Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-07-05
COMMERCIAL CLUBS
CAN BE MADE IMPORTANT FAC.
TORS IN TOWN Suiloiko.
BEST FIELD FOR THEIR WORK
Their Efforts Should De Put Forth to
Keep the Dollars In the Homo
To~n-Proteetino ousi-
ness Interests.

tho Organization OF socaiied CONNER
cial clubs. business meas leagues and
similar associations In the agricultural
sections of the country. Some had
mushroom growth. and like some now'
srs. bioomed and biossomed. ~tthered
and deeayed in an hour. Others strus-
sled along indiIerentiy and succeeded
In spending much OF the peoples
money without assisting the town to
greatness. while very few succeeded
In doins things that were OF benent
to the community.
There Is little Us. In trying to make
. suit OF clothes for a man out OF
pattern OF cloth that has only sum.
cient goods for a ehiid's suit. Their.
Is little use in trytns to build up
great town In locality ~h.r. there Ia
not the material to sustain II. and
where there are only resources for tho
support Of hamlet. Towns OF i'm.
portsne, exist only where ther. arc
certain natural advantages. resources
that can b. utilized In manufacturing.
territory sufficiently larH. to command
extcnsiy. 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 bo
advnntasrousiy produced. In manufac-
turing there are many factors. There
must b. considered the cost OF fuel.
/ tho raw material. the labor and highly
importan, ar. the transportation facil.
itics-
Ono OF the noticeable things about
commercial clubs In the optimistic
tendencies OF their members. business
men Of strictly agricultural town will
form an association. Perhaps the
leaders are Interested In the rcal cs
tate business. They want tho town to
boom. Some OF them may have few
acres of land worthless unlcas for n
factory" site. Meetings are held.
plans aT. made for the bringing In OF
some manufacturing plant that per.
haps may give employment to half u
dozen or dozen hands. Correspond.
cncc Is started with view Of getting
i some outsider interested. The right
mnn. apparently. makes his appear
ancc. lie wants bonus OF . 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 good price. The
factory is started. II runs about
year and there IL vacant factory
building for rent. or for sale. How
many towns In the southwest have had
this experience?
Even had the enterprise been sue.
cess. Il remains that there Is field
more productive Of good for the town
that the Club" overlooked. Say that
factory be started In small town. II
may give employment to dozen men.
The pay roll amounts to $50 day. The
output OF the concern may reach n
total OF from $4,000 to $4,000 year.
Every little helps" and all other
things In harmony this adds to the
Importance OF the place. But let us
do u little ESTIMATING" Suppose that
there Is about the town territory OF
100 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 $62I.
Careful estimates of the amount OF the
| farmers trade that goes to the mail
order house and is in other ways d.
verted from his home town. shows that
1t is more than % 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 factor in its
upbuiiding. 1t means that every day
the town loses about $l32 in trade.
Now would 1t not be much better II
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-
lshed, than to bring in 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 $79,-
900 in trade more than equal the out
put snd the general accruing to the
wealth of the town by the factory?
1t is evident that there is wide
field for commercial club effort in the
keeping in the town the dollars that
are earned and devising means of pro-
tecting trade.