Members of the Chamber of Commerce, Roll of, April 30, 1905, page 107. Honorary, Elected since April 1, 1858, page 140. MORLEY, Right Hon. JOHN, M. P., Speech of, page 45. Mortgage Tax Bill, page 106. Mortgages, Taxation of, Report on, page 87. Nominating Committee, Appointment of, page 95. Report of, page 4. Officers and Members of Standing Committees of the Chamber of Commerce, Election of, page 6. Committee to Nominate, page 95. Report of, page 4. OGDEN, RORERT C., Speech of, page 26. OLNEY, Hon. RICHARD, Speech of, page 52. ORR, ALEXANDER E., Speeches of, pages 51, 60. Philippine Commissioners, Committee to Receive and Entertain, page 7. Reception and Entertainment of, pages 10, 12. Piers, New, Leasing of, page 100. Reservation of, for public purposes, page 93. Report on, page 97. Postal Station in Wall Street, Establishment of, page 81. POTTER, Right Rev. HENRY C., D. D., Bishop of New-York, Speech of, page 14. President ROOSEVELT, Communication of, page 43. Congratulations of the Chamber to, on his Inauguration, page 93. Rapid Transit Commission, Report of Special Committee on Recognition of the Services of the Members of the Chamber on, page 38. Rates of Storage and Labor on General Order Merchandise at the Port of New York, Report of Special Committee on, page 35. Re-Appointment of Special Committees, page 2. REID, Hon. WHITELAW, Vice-President, Speeches of, pages 13, 21, 26, 28. Re-Incorporation of the Chamber of Commerce, 1784, Act of, page 156. Amendments to, pages 158, 159, 160, 161. Roads of the State, Improvement of, page 72. Report on, page 80. Roll of the Members of the Chamber of Commerce, April 30, 1905, page 107. ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, President of the United States, Communication of, page 43. Congratulations of the Chamber on his Inauguration, page 93. ROSEBERY, Lord, Communication of, page 50. SCHIFF, JACOBв H., Remarks of, on the Death of WILLIAM H. BALDWIN, Jr., page 68. SCHURMAN, President JACOB GOULD, LL. D., Speech of, page 16. SHAW, Hon. LESLIE M., Secretary of the Treasury, Speech of, page 44 SMITH, CHARLES S., Remarks of, page 63. Special Committees, Re-Appointment of, page 2. State Debt Limitations, Report on, page 101. Stock Sales Bill, page 106. TAFT, Hon. WILLIAM H., Secretary of War, Speech of, page 21. TOMKINS, CALVIN, Remarks of, page 62. Wall Street, Establishment of a Postal Station in, page 81. Water Supply, of the City, Increasing the, Report on, pages 84, 95. ANNUAL REVIEW. THE Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New-York for the year 1904-1905 is presented herewith. Part First contains the Proceedings. of the Chamber for the year ending April 30, 1905, the Roll of Members, Officers and Committees, Constitution and By-Laws. Part Second contains the usual Trade Reviews and Statistical Tables of Trade and Finance of the City and State of New-York and of the United States. The following are the principal subjects which have engaged the attention of the Chamber during the year: Rapid Transit.-The completion of the greater part of the subway and the demonstration afforded by its actual use of how well it fulfills the promise of giving real Rapid Transit to the people of New-York have furnished matter of special satisfaction to the Chamber. The law which constituted the Rapid Transit Commission and made possible what is, perhaps, the most remarkable achievement in our municipal history, was due to the efforts of the Chamber, and by the Chamber it was pressed to favorable action on the part of the Legislature. From the earliest discussion of the subject the Chamber held that Rapid Transit such as the people have the right to expect, and for which they voted by a large majority, was possible only by a system which should permit the passage of express trains throughout the extreme length of the island, and the reaching out, as far as possible and practicable to the outlying districts of Greater New-York. The body under whose direction were prepared the plans for an underground railroad of the capacity indicated, and under whose supervision the whole enterprise was carried to a successful conclusion, consisted of eight Commissioners, six of whom were members of the Chamber, the other two being the Mayor and Comptroller of the City for the time being. A special Committee which was appointed in January, 1904, to suggest some method of recognizing the services of the members of the Chamber on the Rapid Transit Commission, reported in March, of the same year, that the Commission deserved high commendation, not only because it had determined plans for Rapid Transit broad in scope and fitted to the needs of the City, and had carried these forward under difficult circumstances, but also, and notably, because it had so planned that the City owns the franchise, and will eventually come into possession and control of the entire system with little or no debt outstanding. The final report of the Committee was presented and unanimously adopted at the November meeting, and the ways which it suggested by which the Chamber might give deserved honor to those of its members who had served the Rapid Transit enterprise were these: 1. That the Committee be instructed to prepare and print a descriptive and historical memoir of the enterprise, to the end that the instrumentality of the Chamber, of its members, and of others in the great work might be properly recorded in permanent form. 2. That the Committee be instructed to cause to be struck suitable medals in gold, similar to the one already presented to Mr. HEWITT on October 3, 1901, and that these medals be presented to Mr. ORR and to those members of the Chamber associated with him. 3. Rather as suggestion than recommendation, that a group picture, presenting the portraits of those of the members who have had to do with Rapid Transit work, be procured and given place on the walls of the Great Hall of the Chamber, as a companion piece to the Atlantic Cable picture. The Committee desired that the way might be kept open to secure such a picture, and to that end asked the Chamber to authorize its Executive Committee to give any needed assurances that a suitable painting if offered would be gratefully accepted. State and Municipal Taxation. -The Committee on Taxation continued to follow, closely and critically, the course of legislation at Albany affecting measures of taxation. At the meeting in March an elaborate report was presented by this Committee, in the course of which the proposed Mortgage Tax Bills and the Bill providing for a tax on Transfers of Stock were carefully analyzed. The only Mortgage Tax Bill to which the Committee was able to give even a qualified approval was the compromise measure providing for the complete exemption of all mortgages from annual taxation, each new mortgage, however, to pay a recording tax of one-half of one per cent. for the benefit of the State. The Chamber had, on more than one occasion, approved this proposal as a compromise, and the Committee advised approval again, though the Bill ran counter to certain propositions on this subject heretofore accepted by the Chamber. Of the other Bills the Committee advised the Chamber again to express its condemnation, on the ground that mortgages ought not to be taxed at all, and that the taxes derived from this or any other similar source, should go to the tax districts, the State receiving its share on the basis usual in direct taxation. The Bill providing for a tax of two cents on each one hundred dollars of face value or fraction thereof on all sales or agreements to sell, or memoranda of sale, or deliveries, or transfers of shares or certificates of stock in any domestic or foreign association, company or corporation, was condemned by the Committee as in direct violation of the rights of the local tax districts; as not being a tax on property, nor on income or profits of trade, but on a process of trade; as being an unequal tax; as a tax on paper evidences of ownership or property already taxed in the State of its location; as burdensome in detail and likely to prove so burdensome in effect as seriously to endanger the position of New-York as a financial centre. In presenting these and other arguments against the Bill, the Committee recorded its protest against the yearly recurrence of the imposition of new and unreasonable tax burdens upon the city, and recalled the fact of having pointed out several years ago that the favor |