The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1918-04-20
Community With Such a Reputa-
ton Suffers as From a
Pestilence. j:
RESTS WITH the CITIZENS
People Can Create and Maintain Pros.
perity II They VIII Keep Their
Money &C Home In Cir.
eujstjon.


cuiation.-
Copyright, 1917. Western NewSpapee Unioo.a
"Stay away from that town. It's q
dead one"
DO you want that to be said Of
your town. OF course you don't, for
you wish, as matter Of local pride, II
for no other reason. to have your
town stand high in the estimation of
the world. But are you sure that you
are doing everything in your power
to place your town In the position
which you wish to occupy1 That Is the
question that every person should ask
himself or herself at frequent inter-
walls.
When things are running smoothly,
when times are good, and when 1t IL
fairly easy to make good living for
the wife and kiddies, 1t 10 80 easy for
a man to forget that these things do
not come to q town as a matter Of
course, but are the result Of the
right kind Of effort on the part Of the
citizens Of the community. It Is so
easy for a man to grow careless and
think that because this condition ex-
listed 1t will continue to exist without
any effort on his part or that Of the
other residents of the community.
That Is why 1t Is important for every
one to stop and think seriously once
in q while about what 1t would mean
to him IL the prosperity that makes
life worth living for him should take
wings and fly away.
Nobody Loves Z Dead Town.
Nobody likes to live In q dead town.
No one even likes to visit dead town.
That is why you sometimes hear that
warning, "Stay away from that town.
It's dead one" The town which has
the reputation Of being dead one suf-
fers as II from a pestilence. Bust
ness men seeking new locations win
have none Of It. The live travelling
salesman, even, will give It a wide
berth. Those who live In 1t win get
away II they can.
When q town is live and prosperous,
local business Is good. real estate val
ucs are high and stable, labor Is In
demand and wages are good, the.
streets are wei lighted, the residents
and their property are protected from
robbery and fire and good schools arc
maintained for the education of the
children. When . town Is dead, there
Is little money In circulation, store
buildings stand empty with "Eor Sale
sign hanging on the front door. there
II little employment Tor the laborine
man, the streets are dark, the schools
are crippled.
What sort Of town do you want to
live int There IL only one answer to
that question. You want to live In the
live town and enjoy all the good things
that come to the residents Of such 4
community.
Answer Easily Found.
The only question then Is a. 10 how
these prosperous conditions can be
created or maintained and It . the
easiest thing In Ahe world to ind the
answer to that question.
Il the people Of q community win
keep their money at home and keep It
In circulation among themselves, they
need have no fear Of ever being COM
PEELED to live In q dead town. II the
people win patronise their own bust
ness men instead Of sending their dol
lars TO the mail order houses, the
prosperity Of the community win take
care Ut Itself.
The local stores. 10 4 very large ex-
tent make every town. The taxes
paid By the business men Of the COM
munlty are the principal support Of
the schools and public institutions. It
Is the taxes paid By the storekeepers,
to Z large extenf that, make possible
the public improvements, the fire pro-
lection. the street lighting md the
many other things which make town
worth living IN. The mail order house
does not pay any taxes Ii the town
from which It gets its money. Il does
not help T. support tho schools q
the churcAeA e de- MT help 1IsAt
the streets or maint1l ~ m q
partme1t Il h the III - ~ nan
order houses 70 drive small town meF.
chants out of businee4 20 that the
people win - compelled to send %
ths cities 1oe tAeif naerrAaudise ma
they are spending thDaspnds az dpa.
lass eseEy uonfA 70 accomplish t11s-|