The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-07-25
MERCHANT GIVES OPINION
OF FAULT FINDING SORT

Some OF the merchants OF Houghtor
are said To be circulating a petition tc
present 10 General Manager Rogers OF
the Houghton County Traction COM
pany, asking that the special ears
which the company has been providing
for the purpose OF giving tourists ar
irving at Houghton on the steamers
OF the Anchor line trip to other parts
of the copper country be hereafter dis
continued. The theory OF these petit
TONERS seems TO be that the railway
company, by providing these cars,
takes the tourists away from Hough-
ton and prevents them spending any
great amount OF time and money, prin-
cipally money, in this village
The proprietor OF one of the largest
mercantile establishments i'm the VIII
lage was at the Douglass house yester-
day when a reporter mentioned this
new petition, asking the businessman
IL he had been asked to sign it, mo,
| have not been asked to sign this pa
per, as yet. and / hope / will not Zoe
asked" said this man. "as am afraid
shall be forced TO hurt somebody's
feelings If such a request is made of
me. am not in sympathy with this
movement and the nature of my bust
ness, as you may readily see. is such
that one would really think me one of
the most interested. Why shouldn't
the traction company run these cars?
What are they i'm business for, If not
to make money, the same as the rest
of us?
The spirit that prompts this re-
quest is, il seems to me, far from that
which should be manifested by the
merchants of this town. 1t seems to
me that each man in business, regard
less of his line, should seek to encour-
age each other man i'm his attempts to
get business, provided of course, his
methods are proper. Each separate
merchant and each separate mercan-
tile establishment i'm the town is de-
pendent, to a great extent, upon the
prosperity OF the other fellows bust
ness. What brings prosperity to one
line, as a general rule, brings increas-
ed business To each other line. 1t is
as true that successful business i'm a
community like this reflects its pros
perity to other lines as it Is true that
a failure in a community Is felt, to
certain extent, by every business cs-
tablishment i'm the field.
What If the traction company
should yield to this request?" contin-
ued this businessman. "How long
would it be before some of these same
short sighted individuals would dis
cover that many people go from
Houghton to this park that the COM
pany runs, probably, spend a little
money for peanuts or sandwiches?
Then / suppose the company would be
asked TO close up the park and to
stop running cars up there. II seems
TO me that such a request would be
almost as reasonable as this other one
No. i believe that the old saying, live
and let live is quite true as regards
a business community and the better
the other fellow lives, the better l will
be able TO live"
Mr.. Rogers said this morning that
he would be glad to meet a committee
from the businessmen but stated that
the street car company is out for the
business and he cannot see why such
request as this should be asked or,
If asked, granted. He pointed out that
the cars of the company bring many
people into Houghton from the sur
country to trade and added
that, If the number that comes To
to trade is not as great as
that which goes to other ccntcrs, the
fault does not lie with the traction
Mr.. Rogers added that IL
would be quite as reasonable If tho
traction company would petition the
merchants and others to
close their places of business because
hey are apt TO get some nickles that
would go into the Golfers of
he traction company.