The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-11-29

I
cause of the conservative, proud, cold
spirit Of old Boston"
We'll. MIR. Mayor hasn't this spirit
of old Boston made good!'
ut surely has up to a certain point
but the young soul of this city will not
permit the arrestng of its spiritual
and mental development while old Bos-
ton sits at the tomb of its ancestors
and fingers the leaves of the laurels it
has won. They say Boston has IL right
| to be conservative: that it was Il sig
] nliicant and important city before Chi
cago was thought of. Well, what o.
it? Are we going to stand still and
let Chicago and New York sap us OF
our energy:''
How does New York sap Boston:"
"fIow does she do it? She comes in
here like IL giant and takes things out
of our hands. She is no younger, but
| she is refreshed and renewed and in
vigorated by her young blood of for
| eign extraction. Within the past few
years the New York Central has alb
sorbed the Boston and Albany road,
IA,
Haven and Hartford road. Go down
| there TO the South station, the largest
| terminal in this country. and you Will
| not find car running out of it with
| the name of Boston on it. Is that Il
| sentimental argument? Well, the Irish
in me makes me just that sentimental
The young Irishnian, young Jew,
young Italian born in Boston, all love
| Boston as dearly as the descendants of
| the American Revolution. We are her
| spiritual sons. filed with her tra(i-
| tions. but. unlike the sons and daugh-
ters of the colonial days, we are not
| willing that Boston should become Il
safety deposit vault and a summer re-
| sort, a place to show monuments of
| past greatness.
at is true that Boston is the most
cultured center in America, and we
are proud of her in that sense. We
want Boston to be know. for her com
mercial supremacy as We as her cul-
ture.
"Now, look at it minute Shall
Boston offer culture in the classics
alone to her youth, or shall she offer
sound commercial training and,
what is more, the opportunity to eIer-
else this commercial sense awakened
and trained here? The young man
with this need is the young man of
eighteen or twenty He has got to be
quickened, made into business man.
And that is why have been so inter
ested in the establishment of the high
school of commerce in this city.
but it is not this young man alone
whose welfare must be upon our con-
science. There is another young man
in Boston. the young man of thirty.
He has got beyond the stage where he
needs quickening. He is alive, alert,
an engine of energy. He has saved
perhaps his first $1,000, and he wants
to invest it, Does Boston want him to
take his $1,000 to Chicago to New
York. to St Louis, to Denver?
"These are the young men who have
got to get into business in Boston.
They have got to be met with an inter
ested attention; their schemes and am
billions must be heard; they must be
guided trained, encouraged and CO.
operated with"
SIS there not gradual assimilation
Of these young men constantly going
on, Mr.. Mayor"
DOUBTLESS there is in many business
concerns admitted Mr.. Fitzgerald,
"but I'VE want Il concerted effort to this
end. We want deliberately planned
method of ensnaring our youth. so to
speak, that they may not get away
from us and leave us to our old self
satisfaction. Let the turbulence of
their young ideas in. Their very rash
| ness, tempered by the conservatism of
which Boston is so proud, will make
for health, vigor and commercial enter
prise"
"And how would you spread this net
of affectionate interest for the young
business soul of Boston. Mr.. Mayor"
well, for one thing" said the may
or Il would have young mems bust
ness exchange. An organization Of this
kind would be splendid supplement
Tor the high school of commerce. Such
an exchange would enable the young
men to get together. They would in
spire each other with their ideas, and
they would think up a thousand ways
| to make Boston bigger and better. Let
the young men come into representa-
| tive clubs, clubs that are designed to
| get business men of all nationalities
and trades together. to touch elbows
and exchange ideas. We want young
blood in such organizations. We don't
want them to become merely II dining
place, but the places for origination of
new and vigorous enterprises"
No. said the mayor, rising from his
chair, 'let us boast of our commercial
supremacy rather than our culture.
Let us stop saying this is the most
American city in America and learn to
regard 1t as the most youthful and cos
mopolitan city. Let us embrace our
young men and be quickencd by their
spirit. And. above all. let us be what
we should be, the metropolis of New
England in very truth"
The Greater Worlds Fair.
f,,A. -. a. 4.