The daily sentinel., 1908-06-24
The Chamber of Commerce of the
City of Grand Junction,
Grand Junction, Colo.

|
Charles E. Cherrington, President.
d. w. Aupperle. Secretary.
| Gentlemen:-It affords me much
pleasure to give space to your com
| munication, addressed to me person
ally. bearing date of June 20. 1908.
Tht same has reference to some edi-
| torial comment made by me in The
Daily Sentinel regarding the action
of your body in failing to afford any
entertainment to the distinguished
body of visitors from st. Joseph,
Mo-. and other points, which visited
| our city on June Is.
You seem to find considerable
comfort in the statement made by
the local officials of the Denver e.
Rio Grande road that these gentle
men did not desire any entertain
ment whatever.
Another point of your rather weak
defense was that these gentlemen
were wholesale merchants in COM
pany with their travelling representa-
tives, who were anxious to see the
trade" in this city alone.
Regarding these two points. l have
the testimony of many other citizens
with whom these gentlemen con-
versed that they were considerably
chaSrined that no attention had been
paid them whatever by the official
| ganization of this city-the Cham
Der of Commerce-to whom this duty
| belonged. They did not ask or an
ticipate any entertainment whatever;
but they did desire the courtesy us
ual from one commercial body to an
other.
| Nor is the statement true that you
make. that this distinguished body
of visitors was made up of wholesale
merchants and their travelling sales
men. There were at leas1 two Of
ficials of the ST. Joseph Commercial
Club, one of the largest and most act
i've commercial clubs or chambers of
commerce In this country. and there
, were several of the best known bank
ers and financial men of the state
of Missouri in the party.
The anticipated visit of this dis
tinguished body of men had been an
nounced three weeks in advance of
their arrival, not only in The Daily
Sentinel, but in many other state
papers.
AT every place of their itinerary
the commercial bodies of the respect
| i've towns and cities met this distin-
! guished body of visitors with all pos
sible acclaim Bands and music in
many places greeted the visitors on
their arrival. and drives, receptions
and other entertainment afforded
them pleasure to the last minute of
, their stay.
At IL o'clock on the morning of
the arrival of these visitors in this
city President c. e. Cherrington and
! Secretary Aupperle were asked by
Mr. Walter Walker. city editor of
; The Sentinel what Their plans OF en-
tertainment were for the visitors,
hot, h,t
knew little about their coming; had
, not been formally invited to enter
tain them, 'and would not butt in =
At 2 pm. of that day General
/, Agent Robbins of the rio Grande
road was asked in the Union Trust
/ q Banking Company by Mr.. Walter
Walker, in the presence of Mr. d. T.
, Stone. who repeated the question,
why the Chamber of Commerce had
, taken no action in entertainment of
the visitors. Mr.. Robbins said that
he didn't know any reason therefor:
that they ought to know they were
; coming. as it had been fully an
nounced.
, We think the above fully answers
the criticism of our editorial COM
/ ment in this particular instance with
, out further comment.
We might say. to fully apprise the
public and these gentlemen who seem
so dense upon the matter. that at
Trinidad, Leadville. Salida, Mont
rose, Delta, Telluride, Durango and
Silverton the commercial bodies of
those towns and all the important
towns in northern Colorado did their
utmost to afford the best possible
entertainment. AS these men wan
dered about this city, seeking places
of interest, we think our contention
holds good
1t is part of the history of Grand
functions Chamber of Commerce
that it has not waited to be formally
) invited to entertain distinguis vis-
/, itors coming to this city. but it has
sought the opportunity to afford such
entertainment wherever it could be
seen that there was any possible ben
eft to be returned in Advertisement
of our resources.
, AS to the matter of the charge of
this paper that the Chamber of Com
merce does not practice what it
/ breaches when it sends out for print
| ed matter, the defense offered is ex-
| tremely cheap. The bid of The Daily
Sentinel, it is true, was the amount
above that of Carson-Harper Com
pany of Denver which has been stat
ed; but when that bid was received
! Mr.. Aupperle stated to Mr.. Bunting
that the Carson-H Harper Company had
{ bid much lower than its bid of the
1 previous meeting of two weeks be-
fore. and that there must have been
a mistake in the estimate of the spe-
| cifications required.
: The Daily Sentinel was lower in
. its bid than the Daily News or any
1 other Grand Junction publishing
house, and within approximately $50
OF the bid of the Smith-Brooks Com
pany of Denver, If to which freight
was added, would have made the