The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-01-25
Wisconsin. Thursday. January 25h 1917
AS Others See Us

The Progress editor was pri-
v,leged Friday evening TO sit in
at the business mans banquet
given i'm Hotel Washburn at the
county seat city as a part of
the community institute held
there on Thursday and Friday.
Later in the evening we attend
ed Safety First meeting in
the Temple theatre and, still
later, a meeting of the city s
Commercial Club held in the
very comfortable club house.
1t is not our purpose to ex.
patiate upon the good eats that
we're served at the banquet.
Nor would we dwell upon the
succeeding meetings, save to
say tLat, in com mon with the
other meetings of the two-day
institute, they were very we'll
attended and proved deeply in
teresting and highly instr uctive.
The thing that impressed US
most strongly upon occasion Of
this evening visit to the neigh
Dor city down the Bay was
this:-The get together spirit
that has been manifesting itself
there during the past two years
has prod uced areal getting to-
gether. Considerably more
than hundred of the city s
business men had voluntarily
foregathered at that evening
meal chiefly for purpose of
hearing University Professor
Melville tell of ways in which
the merchants of the smaller
cities may successfully com bat
the mail order houses,-and he
surely did hand them some
wholesome doctrine. Probably
800 people were in attendance
at the Safety meeting, and near
ly hundred again heard Prof.
Melville at the Commercial Club
and later took part in the re.
gular business meeting.
This pull-together spirit has
been productive of much good
for Washburn during the past
year. It. is just about year
ago we paid our first visit there.
and we came away oppressed
by the seeming slothfulness and
backwoodsiness of the place.
One now carries from the city
an altogether different impress
sion. 1t couldn't be otherwise
when one walks up street along
side of several blocks of the
finest brick pavement and under
brilliant array of orna mental
lights. From out of these
several blocks have gone all the
unsightly poles with their net
work Of wire. With the street
improvement came improve
ment of all the abutting busl-
ness houses, improvement of
outward appearances, improve
ment of lighting, improvement
and enlargement of stocks, -
until the ensemble of those
several blocks is now become
distinctly metropolitan. Son e
different from a year ago? Well,
we should say yes.
And the city has not worried
of it's we'll doing. AS the place
looks better, so its people feel
better and are become more
firmly than ever intrenched in
their determination to make of
their city such ard one as will
be talked about far and wide
and will be looked 10 by people
seeking place for residence or
place for manufacturing ven-
ture. The latest evidence of
Wash burn optimism is the EN-
ploy mtnt by the CONNER cial
Club of salaried secretary,-
E. M. Heermans, a Minneapoli
tan who has had special train
ing as an awakener of slum ber-
ing municipalities He already
is on the jph, coming not with
any great blare Of trumpet, but
manifestlv with firm determine
alton to accomplish worth Will.
things for tie city which has
enlisted his service in behalf of
its development.