Evening star., 1915-04-11
"UNITED STATES CHAMBER o

Now, you ask me, what is the use OF
a chamber of commerce? Absolutely
none at all unless 1t is alive, keen, en-
ergetic and, above all. unselfish- If IT
Is organized maintained to benent
the few. to advance special interests, 1t
is worse than useless. for it harms by
reflection all similar organizations.
The chief purpose of local cham
ber is to make its city more desirable:
more desirable as the seat of factories.
more desirable as place of residence,
as a place of doing business. If 1t sue
ceeds in inducing factory, with
pay roll of say 100000 month to
establish itself within the city. 1t has
achieved something of real value, for
that pay roll means more residents.
more mercantile establishments, more
schools. better streets. more advan-
tages in social Intercourse. and so on
through the list of human activities.
ITO make a city desirable an efficient
chamber of commerce has many prob
lens to work out, among them the
problem of good government. reason
able taxes. labor conditions, sanitation
public. as opposed to private interests
But how, in reply to the question,
What is the use of chamber of COM
merce? shall the results be measured
You cannot measure them accurately.
Every merchant knows that he can
not measure accurately the results of
giving better and more courteous serv-
ice in his store, or the direct results of
an advertising campaign. He knows
the results are there: he counts them
In increased business done and in in
creased profits; but he knows he can
not support these profits and say that
this group of statesmen was solely re-
sponsible for SO much. any more than
he can trace to any particular days
advertising the presence of a woman
in the store who comes inquiring for
a waist to cost about 81.
The woman might have been at
tracted by an advertisement she saw
week ago last Monday. The effect of
all Of these things is cumulative
There is no system of tests which will
furnish complete and accurate anal
ysis
so 1t is with the work of a chamber
in gross-but always shown.
You, or !, or the butcher or the
baker cannot get these results by in
dividual effort. Organized effort alone
can get them. That is the reason for
the chamber Of commerce.
But the influence of the local
chamber Of commerce was local only
local horizon. Its voice might well be
the voice Of the business Interests Of
the community. but no more. When it
spoke on larger matters it was not
speaking for itself alone. Your opinion
or my opinion on some aspect OF busi-
ness In the nation is worth nothing at
all. We have nothing upon which to
base II save our own narrow outlook
When we in Boston were working
on the reorganization Of our CONNER
cial bodies some seven or eight years
ago we found that out. Those bodies
would give voice to an opinion about
some national business question and
then wonder why no one paid any at
tention to 1t. Our fault was that we
did not take into consideration the
views and opinions and needs of San
Francisco, or New Orleans. or Des
Moines. In other cities other COM
mercia1 bodies were learning the same
lesson: that their utterances carried no
weight. And they. like we. asked
themselves why.
Then. throughout the country. many
business men spontaneously began
thinking along the same lines in the
direction Of the creation Of some ma
tional body that would be authorized
to speak for the nations business