Honolulu star-bulletin., 1915-12-22
CITY HAS NEED OF LIVE BODY Of
MENINCOMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION

J.
wreckage OF unintelligently guided
commercial organizations that is
strewn over America from coast to
coast H..
/ A community is Just as aggressive
as its average citizen and no more Sc
And in striking the average the atti
] tude of every individual must be reek,
oned with The man who thinks he
has discharged his community obliga.
tion by paying his annual dues to his
commercial organization is on a par
with the man who expects to get q
pass through the gates of heaven
with his receipt for his pew rent. He
must also contribute energy and
thought. -. --.......
/ To be a success q commercial or
| ganization must have three things, the
lack of any one of which will spell ul.
innate disaster They are: :.
1st Numerical strength,
End. Adequate finances.
3rd. An interested working mem
bership.
The order in which they are named
does not indicate their relative i'm
| portance They are equally import.
ant. With these three things an in.
telligently guided organization can &C
complish wonders for any city, no
matter what the local conditions NAV
be. OF course under these three gen
eral heads come many sub-heads.
Definite Aim Essential.
A commercial organization without
definite aim in view is good dea'
like ship starting out from port with
no destination. 1t may get some
where but the chances are pretty
strong that it will run around In o
circle until 1t has exhausted its fuel
supply and then stop.
A program of work or platform o.
activities or whatever one chooses tC
call it is very essential to a CONNER
cial organization. 1t provides
means of being coIstructiyely en-
gagged continuously, of having some,
thing to do between stunts" A sue
cessfnl commercial organization can.
not confine itself to doing the big
things II must be busy all of the
time. To do this it must have a pro.
gram.
A great deal of time and money has
been inefficiently expended by com
mercial organizations in aimless exist
ence. That money hasn't been vast
ed. because even an aimless CONNER
cial organization will stumble on te
some achievement If it lasts long
enough, just as blind hog will pick
up an acorn now and then.
Program for Three Years.
While it is understood that com.
mercial organization should be fl.
nanced for period of three years and
that the program of activities should
be made with the yiew1of jts ssxtend.
ing over that period, 1t Is by-no means
expected that a program published at
the time of beginning of the activities
of an organization shall limit the &C
tion of the body to the things set forth
in that program. The program should
be added to from time to time; fre-
quently group. meetings develop new
things that should be included.
The program of any commercial
Organization should not be arbitrarily
set by the board of directors but
should be made up from the sugges
tions from the membership. The
board of directors should be in fact.
just Swhat the name implies. Tee
many commercial organizations de.
mand that their directors shall do 1t
all and then kick because they are do
ing it all.
The board of directors should direct
the energies of the membership in &C
cordance with the weight of the opin
ion of the membership They should,
of course, be the executive authority
but in any question of policy where
there is the slightest doubt about the
attitude of the majority of the mem.
bership or before taking any radical
step that might seriously involve the
organization OF in cases where there
is serious division of opinion among
the directors the matter should be
submitted to the membership in ref.
erendum vote, and the weight OF opin.
ion as expressed by the votes cast
should govern. Hi
Citizen Owes Support. :....-...
Every citizen of every community
owes his hearty support to his com.
mercial organization. Because the old
commercial organization may have
gone to seed or because one set of of.
ficers or directors may have made
h4loCdhCo 10 uO cAOuoC
aloof. The mistakes of the past
should be the stepping stones of flu.
ture success.
The man who will not lend his
brains, his energy and. some of his
money to the efforts of his fellow citi.
zens in directing the constructive
forces of his community along the
course that is best for the city as
whole is not useful citizen. No man
has the right to refuse his support to
a community movement any more
than the community has the right to
refuse its protection to any man. The
man who absorbs the benefits of the
commercial organization efforts with
out contributing thereto, is a eommu,
nifty parasite. .::s->-..--.. .-. ~. -.
A commercial organization should,
in reality as well as in. theory, be the
hub around which reyolve the civic
activities of the community. It is too
fho,Ohf fhof ha aff;tuda ~