Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1908-02-20
eoARD or TRADE BANQUET.

BOARD OF TRADE BANQUET.
Msyor 6ieeIow Of Burlington Please,
with . ForcefuI Address.
The first annual banquet of the Ran
dolph Board of Trade, held at the Ran
dolph Inn Friday evening, will go on rec
ord as a success worthy of the very liv,
organization that carried it out. Their,
were about go present, including guests
from out of town, and quite q number
from the Center and other parts of tn,
town. Nearly all the merchants, profes
sional and business men of the village at
tended. 1t was an inspiriting occasion
and the best of good fellowship prevailed
Florist Totman outdid himself with ar
array of table decorations that made
spring seem near and royal summer not 9
mere Pigment of the imagination. Flow
ering itineraries were placed the length Of
the tables, at whose corners was smilaz
wreathing. In the center of the head ta-
BILE rested bouquet of sweetpeas tied
with chiffon. Primroses crowned the
sideboards and q pink azalea decked the
serving table.
The Music hall orchestra provided its
usual standard of good music while the
dishes clinked an accompaniment, and
the good spirits that the convivial board
always uncorks flowed freely.
At the close of the course banquet, aft
er the smokers had begun the final touch
to their cup of comfort, President E. o.
Blanchard started the after-dinner pro-
gram. Preceding the chief address, there
were short remarks by NJ. NJ. Wilson, L.
B. Johnson, G. c. Graves of Waterbury
and A. ID. Sawin of New York city. Mr..
Graves alluded to the thriving start the
Board bad made in the brief time since
he was present at its birth few months
ago. Mr.. Sawin, who is associated in
business with George w. Boyce, and who
was in Randolph partly to attend the
banquet and partly to prospect the gran
lite deposit on the Mann farm, said that il
the quantity of the granite should prove,
upon the examination shortly to be made
of it, on par v 18th the quality, as shown
by samples that had been submitted to
large concerns in New York and Boston,
there would very soon be added an indus
try that would mean much to Randolph.
Mr.. Sawin also gave a short impersona-
ton of Hamlet in the scene where he
meets his fathers spirit, demonstrating
a marked ability in line not commonly
essayed by business men.
Interspersed with these short speeches
and with the other events of the evening
were two nicely executed duets by Misses
Edith Marcott and Margie Jerd, and two
finely rendered solos by John Lamson,
with Miss Mary Lamson as accompanist.
His Honor, Mayor Walter j. Bigelow,
of Burlington gave the principal address.
His theme was the proper province of a
Board of Trade like ours, and how it
could help along certain lines of progress
plainly marked out by the needs Of the
times. Mr.. Bigelow gave sensible,
clean-cut talk, full of ripe ideas that
showed the working of well-balanced
intellect, applied to the things that lie
near us. He attempted no flights of ora
tory, yet his incisive words were followed
without the loss of single syllable by
everyone present. 1t was just such an adj
dress as a Board of Trade might profit
ably take to heart.
In the beginning, Mr.. Bigelow said
that he had been invited to speak on
some common subject, in common way,
to a common lot of men, yet he felt that
in some respects, especially when sur
rounded by body of men so apparently
alive, he felt the conditions were some
what uncommon.
The ordinary conception of a Board of
Trade is that of a body of boom promot-
ers, who simply reach out and bring in
large industries that speedily make cities
out of hamlets-at least, that is what a
good many people expect will happen
when Board of Trade is organized
Now, for good and sufficient reasons, this
so seldom happens that the reaction leaves
the Board of Trade stranded ON bar of
disappointed bcges, and interest wanes,
and eventually the end comes and there
is Board of Trade no longer. The trou-
BILE is that we.expect too much of a Board
of Trade. SometImes-even quite often
it does add materially to the towns in
dustries, and it should leave no effort un-
done to that end. But this is not the
whole field of Board of Trade. There
are other duties that it can perform not
less beneficial to its town, and il well
done no Board of Trade can be a failure
by reason of idleness. IT can clean up
the town and make it more desirable as
place of residence. 1t can encourage and
stimulate healthy public sentiment in
all directions. 1t can do a great work in
demanding the highest measure of eff
cheney in public officers, on whom de-
pcuu buc anu
ton of our state laws. We are suffering
for the need of this latter reform, as
everyone knows. One res ult is that
shown by our growth in court expendi-
tures-nearly quadrupled in less than
thirty years. Another is our heavy in
crease in prison commitments-trebled
within twenty years. The inefficiency of
our listers is shown by their faulty inven-
tory returns, which do not agree at all
with those of the banks.
Another fallacy is that the growth of a
town must be from without; that search
must be made for something of an indus
tria! nature to be drawn in, to the neglect
of self-development and the overlooking
of resources than can be developed better
by home talent and capital. Indeed, GER
tain kinds of so-called development are in
furious, rather than beneficial. Outside
concerns that buy timber lands and skin
them of their growth, leaving them bar
rem wastes, are not desirable additions to
a towns enterprises. Neither is the alb