The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-06-02
eaiSg Z. HOWE Editor aua Publisher
"MovE ON"


late the Messenger has been doing
more for its town tnan any other pa
per in the state and we hope st. Al
bans appreciates the broad spirit of
progressiyeness that these articles
breathe. The following is an extract
from one of them:
Every city situated amid such nat
ural resources and advantages that
help to make st. Adams what it is
and what it can be is anxious to de-
velop its business and trade with the
people roundabout And it is first Of
all essential to such development that
The community offers to the people
roundabout some substantial induce
ments to come within its gates to do
their trading. In the first Of thes
inducements, good stores with well
selected and diversified stocks OF
goods, st. Adams is particularly for
tunate 1t is fact easily to be borne
out by observation of the travellers In
Vermont that no county of its size in
all the state has better stores with
better stocks than ST. Adams, and
comparatively few have anywhere
near as good Tnis has been one of
the particular assets of st. Adams bus
mess life for many years. The mer-
chants of this city may not always
have been as progressive in some
things as they should have been, bur
they certainly have long maintained
TO their credit this feature OF business
foresight and enterprise.
The next consideration. however, is
to make it convenient and comforta-
BILE for strangers to do their trading
here. And this feature we have all
| too much neglected To be sure there
are several hotels, that offer their ac-
commodations to strangers and give
| fair measure of return for the prices
charged. But it is not too much to
say that the great part of the trade
that comes to st. Adams from the
country roundabout not only does not
care to put up at public inns but that
in many cases cannot AFFORD to do it's
trading at such extra expense. Par
ticularly is this true when families
drive in to trade AT local stores. Plain
domestic prudence, the same simple
household economy that all OF us must
regard, prevents the expenditure Of
dollars for hotel bills that must be
devoted to something else on the
same errand. And this of necessity
means that the errand is cut short,
That the necessary purchases are
made and only the ones of first nee
essity, and departure is taken as
promptly as possible to avoid the out
lay incidental to longer stay. That
this means a loss of money to st. Al
bans in trade, every merchant knows,
that it means not only a first loss by
reason of limited purchases but that
it means a loss by the encouragement
Of an inclination to trade at home or
nearer home where no extra expense
will be incurred, every merchant
| knows
Some towns situated as st. Adams
is have sought to provide against this
| - oetohI;s;,;por rac+ roop,c for cfrop
gers and have found the experiment
to be decidedly satisfactory. They of
fer a reasonably pleasant and ade-
quate hospitality for transents, and
are particularly designed for the ac-
commodation of women and children
! They afford semi-private headquar
tiers where families may meet by APP
pointment when the days trading l.
over, where home-proyided lunches
may be eaten in secluded comfort Of
where tea, coffee. and other light re
freshments may be purchased at a
bare cost price. They are provided
with conveniences and comforts for
tired mothers and tired children while
the husband and father may be com
pleting his business errand outside.
and in various similar ways they op
crate to render more agreeable and
easy what is always at best more or
less of an arduous undertaking for the
stranger.
These rest rooms are in large part
If not altogether supported by the
merchants of the town in which they
are situated, but it is possible for
them, through the serving of light re-
freshments, to eayn little money fol
their own maintenance beside. Where
they nave been tried, they are regard
ed as a good business investment as
substantial inducements to people to
come in to trade and assurances OF
pheasant shelter in such leisure or
such period of enforced waiting as
they may have during the stay in
town. They help to give the town a
good name in the country roundabout
show that its people are considerable OF
the welfare of the stranger within
tneir gates, and lend to the matter OF
fact commercialism of their visit a
pleasant color of neighborly consider