The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-25
|E. ST. ELMO LEWIS EXPLAINS HOW TO
 BOOM BIRMINGHAM
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 derpaid secretary, to wake up on the 365th day and give dinner. at which they tell each other how smart they are and how big the city is, listen to orations on every subject from the milky way to political corruption, and then hand the organization over aSurn to the underpaid secretary, who has 10 hustle about for the rest of the year for money enough to pay his sal ary and office rent.
 In other cities the commercial organ izatiops, sensing the fact that busi- ness in city is no different than bus mess in factory or an office or a store, are concentrating the cornmer- cial energies into big central conner ciaI organizations with various bureaus to handle the retailers, the manufac- turers, the wholesalers the transpor- tation interests, the export interests. the civic welfare interests. etc, each of these bureaus being in charge of an expert, and the whole in charge of a general manager who is big enough to command the respect of any business man in the community. That has been the history of Chicago and the secret of it's tremendous commercial growth. It is the secret of Boston's revivih- cation, and even in New York there are signs that she is just beginning 10 vaguely realize that it's 57 commercial organizations need centralization.
 Centralize Organization
 Detroit had to come to it. and with
 in the past 90 days the Wholesalers and Manufacturers' assocition has been merged into the Detroit Board of Cont merce with it's special bureau Today the Detroit board represents the com niercial interests of the city without division.
 Then before you may advertise in any way, you must organize Then the ad- vertising must be representative of the city, of it's claims upon the commercial attention of the country, and it must represent the very best that Birming- ham has. Nothing ought to be too good for the representative body of your com mercial life, and you cant expect good results to flow from inefficient hands ir your commercial organizations, any more than you. can in your own sales departments- There are certain men in ithe country who have made study of civic and commercial organization work, who can be hired for price. These men are not many, but they are worth all they get.
 In such hands the advertising of a town will become Just as efficient as the advertising Of a business. It is all a question of men and money.
 This industrial commissioner. after he Iias made a careful canvass of the meth- ods used by other cities In interesting business. and finds from the people who know what Birmingham ought to have. | should go to the centers and get men in terested in Birmingham. He could rein | force that by printed facts and figures about Birmingham, and he could get the result in proportion to efficiency.
 l Therefore, any city in which great 1 industries are developed is the city of
 growth and prosperity. Kansas City was 1 d great wholesale center. It did an im- mense volume of business. yet too little of 1t stayed in Kansas City. A city do- 1 ing hundred millions A year in whole | sale Is lucky if 1t keeps fifteen millions l of dollars for itself. A city doing a hundred millions year In manufactur-
 ing. probably spends sixty millions of