New Britain herald., 1918-02-01

stores was adopted. The cooperative
or central delivery system was studied
but although some favored it it was
not tried.
The Credit Bureau has been
great success especially to the smaller
stores and a large amount of money
has been collected for the members.
The office has also helped many of
the merchants in tracing freight ship
ments and helping to get deliveries.
When the governor called for the
state military census the work of talk
ing the census in the retail stores was
done by the Mercantile Bureau
lighting rates and improved light
ing for merchants and house holders
and the white way at the center have
had much attention.
The Made in New Britain Ex-
hibit'
THE Fourth of July celebration.
City Clean-Up campaign.
and Christmas tree celebration
have all been carried along as part
of the work of this office.
Tho City Clean-Up week had been
started before the Chamber of Com
mercc existed but the chamber proved
v
on that work
'In reference to the Christmas Tree
cele bratiOn, 7 want to say that Il very
fine showing was made this NNar by
the committee and it was TOO bad to
have the report in the newspaper head
Deficit of $500" Over $500 was
spent and only $S.f6 was left to be
paid by the Chamber of Commerce
towards the work of the committee.
Let's emphasize the best side and the
important side.
Some of these matters have been
the work of the Civic Bureau, which
has all through been most active in
its work for the welfare of all. The
Civic Bureau, after very careful
study, voted in favor of a. federation
of charities but the directors Of the
philanthropic societies decided against
it and let it drop. We did, however,
establish a system of investigating So
licitors and organizations asking for
charity and several fraudulent collect
ing agencies have been exposed.
"Prizcs have been given at the
sch ools for ESSAYS on New Britain His
tory, etc. and an interest awakened
in our city's early days, and the for
nation of q historical society.
In 1916 q few vacant lots were
secured for those who wished them
for gardens, and % people were sup
piled in this way. In 1917 the New
Britain gardens committee took this
u1 in o much broader way backed by
tho Common Council and nearly 700
people were given is acre plowed
and narrowed and in the fall classes
in preserving and canning were con-
Quoted.
'"Thc office of the chamber is con-
stantly serving as an information bu-
reau on all manner of subjects, es-
pccialIy to strangers III the city, and
many organiza tons use the rooms for
their meetings.
II have not arranged this list Of
work accomplished in order of dates
or Importance, nor have I given a
complete list but merely a review Of
some Of tho work to show how &C.
tive the chamber has been and how
we'll it has justified its existence. It
may be 7 have listed some things
where the chamber has helped only
indirectly, but often this indirect help
is very Valua BILE in securing comm IL
nifty improvements and usually no ono
person Or agency is wholly responsible
: for these things.
you have all known of some of
these activities but many of the men,
hers have not kept in close enough
touch to know how much was really
being done.
"An organization which has served
the community so well is surely
worth continuing-esp since
many Of these activities are annual af-
fairs which must be cared for year
after year.
ESPECIALLY for this year ahead of
US the needs for a Chamber of Com
merce are greater than ever. More
and more calls are presented, where
we must all act together and this
Chamber of Commerce better than
any other organization can help to
bring this about.
1.-THE New Britain gardens commit
tee must be prepared to do an even
greater work than last year. Many OF
the people who had gardens last Neai
have come to the office to secure the
same land for another season. You
can help the committee by finding
more land for Them and thus make 1t
possible to do 80 per cent. more good
than in 1917. The Chamber Of Com
merco should have a big enough
membership to have sufficient funds to
finance such d proposition but since
it. has not you can help the commit
tee by backing them up when they
go before the committee on finance
and taxation for an appropriated
One thousand people wanted gardens
last year and $50 got them. More
than 1000 will want them this year
but they are not the people who arc
able to make their voices heard and