Evening journal., 1918-01-12
ACTIVE YEAR FOR
( commerce CHAMBER
President Megear Points
Out II Can Become
Greater Force
CAPT. DE BEAUFORT
TELLS OF WAR FRONT

ILLS vi " I'M NOAN 4
At a largely attended meeting at
which many important topics were dis
cussed. the chamber of Commerce
Thursday elected the following meme
bers of the board Of directors r.. II.
Durham, Levi j. Maloney, William b.
Afegear Ellwood Souder, George II.
Spackman. Willard A. Speakman,
Charles Topkis and Joseph B Weaver.
The meeting continued until after A
o'clock. and the large attendance re-
Elected the great interest in affairs per-
tanning TO the city ana to the prose-
cution Of the war.
At the opening Of the meeting, Presi-
dent William b. Megear addressed the
members on the importance of the or
ganization at this time.
"The year 1918 holds definite prom
ise OF many unusual demands, on every
city and land. said Mr.. Megear Our
success in winning the war depends, in
large measure. upon Zach community,
meeting fully these emergency demands
Permit me to outline ia brief, our
conception of a Chamber Of Commerce.
Men are no longer content TO per
form the mere civic duties prescribed
rigidly by statute, commonly referred to
as obeyng the laws, and paying taxes.
This impulse is quickened by the real-
ization that citizens IN q nation, wag-
ing q righteous war, must truly CON
duct themselves as citizens. The hopes
and aspirations Of a community, and the
promotlonal effort generated by Ideals,
cannot be entrusted either TO purely
private enterprise. or public authority
The activity Of the local government is
circumscribed by law. The single in
dividual Is necessarily devotlng nine
tenths Of his working hours to making
a living.
There can be. and Is. an uncovered
fleld lying between the function OF the
Individual, and the local government
There is need for some organization.
which permits collective effort. and
which az tho same time. cncroaches on
neither the power OF the individual. nor
The sphere OF local government
There Is created rs it were. a new
category, as q result OF which many in
dividuals give O part of their time,
thought and effort Your commercial
organization IS then piece OF ma
chinery. driven by collective influence
Constantly % should be noted that
commercial organization Is merely the
machinery grinding out certain definite
results for the benefit OF the whole
community
The need for compactly organized
community leadership has never been
greater IN tie nations history There
fore. / feel that I can. with Justice. to-
day. more strongly than ever appeal to
the men and women OF Wilmington to
support their community organization.
The Chamber Of Commerce needs your
support today more than ever before.
and the community needs a strong and
powerful organization more than ever"
Those present also listened 90 an
interesting address during the evening
by one who had witnessed the horrors
OF the world war. This was Captain
j. NJ deBeaufort. a Belgian army ON
Ger. who told OF his trip In following
the German army through Belgium.
Captain dcBeaufort made &c plain that
he Is now naturalized American citi-
zen. and he had married an American
woman two months ago. And he
added, Il have Ried no exemption
claim
Captain deBeaufort said that the
phrase Doing your Bit should be
changed at once. as this war required
every one 20 do much more than his
bit He said the trouble with Amerl-
cans is that they have not realized that
they are q war.
Captain deBeaufort. after telling Of
his experience IN Belgium and France.
which he said in some instances were
unpriniable. said that while men were
needed in the trenches. ships also were
needed. but in order 20 set these
homes and not huts were necessary for
ihc workers.
Captain De Beaufort said that the
love of home followed the men into
She trenches and he related how while
watching q battle raging on Christmas
Day 1855. he being high up in a church
steeple De heard the strains of an
organ and during a lull 70 the battle hc
crawled down to tho church. whore he
found a group OF British. scottish and
Belgian soldiers gathered about an or
san az which was seated a soldier. who
was playing suddenly a Scottish sol
der addressing Captain De Beaufort.
said: VI say. chap, can't you get the
bloke TO play Home sweet Home
Replying that he thought the man
knew that piece. the speaker told the
soldier 20 ask HIM himself whorcupon
ihe Scot replied u can't iho bloke IS
= German Ne just brought him In
tsrlfI ftUu afhnr. r.rslarnnr. fir an. .tH-