Catoctin clarion., 1911-06-15
CIVIC PRIDE IN
OUR own TOWN
What Has Been Done Toward
This Progressive Nova.
WHY NOT BEGIN NOW ?
Let. ."po II For the Town" Spirit Over.
top Any Other Psrscra Feeling and
Consider It Your { to Further tho
Hsttsrnnsnt Of the Community.

top Any Other Psrs:s,ai Feeling and
Consider It Your { to Further tho
esttsrnsnt Of the Community.
''sCivic pride or the lack OF 1t IL an in
dividual cha Eicteristic. \ man May
be uverse to civic progress for several
reasons. He may Inherit a grouchy
disposition. He nia! be II man born
narrow minded and brought ul' mar
row minded. Because of this he mas
not lIrOspered III bus .ness aid hUS not
become particularly desired In society.
He Is Il pessimist. hard shelled and
not prone to absorb the reasonable ar
gument Of ali enthusiast. says W,
Clum.
Where community is burdened
with a large number Of such individ-
uals the task IL one that no CONNER
cial secretary can tackle with conti-
dence, for there we have collective
nonprogressiveness. which Is almost
as difficult to combat as the flowing
or the ebbing OF the tide.
The individual citizen who Ia devoid
Of civic pride has some pet reasons
for that averseness. Probably he is
a personal enemy Of the president OF
the Town ImAovement society or he
dislikes some Of the men who tempo
rarily are conducting the organization.
and as civi, pride must be expressed
through some such civic organization
this condition would bt' cause enough
for that Individuals apathy. You
must find out the real cause Of his
lack of sentiment. or. rather, lack OF
an expression of sentiment. for l be-
lieve that deep In the heart of every
man there IL civic sentiment.
But where there exists this personal
nnimOsity Oh the part Of the man you
want as member o: the organization.
the man whose help you need In the
work Of civic betterment. your first
duty must he to "depersonali7e the i'm.
provem.nt society. Show that the or
gnnizatiOn Is working toward one goal
the progress OF the t"wn-and that
one mry hecnme identified with some
branch Of the nrga niZatiOn work where
one may do ones share Of good and
at the same time not come in personal
COntnc! with men whom one diSlikeS.
II too often happens that on" group OF
desirable citizens refuses To help your
civic organization because 'ertain 9th
prs are in control. and when those men
20 out Of office and new administra
ton comes In another score or more
OF members resign because Of some
personal diferen"e with officers In the
new administration. This IL Il cOndi
tiOn which exists in too many towns
and cities. hut which ought to he over
come.
There Is another point to keep IN
mind when you are preaching to the
citizen the gospel of DO II for the
town" Many IerS0ns are prone to
lock upon their membership fee In an
improvement society as contribution
to charity. | had one man tell me not
so long ago that he contributed $50
year to his church. Sol year to the
Y. NJ. c. A. and $40 n year to foreign
missions and he thought that was Il
sufficient amount for man in his cir.
cumstances to give to chari Y.
am not going to defend the church
or the Y. VI. &. A. or the missionary
against that statement. but ! caution
you to avoid the expression OF that
sort OF sentiment. You must preach to
the individual that after all hp IL not
giving to charity, nor is be giving any
thing to the town that does not belong
to the town The basic principle Is
that he owes the town something. and
the best way to liquidate that debt Is
to get on the band wagon" and be
civic worker.
This is an era Of competition among
men. among business. among munich
palities Your prospective member
must be made to realize that ordinary
taxation d ,ps not provide for the ex-
pense incident to maintaining Il posi-
tion In the front rank Of progressive
cities.
We hope the people Of this town
who are OF the character that Mr..
Clum has described will profit by this
example and not let their personal
feelings interfere with doing some
thing good for the community.
Our town needs civic pride as much
as any other town In this country, and
It Is only right that the citizens should
do something for 1t in the spirit OF
duty and not as Il business venture.