New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-11-11
Christmas. spirit drawing all together
for the common good. " 3

for the common good. 3
We failed to properly observe the
completion of the work done this fall
to bring New Ulm into the front rank
of Minnesota's cities, the paving which
has so vastly improved the appearance
Of our business district. We suggest
a Municipal Christmas Tree Celebration
that will at the same time be celebration
of the spirit Of improvement that has
settled in New Ulm. Here we have
five blocks of well paved street bordered
by substantial business houses, occupied
by firms that can we'll afford to make
special efforts to decorate and illu-
inmate in honor of the Christmas
Season and who will without doubt do
SO. Have a great Christmas Tree
located somewhere near the center of
the paved district, Illuminated and
decorated. Invite our friends and bust
ness associates from the farming COM
munities and the nearby villages to
spend the evening with us. There
are so many, many, pleasant things that
that could be planned and carried out
for Municipal Christmas Tree and it
is such a pleasure to plan them that
we reluctantly refrain from more sug-
gestions and leave it to that fine-wol king
body of men, New Ulm's rejuvenated
Commercial Club. We pledge our
support for the work if the suggestion
is adopted.
Have we given the subject of the
good to arise out of the plans for a
united New Ulm the proper amount
Of thought since they were outlined by
the speakers of the Commercial Club
Banquet? We fear not for the simple
reason that the selfish interests Of the
coming election obtruded themselves
upon the notice Of the people the very
next day and the air was full Of the
hue and cry of the candidate seeking
to run down the office he was hunting.
For the past month the men of the city
have hardly had time to sleep for
thinking of the pleas Of the oficeseeker.
In the mad race many forgot the high
ideals held up at the Community
Banquet and knocked their fellow
citizens with right good will. But it
is all over now let's take a long breath and
forget it and straightway begin to
think of how we are to go to work to
carry out some of the plans advanced
by the speakers.
Apparently an awakened sense of
civic duty preceded the get-to-gether
meeting and it is quite possible that
the leaven has been an aroused con-
seriousness that New Ulm will grow
only thru cooperation. At any rate
the banquet looked very much like a
ceremonious burial of the Ratchet
and the man who deliberately goes
out and digs it up again and starts
in to use it will be likely to find himself
decidedly unpopular. There is not the
slightest doubt that there will be back
slidings from the harmonious program
outlined by the various speakers on the
occasion of the love feast but there is no
reason why these lapses from civic
consciousness should be serious or con-
tinuous. There is nothing in these
"city scraps and it is the duty of every
citizen to discourage them at every
opportunity.
A family that has continuous pickering
among it's members is always looked upon
with disfavor by the neighbors. The
same is true of a city that is constantly
in an uproar about something. How
ever, there is another side to the same
question. 1t is very true that unless
there is soome agitation there is never
any progress. But this agitation need
not be unfriendly. Every citizen should
have wit enuf and interest enuf to form
his own opinion on every subject of civic
welfare and should be ready and willing
to express it. He ought not to feel that
he must defend his opinion either with
fists or acrimonious words. A position
which is sound and tenable will always
be shown to be right in the end.
The keynote of every talk given was
cooperation and recognition of the rights
of others to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. The dreadful war in
Europe was for the time being forgotten,
even the Mayor refusing in his talk to
refer to conditions there which can but
depress. Germany, Austria, Russia,
France, England and all the rest of the
unhappy countries over there were
brushed aside from the consciousness OF
those who attended the banquet and it
| was DELIGHTFUL to note that while all of the