Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-01-26
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 26, 1910.
THE FEDERATION OF CONNER
CIAL CLUBS MEETING.

Commercial Clubs of Minnesota
that was held at Minneapolis Jan.
Is and ID, was an occasion of great
inspiration for civic improvement
and of great practical benefit for
the state Of large. There were
fifty three commercial clubs of all
the different sections of Minnesota
represented at this meeting. That
they were live organizations is evil
denced by the fact that they would
send delegates to this meeting.
The writer of this, together with
T. O. Gilbert and E. G. Wellin, had
the good fortune to be present as
delegates from WiIlmar. Willmar
was honored at the outset by the
appointment of T. 0. Gilbert as the
chairman of the committee on reso-
lutions. The president of the Fed
Grafton is none other than D. P.
Neill Of Redwing, who spoke atssthe
publicity rally at Willmar last fall,
and who remembered the occasion
as one Of the most successful of
that kind of meetings held in the
state.
We could not undertake to re-
port at length the many splendid ad-
dresses that were made, nor the
practical observations that were
made in the discussions which fol-
lowed after each address. One of
the first subjects taken up was that
of demonstration, and it was brot
out thru the recital Of the exper-
fence of some of those present that
this subject is one of the greatest
importance. One speaker insisted
that no more permanently lucrative
use could be made of land that for
any reason is not available for TIL
]age. Experiences were cited where
groves of most valuable black wal
nut trees are now flourishing,
where they were planted by the
early settlers and from the fruit.
nuts, of the trees alone, a nice in
come is derived year after year
while the trees are growing and be-
coming valuable for the high-priced
lumber they will yield. lmmigra-
tion Commissioner Welch said that
there is no truth in the often ex-
pressed statement that walnut trees
will not grow on the prairie, for he
has a most fourishing grove on his
farm in Renville county which is
not protected in any way. The dis
cussion also brot out that chestnut
and beech trees will grow we'll in
Minnesota. A scheme Of refores-
tration of the lands along the Miss
issippi on the lands that are subject
to overflow and therefore valueless
for agriculture has been undertaken
by a syndicate of Redwing people,
who expect to realize handsome
return on the money invested on
the lands.
The writer could not help hut
think of certain land areas in this
county Of which portions do not, as
they lie now, pay the taxes hardly
Of the land that might in this way
be made not only to yield good re-
turns to the owner, but as we'll be
a benefit to the whole community
in preserving the humidity of the
atmosphere and keeping up the
beauty of the fine lakes of which we
are so justly proud. It is plain to
anyone who stops to think, that if
wooded fringes about the shores of
our fine lakes are not preserved or
where they are lacking are not
provided it is only a question of a
very short time when the beautiful
sanded beaches will be a thing of
the past. This owing to the soil
that is blown into them from the
cultivated fields.
One of the things necessary to be
done at Will,nar, if Foot Lake is to
be improved to become beautiful
sheet of water, is to fringe the
northwestern shore with woods to
catch the great amount of soil
that drifts into the lake every
spring and fall when the strong
northwesters blow over the newly
cultivated fields.