perspective than at this time.

The most significant expression of cooperation among the business organizations of the Nation as a whole is contained in the referendums submitted by the National Chamber to its members and the response thereto. These referendums are issued whenever a subject arises upon which the National Chamber desires the sentiment of the business men of the country. Forty-five days are allowed for consideration of the referendums, and two-thirds of the votes cast must be favorable to the proposition or the National Chamber will not commit itself on the subject involved. Eight referendums thus far have been issued. In each instance the local organizations throughout the country supported the proposition of the National Chamber. Following is an outline of the referendums as taken :

REFERENDUM NUMBER ONE

November 30, 1912-On the Question of a Plan for a National Budget.

This provided, mainly, that the President, as the Chief Executive of the Administration,

would submit to Congress at the beginning of each session the financial programme of the Administration for the fiscal year, beginning the first of July following its submission. As practically everything undertaken by the Government requires an appropriation in some form or other, such a financial programme would necessarily include a programme of proposed activity, or, in other words, the work programme of the Government, together with a statement of the changes in law necessary to carry it out, and suggestions for increasing the economy and efficiency with which the public business is transacted. Thus the Budget Message would in itself present to Congress and to the people of the United States a brief statement of the administrative policy which, in the opinion of the Executive, the Government of the United States should pursue. The budget proper would contain (1) a summary financial statement, (2) a summary of expenditures, (3) a summary of estimates, and (4) a summary of the changes in law deemed advisable. This referendum also provided that the Secretary of the Treasury be required to submit to Congress detailed reports supporting the general summaries and executive conclusions or recommendations contained in the budget.

The first referendum, as explained by President Fahey and Secretary Goodwin, was largely the first step in a National educational campaign. It was not a case, in the main, for legislation; it anticipated, not the enactment of a concrete bill, but an evolution in procedure and the overcoming of the inertia of custom.

REFERENDUM NUMBER TWO

April 30, 1913-On the Question of a Permanent Tariff Commission.

The plan for a Tariff Commission was submitted in the following form:

1. That the appointment, following the usual procedure, be vested in the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

2. That in order to make the Commission an effective administrative body the number of commissioners should be limited, preferably not more than five.

3. That the term of office of members of the Commission should be sufficiently long to give the board stability and permanency, preferably six years, and the terms of members should expire in rotation, as in the Inter-State Commerce Commission.

4. That a provision should be made for minority representation, as in the case of the InterState Commerce Commission, where not more than three of the five members shall be of one party.

The power of the Commission would be:

1. To gather, investigate, and tabulate technical and statistical facts of all kinds pertinent to the tariff schedules, both in this and other countries.

2. The reports of the Commission should be confined to ascertained facts and should exclude recommendations unless called for by the body having power to institute tariff legislation. The information secured by the Commission should be available to either House of Congress and to the President.

The vote on this referendum closed on June 14, 1913, and the canvass showed 715 votes in favor of the proposition, and against it only 9.

"This referendum," executives of the National Chamber explained, 66 was issued at the beginning of the present Administration. Here we want a concrete object and a piece of legislation to accomplish it, and we feel that we are nearer its realization than at any time since the referendum was taken."

REFERENDUM NUMBER THREE

April 30, 1913-On the Question of Placing on the Appropriation for the Enforcement of Anti-Trust Laws a Prohibition of its Use for the Prosecution of Labor and Agricultural Combinations.

This referendum dealt with a provision in the Sundry Civil Bill that no part of the appropriation for the enforcement of anti-trust laws should be used for the prosecution of labor or agricultural organizations. The National Chamber by a large majority objected to this as class legislation. The President signed the bill, but issued a statement that he had done so in view of the fact that no limitation was placed upon the opportunity or power of the Department of Justice to prosecute violations of the law by whomever committed, and that if he could have separated the rider from the rest of. the bill he would have vetoed it.

REFERENDUM NUMBER FOUR

August 26, 1913-On the Question of the Approval of the Report of the Standing Committee on Currency and Banking of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America upon the Owen-Glass Currency Bill.

