Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-15

the enemy are those citizens who will
not or who can not get out of these
ruts voluntarily.
MY friends, we must route the en-
envy. Our generals are enthusiasm,
! energy and optimism. Under their
| leadership We can knock apathy and
all the rest OF the opposition into a
! cooked hat And when the smoke of
/ battle has cleared away we will find
that our town has achieved posi-
ton in the very front rank of progress
sive American municipalities.
The destiny Of Davenport is in your
hands. What are you going to do with
it?
Is Vital Business.
I'm order to get right at this prob
lem Of city promotion, ladies and gen
tlemen. let NE ask you to consider it
as on the same basis with your tndi-
vidual business. What would it profit
a manufacturer if he erected a thor
oUghIy modern factory. equipped II
with the best machinery, produced a
good and needed product, stored it in
his warehouse. and let it go at that?
The manufacturer does not say to
his board of directors, We have the
warehouse full of our product; now let
the public come and buy On the con.
trary. the manufacturer carefully plans
a selling campaign, gets the best sales
men he can, and through well-directed
advertising acquaints the market with
the character Of his goods. There is
no difference between a municipal cor
poration and an industrial corporation
as far as promotion IS concerned.
"The city has something to sell. II
has vacant lots to be builded upon
houses and stores to be rented anC
sold; streets to be paved; parks to be
maintained, merchants to be patToniz
ed, doctors and lawyers to be consult
ed-and a destiny to be determined
The shelves Of the municipal ware
houses are filed with what we are
; pleased to call advantages To b.
l sure some of the stock may be cover
: ed with the accumulated dust of years
the shelves themselves may be bidder
behind a curtain of cobwebs; in fact
the citizens generally may have for
gotten all about the warehouse AM
the advantages.
Danish the CObwebs.
But In these modern days of keel
civic competition 1t is necessary TO
us to polish up the handle Of the bi
front door of that warehouse, banis,
the cobwebs and the dust, wash tn
windows, and tell the world about on
town. We know that in our privat
business we must maintain the pac
set by our progressive competitors, o
lose the trade. This is as true OF tn
city's business as 1t is of your privat
business. and these campaigns of pro
motion are no longer optional.
Eight millions Of dollars were spen
last year, my friends, in city promo
ton. Some towns, like some mer
are aggressive, and these towns hav
spent as high as SLY for every mar
woman and child in the community
Think that over-$1.17 per capita pc
annum for a campaign Of advertising
Among the leaders in the movemen
are Des Moines; Portland, Ore; Oal
land and Los Angeles in California
Memphis, st. Paul, San Antonio, Rocf
ester, y. Y, and Winnipeg, Canada.
Last week received from the cen
sus bureau in Washington a report o
the growth in population during tn
PAST 10 years of the cities with
population Of between 10000 and rs
900. Some of my pessimistic friend
have declared this city promotion t,
be all bombast. They claim it is i'm
possible to trace tangible results t.
city advertising; but I tell you that
with one single exception, every tow
in that list that showed more than mol
nal increase during the past 10-yea
period has conducted promotion cam
paigns, and in no instance did a cit.
, that had conducted the right kind o
a campaign show a less than norma
increase. What answer can my pessi
mistic friends make to that?
Speaking of PcssInnists.
And, speaking of pessimists, l wa,
present at just such a meeting as thi