The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-04-19

more, that someone else should be
given a chance. His suggestion was
. cverridden, however, as the nominal
'tate Nmmittee explained that they con-
slu- -5s,e new directors should have
the be,. scs his experience and ad-
vice to aid their coming ac-
tiyities
Toastmaster Nichols next called on
Secretary J. p Taylor of the Greater
Vermont Association and Mr.. Taylor
responded with his customary punch
and energy, He touched briefly on
two important points, the need OF Yer
monters to advertise Vermont and the
pretentious gathering this year at
Montpelier when the Greater Vermont
Association will sponsor statewide
demonstration in celebration of the
125th anniversary Of the entrance of
Vermont into the union. His address
was a plea for Bennington to do her
share in sending a delegation to as
sist in making this affair of nation
wide interest.
1t was after 10 o'clock before the
principal speaker was introduced in a
series of appropriate paragraphs by
Mr.. Nichols. 1t was the first time that
many Bennington business men had
ever seen Mr.. Wilson or heard him
speak, but he lived up to his appear
ance and reputation. Mr. Wilson is
live wire and it took only three
minutes, after he got on his feet, for
the room Of men to find it out
Mr. Wilson is clean-cut man with
clean-cut vocabulary and he knew
his subject; The purpose of a Board
of Trade in a community the size of
Bennington. Although he is at pres
ent Vermonter, yet he made no
| denial of the fact that he believed in
the business spirit with which the far
west looks upon community work and
business boosting and his remarks
from first to last were plea for the
! state to work away from the hide
| bound, moss-backed slough of over
| conservatism which has been charac-
| teristic of New England for the past
generation and innoculate our public
| and business life with the confidence
| in tomorrow which is one of the vests
| chief factors III its remarkable growth
and business optimism.
He took up his subject in three diyis-
ions; The spirit of cooperating, the
| spirit OF giving and the spirit of APP
| preciating. He stated that com
| munity does not grow merely because
of natural resources and cited in
| stances of several great business cen
ters which have led in the particular
! class of industries in which they eX.
Gel, not because they were located
near to raw materials, but because the
| cooperative spirit toward some one
| great end made them what they are.
| Gary, Ind, for steel, Grand Rapids for
| furniture and Kansas City for farm
| machinery were cited as instances.
The spirit of giving. the speaker
stated, was the second step in the bust
ness evolution and prosperity of a
community. The business of learning
to give and the busines Of learning TO
smoke. lie declared, were usually at
| tended by exactly the same symptoms.
| He brought out the fact that 1t is not
the wealthy community which gives,
but that the citizens grow wealthy
| through the wise and generous habit
OF givins.
In the course of his report. chair
man II. b. North had referred to the
fact that the Board had not been in
strumental in gaining new industries
during the past year. Mr.. Wilson
siezed upon this as an argument that
q board Of trade, anywhere. is not
merely factory promoting organiza
tion and if the industrial committee
had turned down propositions during
the past year, there would doubtless
be many knockers, mostly outside the
board, who would point to this as good
excuse for not continuing with theil
support. On the other hand. the speak
er maintained that board of trade
| was chiefly an instrument for creating
community spirit and so long as they
did this. no such chamber of commerce
is a failure, but inyersely was a entire
ly fulfilling the function for which i
y was organized
The speaker also siezed upon n re
mark made by another previous speak
err that the housing problem in Ben
nington was becoming serious HI
declared that a community whicl
could not house the workmen who la
bored in its factories, did not deserv,
. to have new factories. He urgeC
special attention to remedy this situa
ton.
Under the head of appreciating one
own community he brought in the ne
cessity for a steadfast belief in the fu
, twe typifed by the west. against
constant looking backward to tn
. greatness of yesterday as eXempliier
by the east To appreciate ones CON
) munty it was necessary to believe il
t its future possibilities and work then
to the utmost.
, Mr.. Wilson spoke for an hour an
( summarized a splendid address wit
the 4O00.year old quotation from Sole
| mon. THAT people which is withou
( vision, is perished.
1 Following Mr.. Wilson's address, EaI
+ w. Williams furnished some inform'
S tion regarding an automobile bus lin
a between Bennington and Dorset tn
= formation of company to promot
: which had been suggested during tn
T. | meeting. A vote was taken to estal
= lish such line in order TO bring tn
g smaller towns toward the north
II touch with Remington and swing bus