The Glenwood post., 1911-02-25
Karl Bicke| Strikes Keynote at Rifles
Big Joy Feed Believes in UnseIf-
ish Cooperative Spirit
"0NE FOR ALL ALL FOR ONE"

of cooperation. ] remember when the
first land show was broached for Chi
cago. 1t was first felt in Grand June
exhibit without including even our
sister cities of Palisade and Fruita
! Tom Mahoney, secretary of our Cham
ber of Commerce, led us out of that
wilderness of foolish provincialism by
demonstrating how much more effect
i've a county exhibit would be. Back
in Chicago we discovered that our
county exhibit was but small speck
In comparison with the combined ex.
hibit of larger districts. The organiza
tion of the State Immigration bureau
under the fine leadership of Mr.. Patek,
has been a splendid lesson in teaching
us the value of cooperative boosting
and last year Mesa joined with some
of its neighboring counties in display
ing our products.
| 1t is noteworthy that the results OBJ
tanned this year were 100 per cent bet
ter than that of the year before. This
ought to be a lesson to us. In the fu-
ture Garfield, Mesa, Delta and Mont
rose should go into these big shows
with a joint exhibit We are all work
ing towards a common object. Togeth-
er we can hammer home the story of
the wonderful riches of the Western
Slope and in the trail of every family
brought to any one of the counties IN
western Colorado will come others who
will locate in them all. And this, in a
broader and more comprehensive man
ner, is the lesson that our friend, Mr..
Patek. is teaching us. The work of
the state immigration bureau cannot be
too highly estimated. 1t is bringing
literally thousands of home seekers
into our state and whether they locate
i nthe San Luis, in northern Colorado,
in the Arkansas or the Grand, every
man so located is magnet reaching
out and attracting to Colorado others
from his old home in the teeming east,
and if we in western Colorado, as a
great community stand solidly together
singing the praises of western Colorado,
we will gather them in and bring them
here as our neighbors and fellow boost
| ers. But if we stand apart, footing
our small respective horns, discordant
and inharmonious, the clangor will re.
pell and the home seeker will look to
other fields.
Your Neighborhood Joy Feeds"
are splendid step in this direction. 1t
should be followed up and developed
to its logical point. If 1 dared
would propose tonight the formation of
Western Slope organization composed
of all the boosting organizations in
western Colorado. The Western Slope
Development Congress which Tom Ma
honey and 1 formed one rainy after
noon in 1909. and which held its first
meeting in Grand Junction in Novem.
Der of that year was another step
towards the ideal of united Western
Slope. The success of the congress
clearly demonstrated that the need of
such an organization is keenly felt.
The next meeting will be held in Delta
on March % "a of this year and l hope
that Rifle and Garfield will have big
delegations present.
We have other problems in western
Colorado all bearing on the main one.
One of these is the subject of freight
rates. Rife is now vieing with Grand
Junction in the dubious honor of suf-
fering under the burden of the highest
freight rates in the state. Grand juno
tion is now preparing an appeal to the
Interstate Commerce commission, un-
der the provisions of the Long and
Short haul clause. But how much
stronger would be the case, how mucn
more effective would be our presenta-
tion if Rifle and our sister cities would
join us in this and make unlteo 10
mand for relief from the unjust burden
now laid upon our shoulders. Like
wise we should join hands in the mat