The Banking and Currency Law was dealt with by a special committee of twenty-four bankers, lawyers, and economists of National reputation, who made an exhaustive study of the subject for the National Chamber. After a careful examination of the provisions of the bill a report was made offering fourteen recom

mendations for changes or amendments to the bill. This report was submitted to referendum. Each of the seven important amendments suggested in the report was submitted for a separate vote. These were approved by the members of the National Chamber. The Senate Committee which was considering the Owen-Glass Bill received a delegation from the National Chamber and heard an explanation of the significance of the referendum. This delegation was composed of Mr. Harry A. Wheeler, then President; Mr. Wallace D. Simmons, Chairman of the Chamber's Committee; and two of his colleagues-Mr. Edmund D. Fisher and Professor Joseph French Johnson, of New York. A majority of the seven important suggestions made. by the Chamber were incorporated in the Banking and Currency Law as passed, the most important of which was the appointment of an Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board.

No more striking example of the force and influence of public business opinion thus carefully ascertained and brought to a focus has yet been presented than the part that the National Chamber took in perfecting the Currency Bill which has become law.

REFERENDUM NUMBER FIVE

November 8, 1913-On the Question of the Approval of the Special Report of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America on the Department of Commerce Concerning the Development of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in the Department of Commerce.

A special committee of the National Chamber analyzed a report of the Secretary of Commerce looking to the enlargement of the scope of the Department of Commerce. This report of the National Chamber advocated a far greater activity than had hitherto existed for the promotion of trade in the United States and for the extension of American trade to foreign countries; it also urged the appointment of commercial attachés to the American embassies in the most important foreign cities. In the main, this report followed and elaborated on Secretary Redfield's report. The Secretary followed its provisions and secured appropriations for trade building as suggested, and for the appointment of commercial attachés to be stationed at London, Eng land; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; and Peking, China.

REFERENDUM NUMBER SIX

November 8, 1913-On the Question of the Establishment by Congress of a Bureau

or Bureaus of Legislative Reference and Bill-Drafting.

This referendum urged the establishment by Congress of a bureau or bureaus that would place all committee hearings and all data bearing on laws where they would be available to the public. Members of the National Chamber strongly indorsed the proposition. No specific bill providing for these bureaus has been passed, but an appropriation has been made to the Library of Congress for the establishment of a Legislative Reference Bureau.

REFERENDUM NUMBER SEVEN

April 14, 1914-On the Report of the Special Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America on Trust Legislation in Regard to the Proposal to Create an Inter-State Trade Commission.

This subject was taken up more than a year ago by the National Chamber and considered by a special committee, made up of eminent lawyers, economists, and leaders in the business field. The Committee approved the idea of an Inter-State Trade Commission, and offered ten separate suggestions for amendments to the bill, a majority of which were incorporated in the bill as enacted.

REFERENDUM NUMBER EIGHT

May 25, 1914-On the Report of the Special Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America on Trust Legislation Relative to Proposals for Legislation Regulating Business Practices.

This referendum was based on a report of a special committee which made a number of recommendations for changes in or amendments to the Clayton Bill. Many of the ideas and plans suggested were incorporated in the bill, although the bill as passed contained clauses regarding labor and appropriations to which the National Chamber objected.

"Has the Chamber of Commerce of the United States justified its existence?" an executive of that body asked the writer.

Business men of the country have answered the question in the affirmative. In addition to its vast educational and co-operative work the National Chamber has a number of large achievements to its credit, any one of which would have justified its existence.

The National Chamber took an active part

in framing the Banking and Currency Law and secured the appointment of an Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board.

It assisted effectively in establishing on a firm basis the Inter-State Trade Commission and brought about the appointment of commercial attachés to our foreign embassies. It influenced the addition of a number of important amendments to the Clayton Bill. It has promoted many movements to enlarge American commerce.

It assisted the Secretary of the Treasury and other Government officials, at the outbreak of the European war, in fortifying American commercial interests against serious financial complications.

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"The National Chamber has done effective work," said President Fahey to the writer, "but what appears to me as the most important achievement thus far has been the getting together of the business men of the country in a great co-operative movement of this kind. The scope and power of this National body of business men is very large. Every subject is approached and handled with the utmost care and caution; the most scientific study is given every proposition presented. Already we have brought about complete harmony and co-operation among the business organizations of the country. All are working for the common good of the Nation's business.

