The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-11-18
MUST TAKE GREATERINTEREST
Madison Man Who Has Successfully
Managed Great Association Shows
Kenosha Business Men the Foun-
dations for Business Promotion.


business and community advancement,
E. NJ. Mcmahon, executive officer of
| the Madison Chamber Of Commerce, and
man with punch in both fists,
delivered notable address before the
members of the Kenosha Retailers as
ISOLATION at the monthly dinner held
at the Hotel haywood on Tuesday
evening. Mr.. Mcmahon came to Ke-
nosha with message from an associa
tion which had attained great results
and he gave to local retailers many
ideas for betterment of their associa-
| ton which will be reflected in future
work.
Mr.. Mcmahon did not talk shop. On
| the other hand he talked Of broader ac-
tivities which indirectly effect the
business Of a city and of its retail mer
chants. There was no hackneyed
phrases in the address delivered by Mr.
Mcmahon. He spoke as one having
authority and hit straight from the
shoulder and backing everything that
| he said was the fact that at Madison
his work has been largely responsible
in the building up Of the largest and
most influential organization of bust
ness men to be found in any city
Of the nation with population Of un-
| der a hundred thousand.
Mr.. Mcmahon emphasized the fact
that the business of retail merchant
did not end with the selling of sugar
and cotton goods, but that the success
full business man had come to see that
his interests must go into many lines
Of social and political activity.
| He declared that democracy in the
nation was a success only as it brought
more efficiency and that the big prob
lem before the thinking men of today
was to adjust individual business so as
to make the best possible relations with
public rule. He criticized the men in
trade for their own failure to take an
interest in political advancement of the
nation. He declared that the day of
the "paid lobby" to look after the
interests of the business man was
day of the past and that the business
man now realized that he must take
more interest in the local, the state and
the national government and give his
time for study of the problems of these
/ political divisions so that he might lead
and lead intelligently.
He declared that in business in all
cities the competitors had been replac-
ed by the co-operators and that in CO.
operation the business men were find
ing the surest avenue to success. The
real competitor, he declared, was the
people who bought and the merchants
of other cities. He strongly urged CO.
operation, not only in the collection Of
bad debts and the protection of credit
but as well cooperation in buying, in
handling traffic problems, in delivery
| of goods, and in community work.
Cooperation with self was one of his
first suggestions and following it he
urged cooperation in the family, be
tween the employee and the boss, be-
/ tween capital and labor and between
men in the same lines of business. He
declared that the great struggle of
business men today was to "make the
big town better and the small town
bigger He spoke of community ad-
vancement and sagely declared that the
fdreams of the idealist must be re-
allied by the dollars of the material
ist.0 He urged the local association to
branch out into more lines Of work.
To take greater interest in problems
effecting the welfare of the city and
tie development of the agricultural and
industrial interests of the county. He
found in this work the surest advarce-
ment of the retail trade. He urged the
members of the association to be will
| ing to pay their money for things which
did not bring surface results, but which
brought new conditions from which re-
suits never dreamed of must be the
natural following. He urged upon his
hearers the necessity of their apprecia-
tion of the fact that Kenosha was
thirty-two million dollar corporation
and that they were expected to market
the product of this great corporation
and he found the real product the
trade of the people of Kenosha and the
surrounding territory.
He declared that the real function of
every organization Of business men
was to make the strength of the home
town known abroad and its weakness
known at home.
DR.. George F. Adams, acted as toast
master for the evening and before the
address of Mr.. Mcmahon, President
Charles Ell. Goodman of the association,
made his inaugural address in which
he pointed out plans for making the
association more helpful, not only to