The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-04-28
GOOD ADVICE FOR VT.
A Second Letter From Chicago Editor
on Il State Board OF Trnde-What
Western Enthusiasm Does.

H. d. Sampson of Chicago, editor of
Town Development" has written the
following letter to this paper on the
development of Vermont:
| To the Editor of the Journal:
| Communities are like individuals;
they may be self confident, aggressive
/ in matters relating to their own adj
vancement or they may be quiet, slow
moving, easy going taking what comes
/ and making but little effort to shape
their own future.
| Community character, like individual
character, is shaped and influenced by
| example Like individuals, commune
ties are Influenced by their environs
/ In American life, social as wei as
commercial, "out West is term
taken to mean enterprise, push and
aggressiveness Down East signifies
as universally conservatism, culture
and capital.
Out West they are doing business
on Eastern capital and Western opti
mism.
Down East they do business on
Eastern apital and Eastern conscrva-
tism.
The environment of New England
communities has never tended 10
breed that confident optimism with
which the West abounds. The Vests
largest asset is optimism. That asset
gets credit at home and abroad. 1t is,
therefore. an important and valuable
possession. No one knows it's value
better than the Westerner. No one
uses it to a greater extent.
Millions of Vermont money are loan
ed on Western securities. One even
ing last fall spent several hours on
the veranda of summer hotel in
Vermont, talking with an officer of a
Vermont savings bank, who had just
returned from an extended journey of
Investigation and inspection of West
ern and Southern farm securities on
which his bank had loaned several
million dollars. This gentleman was
enthusiastic over the possibilities of
the great country which he had Wis
tied He had half mind to sell out
and go there He did not say this in
so many words and did not realize
that he had made this impression on
me. but that was an undeveloped
thought and secret hope in his mind
taking between doubts a tirmer hold
every time he talked with an appre-
ciative listener.
He had been inoculated with West
ern optimism, the main thing one en-
ounters and the only thing an East
ern man brings back from the West
The East lends money to the West
and enables the West to boom
The East with its abundant and oft
times boosted conservatism goes "out
West" and--leaves it's conservatism
ct home.
A young chap from the State OF
Washington, the secretary of a de-
velopment organization, which pays
him $4,000 a year came East to Chi
cago" few weeks ago to talk over
some advertising plans for his city
and surrounding country and to get
pointers on what had been the result
of other community advertising plans
and remarked to the editor of Town
Development: when the East comes
West to look us over, it leaves its
conservatism at home. Fasteners be-
gin to shed their cloak of conserva-
tism as they leave Buffalo, which
many Fasteners think is West and
by the time they get to Chicago. theiI
interest is so warm they are carry
, ing conservatism on their arm and
by the time they get to Des Moines
they throw it out of the car window
We make the msee things as We DO >
Charles l.. Pancoast. a special in
vestigator sent by Town Development
through number of the Southwest
ern States as far as Los Angeles re-
turned to Chicago this morning full
of enthusiasm and appreciation of the
l oiNot u'NNicl'iitlit WIN NhlNH Nolh'
mercial clubs, boards of trade, bust
ness mems associations and like de-
velopment organizations in towns and
cities which he visited have already
accomplished and have under way fol
future effort
He, however, returns with this sug-
geston: that what these enterpris-
ing Southwestern and Western organ.
. izations and cities are doing to make
/ we Central West and you Eastern
e people believe their towns and cities
and the surrounding country are the
S greatest on earth, are just the same
= sort of things which New England peo
o pie should be doing If for nothing
uore than to keep your own people
V &C home and not let them run away
4 20 the new countries and the oppor.
Q tunities brilliantly reckoning from
|. just over the horizon. Westerners
e boost and advertise all the time. They
do it so insistently they themselves
believe it. They make their visitors
believe also,
New England ought to be doing
> something more than it is doing OF