The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-28
THE LOCAL ExPoSITIoN.

To-day sees the opening of the third food and industrial exposition given under the auspices of the New Haven Business Mems Association. It should receive the hearty support of the peo- pie of New Haven and of the people who live in the nearby towns, for in a characteristic way exhibitions of this sort reveal to the observant mind the commercial life of a city
 It Is yet we suspect, to be fully real ized that New Haven has outgrown the conditions imposed by the presence of Yale University when that venerable institution of learning was practically it's chief asset No longer ago than twenty-five years ago Yale dominated the life of the city at every angle, not because by any means it sought self ishly to do so, but because in the very nature of things 1t could not escape doing so. The eyes of the outside world were upon 1t to the exclusion of local commercial interests. Those who in their brave struggle to change the condition and who in their mistaken view of their handicap would have wept no tears had an earthquake shak- on 1t out of existence, were insensitive to the assured fact that in time the business enterprise of producers and merchants would solve the problem. It has been solved and these recurring food and industrial exhibitions prove it They are not in the least overshadow- ed by Yale University nor is their suc- cess in any way endangered by it. We have not the slightest doubt that the business men count among their most and faculty of Yale, who are after all citizens before they are pedagogues, just as in their daily lives for nine months in the year they prosper by the custom of the undergraduate body.
 The city of New Haven now has population in excess of one hundred and twenty-five thousand souls, tre- mendous majority over the Yale pop ulation. The influence of this vast number of people, with needs which affect daily the mercantile interests of the city, is enormous in placing city life above every other kind of local life. It Is not only reflected in busi- ness way, it is expressed in social way. These are all considerations which add to the importance of such food and industrial exhibition as the New Haven Business Mems Association is holding this week. It is true that from one and a narrow point of view, 1t is cold business proposition. But from a larger and more generous point of view, 1t has It's important economic side In no other way can the desired end of stimulating business enterprise be more satisfactorily sought. It is diff ficult to say in exact language what makes one large center of population more progressive than another, but there is no mystery at all about a large or small center of population which permits itself to go to seed. Men may differ as to what Is the best judg- ment in undertaking to build up the commercial spirit of city, but there can be no intelligent quarrel over the plain proposition that no effort at all is sure to result in decay. The princi- pie is the same here, in this connec- tion, as 1t is in the situation expressed so soulfully by the poet: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"
 There is a we'll thought out plan under expert consideration to make a city beautiful of New Haven and ve hope sincerely that it will succeed, but 1t never will succeed if every local ef- fort is to be centralized upon it. By this we mean that in more or less cosmopolitan city like New Haven all things useful and creditable in them- selves must be encouraged in turn in order that the requisite combined en- ergy may be accumulated which will prove itself equal to every emergency Yes, we want more beautiful city both physically and in it's care of the health of the public and the morals ot the young, but we also want back of i & lively sense of commercial enter. prise. It is to develop it, in its owr way, that the business men plan these expositions of local concern. They d so at considerable sacrifice of timt and energy, far greater outlay thar can be measured in dollars and cents They deserve to be supported by tn, public at large. The theory upon whicl the State of Connecticut has proceed ed is that the well-being of the leas of its one hundred and sixty-eigh towns Is of immediate concern to tn remaining one hundred and sixty-sevel