Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-12-20
CITIES NEED BOOSTING
Municipal Expert William Parker
Gives Wholesome Advice.
ENERGY is THE THING NEEDED.
Hustling and United Action Greatest
Essential For Upbuilding
Cities of This
Size

We live in an age Of daring and
tremendous achievement Therefore,
in order to be understanding
must be done out of the ordinary to
call attention to your community's
assets. Something so engrossing and
so spectacular that those susceptible
to migration" will become so i'm
pressed with your enthusiasm. that
they will make inquiry and investi-
cation with a view to settling and
investing in a community which dis
plays such evidence of enterprise and
such advantageous opportunity.
We cannot put too much stress on
the Importance of acting conserva-
lively, intelligently and yet at the
same time aggressively, in taking ad-
vantage yourselves of opportunity,
and once more we repeat, do not at
tempt the undertaking of great mu-
nicipal development, without expert
assistance.
The main thing, of course, that is
needed is an organization of the
business men themselves. 1t is the
combined business judgment of in
telligent business men that makes
these boosting plans a success.
Then in addition the right kind of
writing is needed. A good news
paper man will do for this, some
times corps of newspaper men
have been very great help in the
writing of articles about town.
But in addition to that, the right
kind of judgment must be used in
reaching out into the right territor-
les in which you want to make your
successes boosters. The questions
are before you-do you want to de-
velop factories? Do you want to
develop stores? Do you want trans
portation facilities to be increased?
What is the main object, the ulti-
mate end which the boosters must
reach for? For this purpose cooper
ate with the established commercial
bodies in other towns and get one
or the other of the various organiza-
lions in New York or Chicago, which
have guided the commercial and in
dustrial side of these towns boost
ing propositions.
1t cuts no figure, whether your city
has three or four thousand popula-
ton, or five hundred thousand, the
smaller places are more in need OF
/ boosting" than the larger if any
thing, especially if they ever desire
to outgrow their swadding clothes.
The very fact that nearly all the
large cities are spending fortunes
every year in municipal advertising,
is sufficient evidence that the live
men" of the place appreciate the
necessity of keeping up with the
modern band wagon.
There never was a more opportune
time to start your waking up" pro-
cess than the very present. The
papers everywhere are more or less
filled with appeals to the clerking
classes and small merchants OF the
extremely large centers of population
such as New York, Chicago and Phil
adelphia, to break away" from the
congested and unsanitary surround
ings and poor emoluments of the
average little fellow" in these great
cities.
These very people make the mos
excellent citizens in a smaller com.
munity, as they are so appreciative
of good fresh air, plenty of elbow
room, and other inducements the
smaller community offers, they take
a new lease on life, and with the
keen training of the bustling city
they invariably become successful
manufacturers or merchants. They
are, as a whole, most desirable
class, and the state of Texas Is an
eloquent testimonial to their sterling
worth as real assets to a commun-
ity's population. The trend OF popu.
lation is toward enterprise and activ-
! ity, which are summed up in the
modern word hustle" These things
make up 90 per cent of the oppor-
tunities of cities The other 5 pei
cent serves only as a foundation
Human energy concentrated and har-
messed is the big thing. Cities are
men made things. Chicago was built
on a swamp. The big city of the
lakes might have grown up some
where else. One lone citizen of Chi
cago back in the early forties-a
Single handed booster-started Chi
cago, when it was then only a viii
lage, toward its present greatness.
The community which today is not
awake is losing untold opportunity,
not only as a whole, but for indi-
yiduals who own property, and oper-
ate a business. Name any town"
where real estate is not active, and
you will find the reason is due to