"The National Chamber is creating a greater democracy and is educating the business men of the United States to a finer conception of business and the place of business in the National life. One important result of our work is that when we present a plea or offer suggestions to Congress the members of that body realize that here is not a packed opinion, but something dealt with from a nonpolitical and non-partisan view-point, with the most careful deliberation, and representing the sentiment of the business men of the Nation as a whole."

It is safe to predict that within a decade the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, now less than three years old, will have registered itself a force in the life of the Nation as great as has been the Deutscher Handelstag in German national life after an existence of half a century.

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AY I be allowed, in the impartial pages of The Outlook, to state my opinion, which is directly opposed to the conclusion given in the article Christianity and War," in your issue of January 13, 1915 ?

These are the reasons, to my mind, why an intelligent, twentieth-century, democratic Christian should refuse to go to war.

1. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is binding not only upon individuals but upon organizations. The most "damnable heresy of these times is that Machiavellian theory that a state (also a board of directors or a corporation) is justified in doing things which in one person would be sinful. To rob a stockholder through corporate action is as immoral as to pick his pocket; so to murder by platoons under a flag is as wicked as to kill with a revolver one man in the street. As a Christian I refuse to be a hangman or a soldier, even as I would refuse to shoot my neighbor.

2. All war is due to the stupidity or to the malfeasance of rulers. General Grant said there never was a war where the issue "could not have been better settled some other way." I refuse to kill citizens of another country simply because my governors have blundered.

3. "Princes," said Colton, "sometimes profit by war, the people never." Wars are the acts of autocracy. No democracy ever votes for war. The populace of no country. in Europe was given a chance to say whether it wanted armed conflict or not. group of a few "statesmen " precipitated the catastrophe. As a democrat, I refuse to give my life for what plainly is not the will of the people.

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4. War is the greatest conceivable crime, "the sum of all villainies," carrying with it every form of violence, inhumanity, and deviltry; to participate in it I should be personally guilty of the deepest possible offense toward Almighty God.

5. War nowadays is sustained by patriotism. That is but a phase in the evolution of conscience. First comes self-defense, then the family feeling, then the tribe, then the nation. That is not the end. is the world. World feeling precedence over national. Where the two conflict the latter should give way. "Above

The next step should be given

all nations is humanity," said Elihu Burritt. An enlightened patriotism, therefore, leads me to do all I can for my country's welfare, but this always subject to the welfare of humanity. I am a human being before I am an American. I will not kill Japanese or Germans that Americans be advanced.

6. There is no patriotism in Jesus. He was clear-visioned and saw that the only permanent social enthusiasm was humanity. Therefore his doctrines teach that I am a brother to Russians and Chinese and all the world. In this enthusiasm for humanity no war is possible. What patriotism unchecked by the larger passion leads to is seen in the horror of the present war. Millions of men, having no personal animosity toward each other, and not knowing what it is all about, butcher and maim one another. Patriotism, nationalism, with no sense of world-welfare, becomes a hideous, mcnstrous delusion.

7. To hope for right and justice from the arbitrament of arms is absurd. Truth is not determined by the largest battalions. War is simply a duel between nations that will not go to court. I will not engage in war for the same reason that I will not fight a duel. This used to be called cowardice. No sane men duel to day.

8. The opposite to war is not peace but law. There is only one way to stop war, and that is by some sort of world government, wherein law shall be between nations as well as within nations. The existing condition is simply international anarchy. To end the six thousand years of bloodshed we must have one international court, and subject to this court one international armed force to enforce its decrees. There is no other im

aginable way out. Therefore it is the duty of the Christian to bend every energy to attain this end.

9. The trouble with Congress, the magazines, the newspapers, and all agents of the expression of opinion in this country is that they are pointed in the wrong direction. We talk of defense against attack and urge more ships and cannon; our talk should be of cooperation with other nations to secure federation. We have a War Department; it ought to be called a World Government Department. The object of the army and navy should definitely be to prevent war,