Little Falls herald., 1914-03-20

out among the business men and close
up the membership. Mr.. Millard read
a number Of-letters which heshas q,
ceived from various Commercial clubs
in the state, in response to letters sent
out by him asking for the membership
and what is done to keep the clubs
alive. In response to one to the
Crookston Commercial club he was in
formed that the club had 978 mem
bers, all of whom are kept interested
by giving them something to do. Mr..
Millard closed his remarks with the
request that every member Of the
club give his aid toward bringing the
membership up to 100. =.
!, Prof. Gesell of the Extension Divi-
sion Of the state university was the
principal speaker of the evening. Mr..
Gesell is connected with the municipal
ity section of this department and his
work is directed toward civic adver-
tisement and also has to deal much
with the officials of municipalities.
The municipality section Of the ex-
tension division is a sort of clearing
house, said the speaker. When city
is up against problem which cannot
be solved by it's officials they apply to
this department for assistance, which
is readily given them. Heretofore a
municipality Of the state has had to
depend OH its own initiative when
confronted by perDlexing problem.
Another object OF the department is
also to bring about central bureau
for the purpose Of giving municipa1l-
ties information and data concerning
rates. A municipality should have
correct data regarding all rates for
franchises, ETC., and should know the
conditions which exist in other munic-
ipalities in these matters. As the
conditions now are one municipality
bothers the other for information and
the results are very unsatisfactory.
Mr.. Gesell spoke on the value Of the
League of Minnesota Municipalities,
which was organized recently. This
club is after membership Of 100 of
the cities in the state. The object of
this league is for the purpose of ex-
changing ideas and to bring about
statewide improvements, which could
not be obtained in any other way.
Mr.. Gesen stated that he found it
very hard to get the cities to join
when the matter was taken up with
the councils but that since it has been
taken up with the Commercial clubs
the membership Of the league has con-
tinually increased. ~ss'ss=sea.s=5<. =s
:: The value Of a Commercial club. to
a city,was brought out very forsibly
by the speaker: A municipalitymi might
be corrupt and rotten but If itsis with.
out Commercial club there will be no
effort toward improvement and, things
remain untouched. The speaker com
pared the large and small municipal
ties with large and small industry,
and took the United States Steel cor.
jporation as an example. 1t is i'm.
possible for the small steel company
to get out and fight the steel trust.
Instead Of fighting the trusts TREY
cooperate with them, although it is
not. their desire. This same condition
of affairs should and does exist in all
live places. The scrap in business is
q thing Of the past, and in it's place
cooperation has taken q hold. This
is the keynote of Commercial club.
y In the early days of organization Of
Commercial clubs the development Of;
industry and capital was the principal
aim. To this great many cities owe
their life and existence. The speak
sera criticized the Commercial clubss on
this point, however. In getting in.
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