The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-07-19
ORGANIZATION ESSENTIAL.
To Life Of Every Community-co Op.
GRAFTON of,AII Citizens Needed.


To Life Of Every Community-co op-
GRAFTON of,AIl Citizens Needed.
r, A. Mitchell, in an address before
the Board of Trade of Manistee, uttered
some truths that are especially timely
in view of the recent re organization OF
the Owosso Improvement Association.
He said in part:'
up to comparatively recent times
the board OF trade was an institution
found only in the larger cities; today it
is recognized as vital necessity liz
every town OF any size and Importance
and failure to have one, or the having
OF an inc fficient one, is evidence that
the business men of such town are
lacking in ambition and energy. Pre-
perly organized, we'll fnapce and ably
conducted, such an organization is q
powerful factor in the commercial de-
velopment of town, since it represents
or should do 80, the concentrated brains
and energy CT all its men of affairs.
It's chief purpose is to induce new in
dustries 10 locate in the town, thereby
making market for unemployed home
labor, and bringing in more laborers.
who must have houses to live in, cloth
ing to wear and food to eat, thus
stimulating business of all kinds. Il lie
the creator and preserver Of CONNER
cial prosperity, and when the merchant
and manufacturer are prosperous, the
whole community prospers.
AS means of keeping things NOV
ing, it is the stitch in time that may
save nine-the ounce of prevention that
may be worth pounds Of cure. 1t is, in
effect, insurance against local business
depression, not absolutely dependable,
to be sure, but well worth all it costs.
A great many people and people Of
all classes, think that the boards work
does not concern, or effect, themselves
individually, forgetting that the pros
perity of the community as whole, lie
reflected in their own affairs
When town is going down hill
when manufacturing slackens, trade
grows dull and the demand for labor
falls off, who are the people to suffer-
Not the rich and well to.do, for they
can, if they like, sacrifice their proper
ty and move away, but the laboring
man, the small householder and others
OF little means, cannot afford to sacri-
fee their little all-they must stay or
as best they may, perhaps in straitened
circumstances, perhaps in actual want,
waiting and hoping for better days.
To such as these, the boards work in
and keeping up business pros
perity is of vital Importance, yet they
it least of all. They seem
to think that the boards efforts are
solely for the benefit of the manufac-
turer, the big merchant and the capi-
talist, forgetting that it takes capital
to make business, and that the more
and bigger business town has, the
more prosperous all it's people are.
They forget that capital fears dull
ness above all-fiies from a dull town
and will not engage in one concerning
which there is even suspicion of dull
ness. Wage earners forget that their
own prosperity depends almost entirely
upon that of their employers-that
what they have to sell is the work of
their hands, and brains, and that the
market for it is good only when the de.
mand is good that the price paid for
it is also contingent upon the demand