The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-24
HOW TO ORGANIZE.
CIVIC SOCIETIES
IN COMMUNITIES.
Organizations Often Perish
For, Want Of a Definite
Program.

It has been said that If three Yam
KEGS should be cast adrift on a desert
! island they would at once call a town
meeting and elect a committee.
| It is a good Yankee notion. When
ever a number of persons propose to
do something worth while, organiza-
1 ton is necessary, 1t may be simple,
but it should be definite. .
| In a community welfare movement
fortunate is the town that already
1 possesses an organization that can be
I utilized. Often an apparently decay
ing civic society needs nothing but a
fresh program and one or two new
leaders to prove just the agency,
WANTED for the towns redemption.
Sometimes this organization is the
Commercial club or the Board of
Trade. Too many boards of trade get
tcontented by bringing a new factory
to town, and then fall asleep; It is
our conviction that no commercial
Organization gets the best life Of the
town at work or fulfills it's function
unless it takes up each year at least
one task that is more than merely
commercial What is the use Of
bringing new people to town unless
the town is becoming a better place
| to live in? What is the sense Of en-.
couraging families with children to
come to live with us, if the mortal
lity OF children among us is larger
than it ought to be? Matters of pub
lie health and beauty thus have a
very close relation to business. Then
when a commercial organization oc-l
cupies itself with nothing but get
ting more business it fails to use the
abilities and assistance of important
members Of the community. pure
| ly business organization will interest
the store-keepers and bankers, but
why not have. a. society in which the
physicians, the clergymen the school
teachers, the clerical class and the
retired mon Of the wealth can show
their interest in the town?
Campaigns for Commercial Clubs.
No organization is in better po-
sition to,put through short-time, spe-
lciflc Improvement campaigns than
the local board Of trade 1t has the
machinery, the access to the public,
semi-of11cia1 backing and usually
large membership.
Take the .'Clean-Up and Paint-Up
ICampaign' which Is becoming SO
popular and Useful Often the com
mercial organization takes entire
lcharge Of thia3 In ,Asheville, N. c..
lsuch a club issued a "proclamation.
lsetting apart a special week for the
purpose. In Buffalo a circular was
put in every home, with, the cooper
alton of the mayor and city officials.
by the Chamber of Comm cree, tell
| ing each householder exactly what
to do.
Women's Organizations.
Some men say: LET the women do
it. They will. anyway This sub
lime faith in the energy Of organized
womanhood is usually justified. F-ery
town has at least one woman's club.
and most small cities have local fed
erations of all such clubs IN the city.
These organizations meet frequently
! usually have special committees on
critic matters, and have close access
to the children and the schools
l. The range Of the activities Of wo-s
mems club is extraordinary: They
may begin as in one town, with the
placing of painted barrels at the
street corners for the deposrt1ng of
papers and litter. They may prove
as successful as that small club in
| Salisbury N. c., which has secured
for that town a splendid Community
Building, with auditorium, public
library, restroom, creche, and head
Iquarters for the leading literary. So
cial and service organization of the
city.
| 1t is advocated by some that boards
of trade confine themselves to better
business and leave matters of gem
eraI town improvement to the wo
mems clubs. Your town may do as
! it will, but does it not seem a shame
that men should leave such difficult
and often expensive concerns as pub
lie health, Fairgrounds and social
centers to the weak shoulders of the
women? Are we not Sinking a pri-
vilege as well as duty?
! Other Ways OF Getting Leadership,
It has been suggested that in towns
that hold Chautaukuas, the Chautau-l
qua guarantors should become the
nucleus Of civic responsibilities. 1t is
true that they often include many
public-spirited persons-indeed, in
many towns no other fellowship num-
bers so many, unsectarian and unpar-
tisan. There ought to be the closest
relation between the Chautaudua
program in the summer and topics of
community welfare in which the
town Is interested in the winter. Rut
these guarantors have their definite
task, and it is big one. Let them
as individuals unite in every civic
campaign. But this is something even
bigger, because it lasts all the wear
and 1t should utilize the service Of
many more people, and of many peo-
pie who would not be expected to ex-
tend financial guarantees.
/ Wherever there ia no snecifc oix,;o