The minutes of the One Hundred and Forty-Third Annual Meeting held May 4, 1911, were read and approved.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES.

JAMES G. CANNON, Chairman of the Executive Committee reported the following named candidates for membership and recommended their election:

CHARLES T. GWYNNE and FRANK W. JESUP being appointed tellers, a ballot was taken, which resulted in the election of the candidates named.

Mr. CANNON, on behalf of the Committee also reported the following resolution which was adopted.

Resolved, That a special meeting of the Chamber be held on Thursday, October 5, 1911, at fifteen minutes past twelve o'clock, P. M., to elect Commissioners of Pilots to serve for two years in place of THOMAS P. BALL and A. FOSTER HIGGINS, whose terms of office will then expire.

CANADIAN RECIPROCITY.

Mr. Cannon also moved the following resolution and asked for its immediate consideration and adoption, although it was not a report from his committee, the Chamber having already acted twice on this subject this year:

Whereas, The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York has since 1852 repeatedly declared itself in favor of reciprocal trade relations with the North American provinces, and has twice this year, at the February and April meetings, taken action urging the ratification by Congress of the agreement of reciprocity with Canada submitted by President TAFT; and

Whereas, Ratification is still delayed, and amendments are proposed which threaten to defeat the treaty altogether; therefore

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York renews its appeal for the ratification of the agreement of reciprocity with Canada so highly desirable for the promotion of the commerce of both countries, and urges the representatives of New York in Congress to use their best efforts to secure its prompt ratification without amendment.

The preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted.

FISCAL YEARS UNDER CORPORATION TAX LAW.

DARWIN P. KINGSLEY, Chairman of the Committee on State and Municipal Taxation presented the following report and moved its adoption:

To the Chamber of Commerce :

The Committee on State and Municipal Taxation, to which was referred the resolutions offered by Mr. ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY at the meeting of the Chamber in May, urging upon Congress the imperative need for amendment to the Corporation Tax Law and directing the attention of Senators and Representatives from the State of New York to that necessity. has given the matter careful consideration and recommends that the resolutions as presented be adopted.

The committee took occasion to inquire in Washington what objection there might be on the part of the Departments of Justice and of the Treasury to such an amendment, and finds that the officials make the most strenuous objections. They urge that such wording of the statute should have been brought up at the time the law was passed; that the machinery, clerks and card indexes have been provided under the law and a procedure established; that chaos would result if change was made. The Treasury Department will oppose any attempted change.

Assuming that the modification called for in these resolutions will somewhat increase the labor of the Treasury Department-although why that should be the case is not entirely clear-that fact does not seem to be a conclusive objection. The payment of taxes is never a particularly pleasant fact, and when the collection of taxes is so arranged as seriously, and apparently unnecessarily, to interfere with the transaction of business, it is the plain duty of the taxing power to remove such objection as speedily as possible.

It is perfectly natural that the Treasury Department should object to any disturbance of the plant which it has erected, but that is hardly important, as stated, alongside the removal of a serious inconvenience to the business of the country.

The resolutions offered by Mr. MONTGOMERY are as follows:

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York urges upon Congress the imperative need for an amendment of the "Corporation Tax Law," whereby it shall be made permissible for corporations and companies to make returns as of the close of their individual fiscal years, to the end that obedience to the law may be rendered least burdensome, and accurate compliance with its provisions possible, thereby conducing to the benefit of the Government and public; and be it further

Resolved, That the attention of Senators and Representatives from the State of New York be directed to the urgent necessity for instant action to obtain relief from those provisions of the law which entail great expense and inconvenience and which can be changed without being destructive of the purposes of the law.

Mr. KINGSLEY also presented the following report from the Committee on State and Municipal Taxation, and moved its adoption :

To the Chamber of Commerce :

The Committee on State and Municipal Taxation has had under consideration two bills now pending in the Legislature at Albany, introduced by Senator HARTE on April 17th last, introductory numbers 911 and 912.

The first bill is an act to amend the tax law in regard to taxable transfers. This bill substantially reconstructs what is known as the "Collateral Inheritance Tax Law" of this state, over the merits and

demerits of which there has been of late considerable public discussion. The maximum tax under the present law is twenty-five per cent.; the highest possible tax provided in the HARTE bill is eight per cent. Aside from the fact that twenty-five per cent. is in the opinion of many citizens confiscatory, the eight per cent. provision in the HARTE bill would be much more effective than the difference in percentage would indicate, because the flight of capital from the state which followed the enactment of the present law would probably to a very large degree cease. The bill taxes tangible personal property and real estate located in the State of New York whether the decedent owner was a resident of the state or a non-resident of the state at the time of his death; it taxes the intangible personal property of a resident decedent wherever located; it does not tax the intangible property of a non-resident decedent located in this state at the time of decedent's death nor shares that such decedent owned in any New York corporation.

The other bill-introductory No. 912-eliminates, so far as the holding of securities is concerned, many of the weaknesses of the personal property tax. Briefly, the bill makes it an object for the holder of any "secured debt" to register his securities with the Comptroller at Albany, pay a tax of one-half of one per cent. of the face to have such securities stamped as exempt from all taxation in the state or in the municipalities or local divisions of the state except as certain other sections of the law provide.

By "secured debts" the bill means any bond, note or debt secured by mortgage on real property recorded outside New York; any bond, note, or written obligation secured by deed of trust on real or personal property, or both, recorded outside New York; any bond, note, or printed obligation secured by the deposit of securities under a deed of trust; any bond, debenture or note not payable within one year and not for amounts exceeding $1,000 each and not secured by the deposit or pledge of any collateral security.

The bill also provides that failure to register such securities shall deny to the holder the deductions in making tax returns which the law otherwise provides.

If enacted into law, this bill will undoubtedly provide a large and continuous income to the state, partly through the annual flotations of new securities in New York and partly because the bill extends the privilege of registration to old securities as well. It undoubtedly would increase the salability of securities on which this stamp has been placed. It would, so far as the holding of this large class of securities is concerned, relieve investors from the operation of the personal tax law, which at the present time is almost altogether a dead letter as a revenue producer, largely because if actually lived up to the tax would absorb one-third of the income now derived from standard investments.

The committee, therefore, recommends the adoption of the following resolutions:

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York recommends to the Legislature that Senator HARTE'S Bill (introductory No. 911) amending the tax law in relation to taxable transfers, be enacted into law; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York recommends to the Legislature that Senator HARTE'S Bill (introductory No. 912), amending the tax law by adding article 15, relating to secured debts, be enacted into law.

JAMES SPEYER Chairman of the delegation representing the Chamber at the Third National Peace Congress held in Baltimore, May 3d to 5th, presented the following report which was received and placed on file and the thanks of the Chamber were voted to the delegates:

To the Chamber of Commerce:

SIR-All the undersigned members of the delegation appointed to represent the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York at the Third National Peace Congress at Baltimore besides taking an active part in the meetings attended many of the sessions and meetings of the Congress on the third, fourth and fifth of May.

On the first regular day of the Congress devoted to addresses the Chairman of your delegation delivered a short address on "International Finance: A Power for Peace," a copy of which is annexed hereto. This was favorably received and much discussed by those present, and has been widely commented upon in papers throughout he United States and Canada.