The Republican journal., 1914-04-09
THE COEMORTN1ER COMPANY 81 Chambers ST. NEW YORK

settle in Chattanooga was to settle them
selves in the midst of what amounted to
big family row.
Large employers Of labor are very par
ticular about such things. What lndlvid'
ual, living in a town, will Intentionally
move himself and his family into quar-
relsome locality?
Whenever in the past the citizens OF
Belfast have stopped fighting among
themselves long enough to attend to
building up Belfast, Belfast has gone
forward in bounds and leaps. just as
long as we permit petty personal things
and peanut politics to absorb all our en-
ergies, just so long will Belfast continue
on the road she has so consplcuously FOL,
lowed from year to year since 1871 untli
quite recently. And that road has led
US down from population IN lS90 OF rls-
ing five and a quarter thousand and a
valuation of three million dollars, TO
population just above the forty hve num-
bred mark, and loss in valuation run.
ming into the hundreds OF thousands OF
dollars. About one quarter of a million
less IN 1904 than in 1890. Our population
grew from 1900 to 1910, however. Ac-
cording to the census reports our popu
lation in 1910 had increased over that OF
1900 by three persons
1t is under these conditions that the
Belfast Board Of Trade has come into
being. 1t is movement of our young
business men to place Belfast where she
was intended to be placed, and where she
stood when other young men who had
grown up here united with young men
who came to us from the outside world.
United to boom beautiful Belfast. The
question now is, How can it be done?
It is not for me to attempt IN any dlc-
tatorial way to indicate the road that
must be followed. But perhaps, having
listened to the story Of the former growth
of Belfast, you may be willing to listen to
a few suggestions. The first thing, OF
course, is for a larger number OF US to
get into line with these ambitious, wide
awake men who want to improve Things
here. They may not do everything just
as one of US might do it, but they are
begging of you who are not members OF
the Belfast Board of Trade to become
so. They feel that they need your help,
your attendance at these meetings to ad-
wise with the officers and CO 1mlttees, to
show by your membership and your pres
ence that you do really belong to BEL
fast; that you have pride in your beau
tiful home town; that you have an inter,
est in your own personal welfare ana
the betterment of your conditions: NO
man living in Belfast has moral right
to say that the Board of Trade can do
nothing for him, or his.
When you improve conditions here IN
Belfast, the fact is to reach every man
residing within it's borders.
The unskilled laborer whose trade is IN
the use of the most common tools may
be, and probably is, the master OF his
particular trade. He might not be prop
erly considered as interested in Cham
Der of Commerce, but he is vitality inter-
ested in the work of Board of Trade.
The families of Belfast are what make
it Belfast. The more interested IN the
growth of Belfast are her families the
quicker will Belfast rise out of her de-
preston and come to her own.
l sometimes think of story Irecently
read that seems to me to apply to towns
as we'll as to the Georgia Cracker OF
whom it was told. A stranger riding
through Georgia came to spot that was
particularly attractive. By the side OF
the road stood a typical southern cabin.
The stranger was surprised to see perch-
cd up against the side of the cabin big.
fat, white man, so he drove up and ac-
costed him. The man did not seem to
be very communicative at first, but CT
gar softened the way bit and soon they
were talking freely. 'Well, how are
things going with your quer 11. ..s the
that bush clearing over yonder Stranger"
eyes" ''See that tree clearing the other
side of the potato patch?" eyes. What
about them?" s'Well stranger, one day
last spring the lightning struck the bush
and burned that out. This summer cy-
clone twister struck that wood clearing
and cleared it out to tree smoother than n
l could do it. Cut it down and cleared 1t
out" "Well, what do you expect next?"
said the traveller. ''What are you doing
now" ooh nothing much. Just waiting
for an earthquake to come along and turn
up that potato patch. Twill save dig
ging them.
Belfast has had the fires that have
cleared up her bush to the extent OF
nearly three quarters of million dollars
worth. She has had cyclone twister IN
the bitter feuds of recent and other years
that have cut down her population in fif-
teen years all that was gained in seventy
years and wiped out quarter of mil
lion dollars of her estates, and now, the
Belfast Board of Trade has come as an
earthquake to turn up the potatoes.
But it is up to the citizens of Belfast
to do the rumbling and gather in the
crops the Board of Trade unearths.
From meeting to meeting in the i'm
mediate future others who are better
Qualified than to give details of what
the Board Of Trade will try to do will