The Merchants' Association of Nev7 York

The Merchants' Association of New York is one of
the newer but withal a most aggressive commercial organ¬
ization. It contains over 5,000 of the City's leading
business and professional men, all devoted to the purpose
expressed in the motto of The Association — "To Foster
the Trade and Welfare of New York."

Its early history begins with its formation in the dry
goods district in 1897. The prime mover in the organ¬
ization was William F. King, a member of the wholesale
dry goods firm of Calhoun Robbins & Co., It was incor¬
porated under the Membership Corporation Law of New
York, which provides that the members shall chose a
board of directors, who, in turn, shall elect officers.

The directors also appoint the heads of bureaus, who
perform the routine work of the organization. Each
bureau has a supervising committee. The bureaus of the
Association at present are as follows:

The Bureau of Research, which investigates questions
presented, collects information bearing upon them, and
assists committees in their consideration; the Traffic
Bureau, the Publicity Bureau, Trade Bureau, which
stimulates the sale of American products in foreign
markets, assists members who desire to find new markets
for their products abroad, the Industrial Bureau, which
brings industries to New York City by finding suitable
locations and pointing out the advantages which they
will obtain by establishing themselves here; the Conven¬
tion Bureau, the Membership Bureau, the Legislative
Bureau, which follows legislation both in Albany and in
Washington which is of interest to New York City,
publishes abstracts of .important bills for the information
of members and supplies information relating to pending
legislation.

The Association also has an organization of its mem¬
bers known as the Members' Council. In this sub-organ¬
ization, all the members are divided into groups in accor-

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