The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-11-20
PLAN FOR APPROACHING
 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS DISCUSSED BY MIR. PRICE

At the Chamber of Commerce lun- cheon at the Stratfield today, Secre- tary Price discussed means of arriving at a solution of community problems.
 He spoke as follows:
 A Program and Policy Any enterprise, if it would avoid waste and would function at its high est efficiency, must have a chart or program of its proposed activities pro- jected several years into the future. Since April 1917, the program of every commercial organization in United States has been Twin the War" Any other thing on that pro- gram has been handled with mar ginal time and effort. Sane progress sive programs have been kept in storage and conditions have SC chang ed that in many cases they will not answer today
 For today we must put everything into reconstruction.
 Who knows exactly what should be done?
 For this generation, the problem is as new as experience as war.
 Program Result of Collective Thought
 What man in the Chamber of Com merce is able to decide for the S29 members what they should do? Obviously, none.
 And no man or no set of men in the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce ! wants to assume that responsibility. To meet the problems of peace and to keep Bridgeport the forward look ing industrial metropolis of New Eng land will require the best thought | of every member. It will require the earnest thinking of every citizen. How can we best determine just what part the Bridgeport Chamber of 1 Commerce should take in this gigantic | task?
 1 Not by accepting the judgment of any expert on city building. | Not by accepting the judgment of | directors. however good they may be in the respective private enterprises.
 Surely not by accepting the judg- ment of any one individual, no mat ter what position of trust or promi- hence he may occupy.
 Not by a mail qUestionnaire to the members for this would not get theil | ull6HtlOu or pest thought.
 Not by a referendum for much vot ing can be done with little mental eff fort.
 Composite Judgment from Group
 Meetings
 To get the best composite judgmen of our S29 members on our commun ity's program of work, they must no only think in community terms bu they must think and talk and recon slider and discuss together.
 The best medium for such an ex change of ideas is a small group meet ing. A request has been made to tn members that they indicate what da. and hour of the week would be mos convenient for such meeting. Thes meetings are now in progress and is highly important that every mem Der accept the invitation which vii be mailed to him.
 TWO QUESTIONS.
 In the meantime here are the tw
 questions which we discuss and ou Chamber Policy and Program will b l built upon their answers: ! 1.-What do you think the Cham Der of Commerce ought to do to i'm prove conditions in your line of bust ness or to benefit you personally? 2-What do you, as a citizen, thin , the Chamber of Commerce should d s for the benefit of the community a r a whole?
 Give some earnest thought to thes questions. Remember that you, pel
 sonally, are going to have somethin
 to do with formulating the policy
 the strongest single community fore
 in Bridgeport. You are thinking fc [ the community.
 8 The reconstruction program of tE :" Chamber of Commerce must be broa e constructive, progressive, and it wi come from the together thinking" the entire membership.
 The classifying and organizing | these suggestions will give us tho! s tasks which should be done first r municipal welfare or community e
 ficiency.
 h Plan Not New, but Conditions Are y The plan is not new. It has bee e used in any number of cities. B1 Il the conditions are new. We are n n going back into the old selfish peac
 We are going forward into a wonde
 full social minded peace and it wi
 take forward thinking to meet i
 problems.
 f BridgepOrGs Need, Her Opportunit 5, Bridgeport is fortunate in having = few needs that are so obvious tn; r even a newcomer can speak of the1 y with confidence and certainty. Fol h tunate because public building entel n prises are going to serve a doub d purpose in bridging the gap from WE y to peace production and in giving y' the community, public habitatio1