The Donaldsonville chief., 1907-03-16
HOW TO BUILD A CITY.
Lieutenant Governor Sanders Says There
is Only One Certain Road to success.
Faith and Work Essential to the

The progressive league of Ruston,
through Secretary E. w. Patton, re-
Gently requested Lieutenant Governor
J. Y. Sanders to furnish that organi.
zation with a statement of his ideas on
"How to Build City," In response
Mr.. Sanders penned the following let
ter, which contains suggestions and
advice that. if faithfully carried out,
should produce excellent results in
any town or community:
New ORLEANS, La, Feb. %, 1907.
Mr.. E. W. Patton, Secretary Progressive Union,
Ruston, La:
NY Dear sir-Owing to absence from
my Office I am late in responding to
your favor of the 9Th inst, wherein
you request me to give to your league
my ideas on $ How to Build City,"
Seeing Ruston as it is today, and
knowing what it was some few years
ago, it strikes me that you of that pro-
gressive north Louisiana town are
somewhat of an authority upon this
question yourselves, and, therefore, |
have some hesitancy in expressing to
you my ideas.
I will not discuss the building OF a
city from material standpoint, for it
is perfectly useless to point out the
advantages of location, OF soil, OF cli-
mate and of transportation that you
are so familiar with.
It would be equally useless to dis
cuss with you the moral advantages OF
Ruston, derived from churches and
schools and the ch aracter of your peo-
pie.
Material wealth and moral welfare
constitute your two great assets in the
building of a city.
! IF have any advice.o or ideas to give
to you, it is this: The Improvement of
a community depends upon the COM
munity itself. In this no outside help
can be of any assistance. The great
underlying secret of success in the ca
reer and prosperity and upbuilding of
a town is that the 'booster I" supplant
the stknocker.o -
You must, in all matters looking to
the betterment of your town, work and
act as one man; there must be COM
munity OF interest and every citizen
must realize that what helps one of
necessity helps all.
| Differences, must, of course, arise
in any intelligent community and it is
right and proper that they should, but
religious differences and political
views must not be carried further than
their legitimate scope, and divided on
all public questions as you may be,
you should at all times and under all
circumstances be united on Ruston, on
it's upbuilding, on its adv ancement, on
its prosperity.
! You must think Ruston; you must
talk Ruston, and above all you must
work for Ruston. In this connection,
there is an anecdote that is told of a
Chicago man who asserted that there
were but three cities in the United
States, and upon being asked to name
them said, New York is one and Chi
cago is the other two"
You must not only be ready at all
i times to talk for Ruston and to work
for Ruston, but you must likewise be
prepared to spend your money for
/ Ruston, for be it remembered th at
there is no town in America that has
ever amounted to anything at all that
was not at all times and under all cir
cumstances prepared to put it's hands
in it's pockets and spend money that it
might flourish, advance and prosper.
| And then again you must have faith
in your town, in its future, in its peo-
pie, in its career, in its possibilities,
and you must remember that isFaith
without work availeth nothing" So
you must not only have faith in your
town but you must work for it; you
must not only have faith in it's possi-
bilities but you must work to make
those possibilities certain; you must
not only have faith in its future but
you must work so that that faith may
be justified of all men.
I remember years ago when mem
Der of the legislature of being inocu-
lated somewhat by the then member
from Lincoln parish with the enthusi-
asm that he felt for Ruston, and have
never ceased to congratulate myself
that this belief in Ruston and her fu-
ture made me join my feeble efforts TO-
wards assisting your member of the
legislature in locating the State Indus
trial School in your city, and I am
glad to say that the faith that moved
US then has at all times been justified
by the development and the advance
ment of your community.
Ruston has friends all over this state
who watch her career with pride, and
who feel certain that the promise of
today will be fulfilled in it's entirety
| on the morrow.
There is one certain road to success
in the individual, in the town, in the
state and in the nation. That road
has on it three sign boards, and on
the first is inscribed the word wv ork;'
on the second Is the word Nv ork, =
and on the third is the word tWork. Y