the country against the free coinage of silver, and this by an almost unanimous vote.

At the January meeting, the Committee on Finance and Currency also reported adversely on the recommendation of Mr. Secretary WINDOM for a conversion of the Four per cent. United States Bonds into Two per cent. Thirty Year Bonds, as dangerous and not likely to realize the benefit expected by the Secretary.

In June of last year the subject of the tariff was brought up, when a motion to protest against any raising of duties was laid upon the table. At the first autumn meeting, the Chamber unanimously recommended the extension of the time for removing goods in bond, from the 1st November last to the 1st February of the present year.

In November, the CONGER Lard Bill, imposing special taxes upon manufacturers and dealers in compressed lard, together with other onerous regulations upon this trade, passed the House of Representatives, and the interposition of the Chamber was invoked to avert its passage in the Senate or its approval by the President. The subject excited considerable discussion, and was at the time. referred to the Committee on Internal Trade, which reported in December. Their conclusions were strongly in condemnation of the proposed legislation as objectionable, because of its special nature, to the benefit of one class of interest to the detriment of others; at the same time the Committee recommended stringent general laws to prevent the adulteration of food. The conclusions of the report were adopted after debate by a large majority vote. The bill failed to become a law.

In May, the Chamber unanimously agreed to a resolution protesting against the passage of the Act known as the BUTTERWORTHI Bill, forbidding sales of cotton, grain and hog products for future delivery, as likely to derange the present methods of trade in those articles, to the detriment of shippers and producers alike. This bill also failed to become a law.

In March, 1890, Lieutenant THOMPSON, of the United States Revenue Service, addressed a communication to the

Chamber requesting its co-operation to secure the passage of a bill then pending in Congress to transfer the Revenue Cutter Service from the Treasury to the Navy Department. In May last, the Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws reported in favor of the proposed change, basing their conclusions on the information that it was acceptable to the Secretaries of the Treasury and of the Navy, and as by the provisions of the bill designed to increase the efficiency of the Navy proper, while in no way impairing that of the coast guard, and moreover to simplify the service and reduce expenditure. This bill failed in the Senate.

In January last, the Chamber repeated the opinion it has expressed for many years, that it is but fair for the Government of the United States to encourage our declining shipping interests in their efforts to regain the carrying trade of American product in American bottoms, and unanimously urged upon Congress the prompt passage of the Shipping and Tonnage Bill then before Congress. It was of interest to note that this resolution was urged by one of the most prominent representatives of the Southern section of the United States. It was held that it would bring the cotton producers of the South and the foreign manufacturers of England and Germany into closer relations, with consequent cheaper ocean tonnage. The resolu tion, which was unanimously adopted by the Chamber, appealed to the Representatives in Congress, irrespective of party, to pass this legislation. This special Act failed, but in lieu of it the shipping interests were compensated by the passage of the Postal Subsidy Bill, providing rates for mileage sailed.

It is certainly to be hoped that the day is not distant when financial and commercial questions will not be debated on party lines, but that they may be discussed on their economic merits, and settled in that spirit of compromise which befits their importance, independent of any political significance.

The dangers to the Harbor of New-York by the dumping of refuse were again brought up, but the Secretary of War having taken action on the subject, and presented to Con

gress a bill proposed by the United States District Attorneys of New-York and New-Jersey, the matter was left in the charge of the Committee on the Harbor and Shipping..

The Chamber also expressed the opinion in June that the appropriation in the River and Harbor Bill for the improvement of the Gowanus Bay Channel, as defined by Congress in 1888, would only provide a cut of insufficient width for navigation, and urged our representatives at Washington to press for an increase sufficient to complete the work on the original plan. The appropriation was granted.

At the request of this Committee, the Chamber unanimously recommended the Senators and Representatives of the State of New-York in Congress to endorse the application of the Chamber of Commerce of Charleston, S. C., for a suitable appropriation to continue the improvements in that harbor.

