appointing committees and presiding over our deliberations once a year. He has conceived the office of President of the Board to be one of larger import, that a central body of merchants seeking accomplishment should be conducted on lines of analogy with those of a commercial corporation, and that its President should, like the active president of a bank or any business concern, work not alone during the short period of an annual meeting, but throughout the entire year as its executive officer towards its upbuilding and expansion. How thoroughly and conscientiously and acceptably he has so worked we all know. And he has supplemented his continued interest in our work with such attractive qualities of conscientious fairness, of friendly consideration and of fine geniality and good fellowship as to easily capture and hold our esteem, confidence and affection. Such unanimity of feeling towards a presiding officer always operates beneficially to the society as an agency of harmony.

The expression of our appreciation of our President's work we can best make concrete by unanimously impressing him into our service for another year, while thanking him most cordially for his past effective work, and in behalf of the Committee on Nominations I move you, sir, that the Board proceed to the election of a President, two Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer of the Board.

The PRESIDING Officer.-Gentlemen, the Chair feels sure that you will be glad to express yourselves upon this most admirable report in the most emphatic way. The Chair will therefore put the question without waiting for a second.

The report of the committee was unanimously approved.

The PRESIDING Officer.—Shall we proceed to the election of the officers?

Mr. VIAUX, of Boston.-I move that we take the vote for President by standing.

Mr. HARVEY, of Philadelphia.-I think our election must be by ballot. Is not that correct?

The SECRETARY.-That is correct.

Mr. HARVEY.-I move that Mr. ROBINSON be authorized to cast one ballot of this body for the election of President.

The motion was agreed to.

The PRESIDING Officer.-Mr. ROBINSON will kindly cast the vote of this body in accordance with the report of the Nominating Committee, for Mr. FRANK D. LA LANNE as President.

Mr. ROBINSON.-I declare that I have cast the vote as instructed.

The PRESIDING OFFICER.-The Chair will ask all the members to rise and give their assent.

All the delegates arose.

Mr. CLUM, of Cleveland.—I move that the Secretary be instructed to cast the vote of the Board in favor of Mr. ESTES as First Vice-President.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. COPPINS, of Boston.-I move that the Secretary be authorized to cast one ballot for Mr. CLINTON WHITE as Second Vice-President.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. KELLY, of Philadelphia.—I move that Mr. ROBINSON be authorized to cast the vote of the Board for Mr. WILLIAM R. TUCKER as Treasurer.

The motion was agreed to.

The SECRETARY.-I have cast the ballot of the Board for Mr. ESTES as First Vice-President, and for Mr. CLINTON WHITE as Second Vice-President.

Mr. ROBINSON.-I have cast the vote of the Board as instructed, for the election of Mr. WILLIAM R. TUCKER as Treasurer.

The PRESIDING OFFICER.-Then the Chair announces the election of Mr. FRANK D. LA LANNE as President; Mr. P. M. ESTES, First Vice-President; Mr. CLINTON WHITE, Second. Vice-President, and Mr. WILLIAM R. TUCKER as Treasurer.

Mr. KELLY.—I move that the Chair appoint a committee of two to escort Mr. LA LANNE to the chair.

The motion was agreed to and the Chair appointed Mr. VIAUX and Mr. HARVEY to escort the President-elect to the Chair. The committee escorted Mr. LA LANNE to the Chair and all the delegates arose to greet the President-elect upon his assuming the Chair.

The PRESIDING OFFICER.-Mr. LA LANNE, the Chair announces to you that you have been elected as President of the Board, and I want to say personally, in carrying out the sentiments already expressed by the Chairman of the Nominating Committee, that we all heartily join in thus welcoming you again as the leading officer of this National Board of Trade, and I shall be most happy to turn the Chair over to you.

