The Ordway new era., 1910-08-05
How the Commercial Sec
retary Handles a Boom
~ oARL GROW

poses, Lhat you are manufacturer OI
furniture. Carrying the fancy still
farther. we will say that you are q
prosperous manufacturer and have
arrived ut bank balance which will
enable you to play with your hobbies,
one OF which is to build a factory In
the south, where you see IN opportu.
nifty to increase your market.
You get out map. and your pencil
tip wandcrs from place to place finally
resting on the name OF n town In a
pretty pink state.
| That would be the place for the
factory. The map shows the town
meager Information contained In the
atlas Indicates that It is Il "manufac.
turing center" Here, you feel sure.
the factory would be u success; but
the town Is n Thousand miles distant,
and your knowledge Of it Is limited.
Before taking that long trip you
would like to know something more
about 1t. You recall no one to whom
you can write for information. You
have no acquaintances there. At
that point the new profession fills the
gap.
Dictate letter to the commercial
secretary OF tho town and tell him
what your plans are. BY return mail
lie will tell you more about the town
than you would otherwise learn In o
week. He will tell you that, In anti
cipation OF the establishment Of fac
tories, n strip OF trackage has been
left outside the city limits, so that
you may there manufacture furniture
without fear OF the city tax collector.
lie will tell you the freight rate on
lumber and coal and, In a booklet en-
closed In his letter, you will see the
pictures OF the principal business
streets and learn in detail OF the
many advantages of the city as a
place Of residence.
We will suppose that you are con-
vinced Of the desirability Of the place
as factory location, that you take Il
trip to it and call on the commercial
secretary. He is busy young man
but he turns the Office over to an
assistant and goes out with you. In
half a day you have met the leading
business men, all OF whom, on learn
ing OF your business, earnestly assure
you that furniture factory Is an in
dustry for which the town has long
been waiting. A retail dealer offers
to transfer all OF his purchases to you
as soon as you are able to supply his
wants. Between times, the CONNER
cial secretary Is at your elbow with Il
mass Of convincing facts and figures.
The chances are you will build fac
tory and join the commercial club.
A dozen other locations would have
been equally good for your factory,
and If you ever stop to analyze the
matter thoroughly you will realize
that you came to your decision be-
cause of the commercial secretary.
1t is his art of salesmanship that
caused you to locate where you did.
Who is the commercial secretary:
Is he a city patriot working for the
upbuilding OF his town because of
hot-headed zeal? No, indeed. His
of town building, and he is working
at it in consideration of good salary.
Formerly we allowed our city builder
to work unencouraged through life,
to be posthumous hero and have a
street named after him. Now we
,n Ii; oiol otpr
place his name on the pay roll with a
big figure opposite. If the town shows
much growth through his efforts we
raise his salary, lest some rival town
take him away from us.
He is the local conservator OF opti-
mism who must preach aud believe
in the bright prospects of his town
in order to hold his job. He must
search for opportunities, for factories,
and then encourage people to build
them. He promotes railroads, writes
stories about his town, persuades
testy old gentlemen to include city
parks in the provisions of their wills,
and tells the Tuesday club of the
great value of shade trees and flowers
on the front lawns.
The commercial secretary came as Il
demand of rapid town building. A
railroad spreads through Western
country and several towns spring up
in violent rivalry. Each is fostcrcd
by Il townsitc company and each is
exploited with the dazzling rhetoric
of Il circus poster. Excursion trains
bring in loads of home seekers who
are whirled about in the townsitc
company's automobiles. Houses go