The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-10-27

l y
was FUN Of interest The purpose was to
combine business with pleasure. and
while the representative citizens OF the
cltv dined together and touched elbow
IN social festivities. they talked OF bus
mess matters and Of how they could best
promote Atlantas interest. The toast
master in his Introductory speech made
this sensible remark:
ct is a. part of human destiny whether
applied to cities or countries that those
who have what is very valuable must be
ever aler, in its defence else they will
lose f.: and II is also time that the cities
and countries aspiring to great destinies
must watch all things, work unceasing-
", and brayeiy keep moving upward and
onward.
ATLANTA IS great and the best way for
her to remain great is to become greater
The best defence Of her present position
IS to assault the heights Of the future!
That same unity Of her sons. that made
her powerful out Of weakness and grand
out OF ashes. when inspiring her present
sons, numerous now. though few indeed
at first, aided by much capital now,
though poor indeed at the start, can and
should and shall conquer for Atlanta all
that her most sanguine friends could
hope"
That was magnificent speech and
men have spoken for hours without put
ting as much good sense into their ora
ton as this POSTMASTER packed into one
paragraph.
There is no such thing as a city standing
sun. 1t must either go forward or go
backward and as this man so well said,
the only way for a city to be great is
10 keep on getting greater
London, the largest city in the world,
has not ceased to grow and New York,
the largest city in the United States. has
grown more steadily, perhaps, than any
city in the United States and is still grow
ing.
The people Of every community should
come together every now and then, and
as often as practicable. talk over their
affairs and ask themselves the question
in all candOr and honesty as TO whether
their city Is progressing or retrograding.
Nothing is ever gained by concealment
in matters Of this character. 1t is always
wise 10 look the facts squareiy in the
face. and II it is found that the city is not
growing. the next thing to do is to as
certain the reason why, and then to re-
move the cause, II possible.
We understand that this dinner which
the Atlanta business men enjoyed IS to
be a sort Of institution and that many
such dinners are to be given under the
auspices Of the Chamber of Commerce
during the year.
We believe that II IS n good institution
and we would like to see such an institu-
ton in Richmond we believe that the
business men Of this community should
know each other better and should as
semble and meet together as often as
possible to swap ideas. We believe that
the business men Of Richmond should
get together right now and discuss the
question frankly, honestly, mtelligently
and earnestly as TO whether or not this
city is growing as rapidly as IT ought
to grow, and if not, why not.
A city can be no better than its citizen
ship. Talk as much as you may about
the advantage of location, it is the snap
and vim and intelligence and enterprise
of the citizens that make it grow. Nat
ural advantage is sometimes a positive
disadvantage, however. contradictory that
NAV seem, for citizens are apt to de-
pend too much upon what nature has
done for their own town and too little
upon their own efforts.
II would be in bad taste 10 give ex-
amples but every man who reads this ar
ticle knows that there are towns in Vir-
ginia which nature has favored in every
possible way, but which have not made
the progress Of other towns less favor
ably located. The reason Is simply that
in the one case natural advantage has
bred laziness. while in the other case in
dustry and enterprise have overcome nat
ural disadvantages
Richmond has a fine location and It has
a large number Of intelligent. industrious
and progressive citizens. All that Rich
mond needs to make it one of the larg-
est and most profitable cities in the
South is the united effort of its brain and
enterprisng citizens in the development
Of its natural resources.