Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-07-16


dred or six hundred years to grow,
there has come a time when each
community and each. district which
has been built up on the industry
has had to stop to take account Of
itself and ask itself what it is going
to do next to make the prosperity
permanent.
In the counties of the Chippewa
Valley there are upwards of ESQ rail-
road stations of greater or less i'm
portance. The counties themselves
contain one-eighth of the railway
mileage of the State. These figures
are cited to indicate that, whatever
industrial future lies ahead of the
Chippewa Valley, the machinery Of
distribution is already provided
Three distinct sections of the ad-
Joining state of Michigan have gone
through similar experiences to those
of the Chippewa Valley. They had
great lumber industries which
brought an immense, if only tran
STORY industrial greatness. The lum-
Der industry, particularly that based
on the presence of pine timber, pass
ed away, leaving the hardwood to be
discussed as an aftermath. These
districts were the Northeastern and
Northwestern sections of the Lower
Poninsular, and the entire Upper
Peninsula Of Michigan. It was early
determined that they could not live
~ h1Y+ h0+
must be an establishment and diver
s!fication Of new Industries if they
were going to hold their populations
and their Importance,
The first thing that was done, and
it was a proceeding which the vii
lagos and cities of the Chippewa Val
ley can ponder with profit, was to
endeavOr to attract industries by the
''bonus" system. Anybody who could
put up a 'front.'" who had a patent
process, who had a bursted industry
70 remove from some prosperous
place to a new seat of operation could
get q bonus.
Cities and villages contended for
the industries. Public aid was voted
surrep:itiously. The law forbidding
Ehe giving of direct financial help,
fake pretexts were adopted. Parks
were bought, bonds voted for them,
and the people who got the money
f0r the lands thus acquired were the
promoters of the new industries
Electric light and water plants con-
tracted for at excessive prices were
paid for out of the proceeds of bond
Issues. The excess cost was a hid
den "b0nus' for a factory J. Rufus
Wallingf0rd, of the field of fiction
had nothing on" the men who got
bonuses for factories from Michigan
towns.
AS a rule the industries thus OBJ
tanned were shortlved. Where they
were attracted to places where the
conditions would have made them
successful, even without a bonus
some have succeeded. But the "bonus"
plan, as a rule, worked badly.
The next stage was the organiza.
ton of local business organizations
90 attract industries and better Local
conditions. We have already had
some Of this beneficent work in the
Chippewa Valley, but it is not wide
spread. So far there are but four
distinctive associations of this kind
in the Valley. They are the Lacrosse
Industrial Association, the Eau Claire
Civic and Commercial Association,
the Chippewa Falls Progressive
League and the Menomonie CONNER.
ciaI Club. Such other associations
as exist are conferred about various
special interests, such as dairying,
and do not broadly attend to the gen.
eral interests of their localities.
1t has been found in the adjOin-
ing states of Michigan, Illinois and
Indiana, and in this state in the old
er settled portions, that the bust
ness mems clubs and commercial as
sOciations are very useful. For the
broad betterment of the district in
matters involving more than mere
local concerns, the organization of
these local associations into united
development association is what has
proven most beneficial.
The method by which these asso-
Citations are put together is being
here set down as one for the cities
and villages of the Chippewa Valley
to study. None of them Is too big
to profit by it, none SO small as not
to be considered worthy of being CO.
operated with. The basic proportion
is a business mems club in each
locality. Delegates from these clubs
organize the district development
league. Assuming that the Chippewa
Valley were to organize itself for In
dustria1 betterment by trying to
bring in people who would use the
raw material and cheap electric pow
er of the territory, it would first call
q conference of delegates represent
ing every city and village and every
county in it's territory
From this gathering a Chippewa
Valley or a Northwestern Wisconsin
Development Bureau can be organ
lied and differed, its headquarters
chosen. means for supporting it pro-