205679 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by the SECRETARY OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, NEW-YORK, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. ANNUAL REPORT. REVIEW OF PROCEEDINGS. THE Twentieth Annual Report of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New-York is respectfully submitted to its members. This publication, begun in the year 1859, and since regularly continued, is a valuable handbook, not only to all persons immediately engaged in commerce or trade, but to those, also, whose interest or occupation depends upon a knowledge of mercantile. movements. The usual divisions are maintained; they have been found generally satisfactory, and it is of importance for readiness of reference that a uniform treatment should be maintained. Indeed, uniformity is indispensable in works of a statistical nature. The First Part records the proceedings of the Chamber at its several stated and special sessions, from May, 1877, to May, 1878, the official year; Selected Decisions in litigated cases tried in the Court of Arbitration during the year; Roll of Members and Charter; this is followed by the act to amend the Charter of the Corporation of the Chamber, passed April 6, 1878, to provide for the holding of real estate, and the government thereof; By-Laws, Rules and Forms of Procedure of the Court of Arbitration, and a List of Donations to the Library. The Second Part is made up of Trade Reports of the movement of the great staples, both domestic and foreign, and such extracts from the Reports of the National and State Governments concerning the import and export of commodities, immigration and emigration, and financial tables of varied nature as are of most importance to merchants and bankers for daily reference. The exhibits are arranged in a manner to present not only the details in each department, but also comparisons with those of past years. ANNUAL BANQUET OF THE CHAMBER-SPEECHES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND OTHERS. The Proceedings open with the Annual Meeting for the election of officers, following which is an account of the Annual Banquet given in honor of the 109th Anniversary of the founding of the Institution. In the colonial days it was the habit of the Chamber to celebrate its organization by a public dinner. The first of these entertainments was in June, 1769, but they do not seem to have been more than a friendly gathering of the members until 1771, when a great public entertainment was given, to which all the grand dignitaries of the Province, the members of the Legislature, the officers of the Army and Navy, and the city officials were invited. This time-honored custom was revived a few years since, and on the occasion now recorded was observed with unusual ceremony. The President of the United States had been recently inaugurated, after a political struggle of unexampled bitterness. The Chamber, whose record, while never partisan, has ever been one of perfect patriotism, took advantage of the occasion to do what was in its power to harmonize the discordant elements which were beginning to threaten still further detriment to the depressed industries of the country, and among other distinguished guests invited the National, State and City officials to partake of its hospitality. From its organization the Chamber has been repeatedly called upon to give its counsel and aid on matters of Municipal, Provincial and State interests, and on critical junctures it has been of equal service to the General Government. To its invitation, therefore, the response was hearty, and the President of the United States, with members of his Cabinet, the General of the Army and other National and State officials and the Mayor of the City graced the entertainment with their presence. The speeches are printed in full, and bear happy witness to the harmonizing influence of commercial gatherings. It is to be hoped that such occasions may often be repeated in the future, as good results are sure to follow from social relations between the legislator and the governed. ENTERTAINMENT TO GOVERNORS OF STATES. Another instance of the hospitality of the Chamber may here be properly recorded. Announcement having been made that the Governors of the several States contemplated a visit to this city early in September, a special meeting was summoned to arrange for their reception. This failing, through the absence of the only officers competent to preside as prescribed by the By-Laws, the meeting was of necessity adjourned, but the hospitalities of the Chamber were arranged for by the Executive Committee without more formal action. On the morning of the 4th September seven distinguished gentlemen, Governors BEDLE, of New-Jersey, PORTER, of Tennessee, ANTHONY, of Kansas, NEWBOLD, of Iowa, GARBER, of Nebraska, YOUNG, of Ohio, and AXTELL, of NewMexico, were waited upon at the Fifth Avenue Hotel by a large committee of members, headed by the President. The guests were escorted to the City Hall, where the Mayor had tendered them a public reception, thence to Castle Garden, at the invitation of the Commissioners of Emigration, where they were met by a large number of distinguished citizens and taken upon an excursion down the Bay. Rarely has such a representation of the distinguished men of New-York been gathered together as on this memorable occasion. The temperature was perfect, the atmosphere wondrous in its clearness. The waters were alive with craft, saluting by colors and whistles the passing steamer, with its happy freight. The steamer itself, the beautiful and rapid "Thomas Collyer," the pride of our waters, was in gala dress. She had been tendered for the occasion by her liberal and public-spirited owner, Hon. JOHN H. STARIN, a member of the Chamber. At the collation which closed the proceedings, the intimate relations and reciprocal nature of the interests of New York and the interior were touched upon by hosts and guests, and the company separated in the full conviction that the day's experience would prove of profit as well as pleasure. INTERNATIONAL COINAGE-THE SILVER BILL. The services of the Committees of the Chamber have been heavily taxed during the past year in the consideration of a variety of subjects of the gravest public concern. The most important among these was the money question in its different aspects; the intrinsic value of coinage, the relations of gold and silver to each other, of both to the paper issues of the country, and of the paper issues to each other, a strange complexity, in a subject which requires the greatest simplicity, caused by special legislation required by the exigencies of the late war, or forced upon the country by particular interests. In our last report, we called attention to the new and disturbing element which had been introduced into this question by the large product of our silver mines, and the discharge of this metal from its function as money by the German Government, and congratulated the Chamber, whose vital interests depend upon an even and uniform currency, upon the action of the "Monetary Commission" appointed by the Congress of the year previous to consider the causes of the depression in the value of silver. This Commission took testimony in New-York in October, 1876, when Mr. A. A. Low, whose life has been spent in the China trade, appeared before it to disprove the alleged necessity of the proposed silver coinage, to facilitate the trade of the United States with the East. This subject has been the one all-important question of the past year. Discussed in Congress, it was also the subject of debate at a Convention held in New-York in September of last year. At this Convention, Mr. SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, the first authority on this class of subjects in the United States, and for a long time Chairman of the Committee of the Chamber on International Coinage, was present, and made an able argument, in which the danger of any considerable over |