Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-11-12
WHAT IS 4 cOMMERCIAL CLUBa
Only What its Members Make 1t; Sound
Thoughts Worth Considering.

Thoughts Worth Considering,
The following from the Gastonia
Gezette with reference to the work
of a chamber Of commerce appears
quite appropriate for Hendersonville,
is now inactive:
The physical makeup of every COM
mercial body Is considered by many
to be 100 per cent public s~piritedness,
Lut "a thorough examination of the
work of such an organization in all
the different aspects shows that only
about 1 per cent is this civic pride
and the balance of the SO per cent
cold-blooded business.
A short time ago a commercial sec
retary's trade paper asked for a de-
finition of a Chamber of Commerce"
Many of the officers of different or
CARNATIONS wrote lengthy articles en-
~deavoring to cover ideas of what such
an organization is, but it fell to a
newspaper editor in a ~neighboring
state to find the real definition of a
| Chamber of Commerce. His defni-
ton was short and to the point-"Just
What the Members Make IT,
n SAdL1OC4s vi SOhAAAO4S h1O0I NC
a combination publicity bureau, an
information bureau, the dumping
ground for all the troubles of all the
people, the goat for all "catch penny"
industrial propositions resulting from
much brain racking OF the part of
"would-be'' industrial magnates who
furnish the idea and the other fellow
the cash, but, when everything is sum-
med up it is just as our neighbor
brother said, "Just what the members
FAKE it." :
My first reason for bringing this
to you ~rattention at this time is this.
All over the country civic pride and
public spiritedness is giving way to
the. cold-blooded business end of all
commercial organizations the plea is
not now being put up to prospective
members Of commercial bodies today
for civic pride, but rather the business
proposition back of it. Just contrary
Ito what has been done in past years,
membership in a commercial organi-
cation is being placed before pros
,ective members as a business PROPOSE
| ton to them, and, as a result com-
mercial organizations today are in
better shape than at any other time
n the history of the country Even the
selfish man is getting to the point
where he can see that tits good bus-
mess" to do his share to maintain a
commercial organization in his town.
Even after every detail is looked
over it comes back to the same point,
"Just what the members make it"
The writer was struck most forci-
bly, by an expression of this kind in
this connection, just a few days ago.
/ Walking into a business Office in this
cityP your secretary happened to over
hear a conversation between two bus
mess men of this city, n a member
of this organization, the other not a
members. AS l entered the Office they
were talking of the chamber, what had
been accomplished. We got to talking
OF the fifth card" in the ""Bob!Tan
F1ush,o and the expressed opinion OF
both men on what the chamber could
accomplish and what it could be was
this: Gust what the members make
It"
Back in May, 1850, all the boys IF
tP%hiladelphia had kites and flew them.
Some spent their time flying the kites
Just because they had kites, but little
Ben Franklin few his, not because
he had one, but rather because he
wanted to make us of it. His kite &C
complished what he intended it to, but
had he merely gone along flying that
kite like the other boys did, it is not
likely that we would know today Just
what electricity is.
A commercial organization, like
your church or your lodge, means to
you Just what you make it.
The Gastonia Chamber of Com