The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-07-05
C0MM[RC|A| CLUBS
CAN BE MADE IMPORTANT FAC.
& TORS IN TOWN BUILDING.
BEST FIELD FOR THEIR WORK

Their Efforts Should Be Put Forth to
Keep the Dollars IN the Home
Town-Protectlng Bust
ness Interests. .
During the past few years there has
been more than ordinary activity in
the organization of so-called CONNER
cial clubs, business mems leagues and
similar associations in the agricultural
sections of the country. Some had
mushroom growth, and like some flow
ers, bloomed and blossomed, withered
and decayed in an hour. Others strug-
gled along i~ndiferently and succeeded
in spending much Of the peoples
money without assisting the town to
greatness, while a very few succeeded
in doing things that were of benefit
to the community.
There is little use in trying to make
a suit Of clothes for a man out of a
pattern of cloth that has only sufi-
cient goods for a child's suit. There
is little use in trying to build up a
great town in a locality where there is
not the material to sustain it, and
where there are only resources for the
support of a hamlet. Towns of i'm
p%ortance exist only where there are
certain natural advantages, resources
that can be utilized in manufacturing,
territory sufficiently large to command
extensive trade, or some other favor
able condition. In the west manufac-
turing must by the economy of things
be confined to such lines as can be
advantageously produced. In manufac-
turing there are many factors. There
must be considered the cost of fuel,
the raw material, the labor and highly
important are the transportation facil-
tiles.
One of: the noticeable things about
commercial clubs is the optimistic
tendencies of their members. Business
men ola strictly agricultural town will
form an association. Perhaps the
leaders are interested in the real es-
IoS0 OOoAASoos lucy "oAI kAO LOVA w
boom. Some Of them may have a few
acres of land worthless unless for a
factory" site. Meetings are held,
plans are made for the bringing in of
some manufacturing plant shat per-
haps may give employment to half a
dozen or a dozen hands. Correspond
ence is started with a view of getting
some outsider interested. The right
man, apparently, makes his appear
ance. He wants a bonus of a few
thousand dollars. His proposition is
seriously considered. The subscription
paper is passed around, the amount
secured, and the real estate man sells
his factory" site at a good price. The
factory is started. 1t runs about a
year and there is a vacant factory
building for rent, or for sale. How
many towns in the southwest have had
this experience?
Even had the enterprise been a sue.
cess, it remains that there is a field
more productive of good for the town
that the Club" overlooked. Say that q
factory be started in a small town. II
may give employment to a dozen men.
The pay roll amounts to $50 a day. The
output of the concern may reach a
total of from $4,000 to $4,000 a year.
Every little helps" and all other
things in harmony this adds to the
Importance of the place. But let us
do a little "estimating." Suppose that
there is about the town a territory of
$50 square miles. Suppose that each
square mile represents four families
farmers families. This would make
600 families who should do their trad.
ing in the town. The reports of the
bureau of statistics of the United
States department of labor and com.
merce, assures us that the average ex.
penditure of the farmer each year for
all the supplies he requires in the way
Of agricultural machinery, carriages,
wagons, clothing, and food, is 1927.
Careful estimates of the amount of the
farmers trade that goes to the mail.
order house and is in other ways di.
verted from his home town, shows that
it is more than Is per cent. of all he
spends. Thus we find that from the
territory of the town there is annually
diverted in trade the nice sum of more
than $4,000. This amount goes from
the town, ceases to be a factor in it's
u%pbuilding. It means that every day
the town loses about 1882 in trade.
Now would 1t not be much better If
the commercial club took up the mat.
ter of devising means Of protecting the
business interests of the enterprises in
the mercantile lines already estab.
lished, than to bring in a new enter.
prise of uncertain success? Is not the
trade of the farmers and the people Of
the town equally as beneficial as the
wages paid to the few men. that the
factory might employ? Does not &c.,
900 in trade more than equal the out
put and the general accruing to the
wealth Of the town by the factory?
1t is evident that there is a wide
field for commercial club effort in the
keeping in the town the dollars that
are earned and devising means of pro-
tecting trade.
His Dire Threat.
There was determination stamped