The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-11-10
ON DEVELOPMENT BUREAU
l.. u. SAMPSON OF CHICAGO
SENDS HIS VIEWS TO MORN
ING JOURNAL.
FayOrS Conduct and Maintenance ri
Such Bureaus Independent of Leg
isIatiyc Aid.-If State Pays Bills
Individual Property Owner Lays In
His Interest In Management.

lowing letter from l.. ID. Sampson who
lis the editor of the magazine Town
Development published at Chicago:
Editor of the Journal:
| | am glad to see the editorial in
your issue OF October 9th. commend
ling the address Of Governor Mead at
burlington.
! Some months ago / wrote two or
three letters which were published in
the Journal setting out how Vermont
could bring about State Develop
ment Bureau Independent, of the eff
forts of the State Legislature.
| ! must confess that favor the con-
lduct and mantainance of such bur
eaus or organizations Independent of
Legislative help.
Such an organization cannot reach
! its highest efficiency without the
warm support of leading business men
and property owners of the State.
! If the State pays the bills the in
! dividual property owner will not take
! the keen active interest in the man
agement of the organization that he
will if the organization is composed
of the greatest possible number of
members all of whom are paying some
thing directly from their own pockets
for the support of the movement Peo-
pie are afraid of taxes.
! Unless the bureau were brilliant
success from the beginning there
would be wide spread doubt as to the
wisdom of using the peoples money
to continue the work
The cry of the peoples money is a
lgreat scare crow 1t frightens lots
| of folks.
But if the proposed Vermont State
development organization were sup
ported by annual subscriptions from
property owners throughout the State
the continued support of the organiza-
ton would be better assured.
/ A good way to bring this about is
| first for each town or city to organ
lie or re-organize its own town de-
Nelopment association with every
property owner member paying mod
crate annual dues.
ganization should maintain member
iship in the State organization and pay
annual dues towards its support on
the bass of its own local per capita
membership.
Some one will answer this with the
statement But you can't get every
I body to take membership"
OF course, YOU cannot, unless YOU
can show them two things: First,
feasible plan of work and secondly,
that this sort of community co-opera-
ton at development has succeeded and
is today succeeding wherever it is
tried on a business-lke basis.
OF course. no single plan ever can
be made so attractive as to appeal to
land enlist the support of absolutely
every one in community. But this
work can be so attractively and ap-
lpealingly portrayed to the people that
lnearly everyone Will subscribe to
membership.
To accomplish this a leader must
be found.
Ii the leading Men Of the State would
offer a reward for a leader he could
be found. Good pay will get him
Now, so much for how to bring about
the organization and insure it's per-
,manent support.
What is the organization expected
ito do for the people who support it?
Governor Mead laid down good
platform for this proposed organiza-
ton when he said: And so ] invite
all good citizens to work earnestly
and tremendously together for al
greater and better Vermont"
The Journal rarely lets a week go
by without printing an inspiring edi-
torial expressing the same thought as
the above extract from the Governors
Burlington address
To make Vermont greater and bet
ter State; to attract more capital and
more population and to bring the agri-
cultural interest of the State up TO a,
higher and more profitable plain; to
build more and better highways which
will attract more visitors is what is
~ NNNu III ' Oi 4Alplil anu thlS Is W Idl
the proposed State development
league should undertake.
AS | write, have before me
copy of the Fort Worth (Texas) Star
Telegram, a newspaper which re-
minds me a great deal of the Mont
pelier Journal because it is always
boosting for the development of its
home city and home State.
The Star-Telegram contains an in
teresting article about a meeting of
the newly organized Texas Develop
ment Congress in Fort Worth at which
was discussed plans and methods for
making Texas greater and better
State; for attracting more people to
the State and for the improvement of
business opportunities there which
WIN corsummated Will benefit all the
Ipeople of the State.
What Texas has already done in the
way of State development organiza-
ton is what Vermont could and
should do.
Keep the organization out OF poll
tics and it will be a permanent sue
cess.
l.. ID. SAMPSON.
Chicago. Oct 81, 1910.
LEWIS KNOCKS OUT NELSON