Frostburg mining journal., 1908-07-25
TOWN BOOM AGENTS.
Every Citizen May Become a Lo-
cal Publicity Bureau.
PROMOTE FACTORY SITES.
Merchants Particularly Concerned In
Having Such Establishments Locate.
Some Hints as to How a Prosperity
Campaign May Be Made.

Some Hints as to How a Prosperity
Campaign May Be Made.
The city publicity bureau IS beCom-
Ing fixed Institution in this country.
Many cities, particularly in the north
west, maintain regular bureaus for the
propagation of publicity concerning
their attractions and advantages.
Even Boston, the hub of the uni
verse" fifth In population in the Unit
ed States, is engaged in such cam
paign for city booming.
1t is perhaps unreasonable to expect
small town to maintain paid pub
licity agent. yet there are some of the
smaller cities which seem to find it
profitable The average town must be
doomed by volunteers Every citizen
may constitute himself a publicity
agent and proceed to make his town
better known to outsiders.
The big city bureaus take up such
matters as factory sites and opportuni-
ties, local trade advantages and the
like The small town resident can do
likewise with reasonable promise Of
accomplishing SollttlluS Iol lht S'oN
of his community. In these days of
overcrowding in large cities with
high cost of living high rents for floor
space and other unfavorabc conditions
many manufacturers are on the look
out for available country towns in
which to locate their plants or to eS-
tablish branch plants
oI nf In
smaller town are obvious. In nearly
every town of n few thousand people
there are many young persons unem-
ployed who would welcome heartily n
chance to get n job with some manu-
featuring concern. Both boys and girls,
young men and young women. are
available In the average town for fac
tory work In the absence of such op-
portunitcs they are inclined to leave
home and seek work In the cities.
where at best the chances for success
and happiness are but meagrr.
With many parents in the smaller
towns there Is constantly present the
pathetic dread of parting from their
children, because the latter. approach
ing maturity. are ambitious to get into
the big world outside and earn more
than they can earn at home. With a
manufacturing concern located in your
town you can keep your children at
home, where the conditions of living
are vastly superior to the city condi-
tionS.
The town merchant is particularly
concerned in this matter. A branch
shoe factory, for instance. not only
will give employment to the uncm
ployed at home enabling them to earn
money for spending at home stores,
but 1t will bring new families to town
A monthly payroll of several thou
sand dollars means just that much
more money in local circulation. The
merchant gets the benefit of the In
creased demand for all the necessaries
of life and for some of the luxuries.
Almost any town possesses suita-
Bile site for some sort OF manufacture
Ing establishment. In good agricul-
tural communities canning factory
works in every direction to benefit the
people. 1t supplies a home market for
the farmers and gardeners produce
1t gives employment to home people
1t brings more money for home circu
lation.
If there Is no fund in sight for the
employment of an agent to push
things in this line, the local business
people might get together and do much
toward making the advantages of the
town known to manufacturers in
search of locations outside the big
cities. One excellent plan suggested
by an expert in these matters Is to
have a tasty booklet or circular print
ed at the local printery, setting forth
the merits of the town and surround
ing country, giving population figures,
transportation advantages, prices Of
available factory sites and such other
Information as the occasion may indi-
cate. This booklet should be kept on
hand by the merchants and other busi-
ness people in quantities sufficient to
enable them to inclose copies In every
letter written to outsiders.
Another plan that has worked well
In some towns Is for the business men
to club together and buy some regular
per- where interesting information con-
cerning the town may be kept stand
ing. AS matter of fact, only the
type will be kept standing. The infor-
nation thus expressed will travel
widely. 1t can be made to travel still
more widely II the citizens will secure
extra copies and mail them where they
will do the most good.
A town in which every responsible
citizen is n walking, talking, writing,
fighting publicity bureau and town
boomer Is not calculated to remain
very long an unknown quantity. The
outside world will discover that that
town Is on the map and will not have
to stick a pin in the atlas at that point
to remember the fact.
The writer once knew a man in a
Missouri town who was regarded by
his friends as benevolent lunatic be-
cause he went around talking up his
own town as the best burg on the map
of the United States. He visited many
other towns and cities, always blow
ing the horn Of his home town. That
man no longer Is regarded rs a crank.
His talk has built up his town. and
last year the grateful citizens contrib
uted from the money he had enabled
them to make and bought him an au-
tomobile.