At the request of a number of prominent citizens of the States bordering on the Mississippi River, the Chamber, in June last, considered the subject of the dangers, from continued overflows of that great water way, to a large extent of fertile territory, and adopted resolutions urging upon the President of the United States to submit this important subject to Congress; recommending it to the study of the United States Corps of Engineers. The Chamber, unanimous in this opinion, urged the co-operation of all Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade, and appointed a Committee of its most influential members to bring it to the attention of the Chief Executive of the Government.

State Legislation.-Each year the City feels more severely the need of adequate rapid transit facilities, from the wide spreading borders of our great metropolis to its business centre, which continues to be in the neighborhood of the City Hall. The Chamber of Commerce again this year urged upon the State authorities the creation of a competent Commission irrespective of party to devise and provide for a complete and efficient system of rapid transit.

The Council of the Nautical School submitted their Sixteenth Annual Report of the operations of this institution and their examination, in October, on board the United States ship St. Mary's. This school, established in 1873, was made a part of the educational system of the City of New-York, and its management is under the practical charge of the Board of Education. In the opinion of the Council appointed by the Chamber, the sphere of usefulness of this excellent and merited institution would be greatly extended if its management were transferred to the ship-owning interests of this Port.

These views were, by order of the Chamber, submitted to the Board of Education, and later communicated to the Superintendent of Public Instruction at Albany. A bill was before the Legislature to secure the proposed change. No doubt our ship-masters will gladly avail of such opportunity as may by it be provided to secure an intelligent class of under officers.

In April last, the Chamber urged upon the Legislature the prompt passage of the Acts pending before it to maintain the integrity of the Forest Preserves of the State from intrusion by railroads and injury from natural causes. The Chamber, alive to the interests of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River water supply, hold the preservation of our mountain forests to be absolutely necessary.

It also unanimously recommended that the bills before the Legislature providing for a change in the system of State taxation of property be deferred, as ill-considered and crude.

It also protested against the pending bill to change the law for licensing Sailors' Boarding Houses in this Port.

The Annual Banquet.-The universal interest aroused in commercial and financial questions by the heated debates of the Congress now passed into history gave to the Annual Banquet of the Chamber, held in November, an importance which will be long remembered. The presence among the invited guests of some of the strongest advocates of the principles maintained in the rival political camps, and the certainty of a fair field and a courteous

antagonism, filled DELMONICO's favorite hall, which proved far too small for the unusual number of applications. Not the least of the interesting associations is it that this was the last occasion on which our late beloved General SHERMAN, an Honorary member of our Chamber, favored us with his manly and genial presence. He it was who closed the proceedings of the evening, when the practical instruction of the trained statesman was happily blended with the graces of classic diction in one of the most felicitous of his easy and familiar speeches.

On the opening of the intellectual programme of this memorable feast, Mr. SMITH, the President of the Chamber, introduced the last session of Congress as "the most important and eventful session that has been held since the close of our civil war"-important in its positive legislation on the tariff, its negative conclusions as to the financial measures considered by it, and eventful in the probable opening of the vast markets of our South American neighbors with the key of reciprocity, an opening which, though it may not admit many of our finer manufactures, will give large entrance to our agricultural products in exchange for their own. The subject thus opened, Mr. DEPEW, who, next to the Hon. the Secretary of State, is the patron, if not the author of the idea of reciprocity-which is no new idea, at least to the members of this Chamber-followed, with a statement of facts and a marshalling of conclusive figures, in support. He was later answered in an argument for the development of our foreign commerce by the Hon. CARL SCHURZ, who holds views directly the opposite, and believes that unaided the American merchant and shipmaster can cope with the world. Meanwhile, it is well to remember that our foreign commerce has never ceased to increase, and needs no stimulant, but that our carrying trade has been stripped from us by an unequal competition.

These subjects disposed of, the Chamber was instructed and delighted by the charms of scholastic eloquence from the lips of Mr. President ELIOT, of Harvard University, and Mr. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. Their theme was the alli