The PRESIDENT.-I have not craved this honor, gentlemen, but I do not think there is a greater honor that could be bestowed upon a merchant, a man who has the interest of commerce at heart, who has made what little he has by commerce, than to be elected President of this influential National Board of Trade. We have accomplished a great deal, and we are going to accomplish a great deal more. I had hoped that your confidence in me would not be so great as to re-elect me. I had in mind another man, a better man, to be your President for the ensuing year. But if it is your wish I accept the office with humbleness. I do not set myself up for a genius or a very learned man, but I will do the best I can. I again thank you, gentlemen. [Great applause.]

POSTAL AFFAIRS.

The PRESIDENT.-Mr. ACKER will now present the report of the Committee on Postal Affairs.

Mr. ACKER, of. Philadelphia.-We present this resolution first for action, there being two others:—

RECLASSIFICATION OF MAIL MATTER.

WHEREAS, The Postmaster-General having stated that from methods inaugurated, for the first time in the history of the Post-office Depart

ment, it will be possible to figure intelligently the actual cost to the Government of handling the mails and give definite results at the end of the calendar year in regard to relative costs of the different classes of mail matter and the expense to the Post-office Department of the franking privileges and of the free service rendered to the other departments;

Resolved, That the National Board of Trade strongly advocates a revision of postal rates that the gross injustice may be eliminated of a large portion of our citizens being compelled to pay an enormous profit on the service rendered them to make good the large loss caused by gratuitous service to a fortunate minority.

Resolved, That through intelligent and just revision one-cent letter postage should be made possible without loss to the Government, and should be adopted without further delay.

The PRESIDENT.-Gentlemen, you have heard the resolution. What is your pleasure?

The resolution was adopted.

Mr. ACKER.-The second resolution is in regard to the consolidation of third and fourth-class mail matter, as follows:

Resolved, That third and fourth-class matter should be consolidated as third-class, the line of demarcation between them being an arbitrary theory only, the cost of handling being apparently the same for both classes, yet one hundred per cent. higher rate being imposed on fourthclass matter.

Mr. FERNLEY, of Philadelphia.-Before we vote upon that I should like to ask for a rereading of the latter part of that resolution.

The PRESIDENT.-The Secretary will please reread that. Mr. ACKER.-I also find it on the official programme.

The Secretary reread the resolution.

Mr. HITCHCOCK, of Scranton.-Everything comes in as third class.

Mr. FERNLEY.-It seems to me there are several objections. If I understand that resolution correctly, it means a vital reduction in the cost of carrying merchandise. Merchandise. to-day is carried at the rate of 16 cents a pound. As I understand it, the rate on third-class matter is 8 cents a pound. Is that correct?

Mr. ACKER.-That is correct.

Mr. FERNLEY.-This is a feature of the parcels post. It is a measure which is advocated by a class of merchants, small in number, but doing a very large volume of business, and whose business policy is very much opposed to that of the ordinary wholesale and retail merchants of the country. I allude to mail-order houses, located at the present time almost exclusively in the city of Chicago, who are doing an annual business amounting approximately to $100,000,000, which business to that extent is being taken away from the ordinary channels of the retail merchants of the country, and naturally affecting also the wholesalers in our large cities represented by your respective Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce and other organizations, and for that reason I desire, in the name of the wholesale and hardware men of the country and other wholesale merchants who have considered this proposition, to oppose any resolution which will tend to decrease the expense of delivery on the part of these mail-order houses by 50 per cent. I have been informed that it costs considerably more than 8 cents a pound to carry merchandise. If the law should pass in accordance with this resolution, it will mean a further deficit in the Postal Department.

We have just passed a resolution to the same effect as the action we have taken for a long number of years. I have not had the honor of being here twenty or thirty years ago, as has my venerable friend from New York (Mr. G. WALDO SMITH), who, I believe, has the record.

You have been passing it for about that time, and you are to-day paying 2 cents on your letters simply because you have allowed other matters to come into the postal service which have increased the already large deficit. The main reason why we have not I-cent letter postage to-day is that second, third and fourth-class matter is being carried by the Government at a loss, while I am informed by gentlemen who have the figures at their tongues' end that the profit on I-cent letter postage is 300 per cent.

Now, after passing a resolution which would mean a large reduction in the postal revenues, our committee come here with