Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-17
Commerce Chamber DeferS Proposed Plan

About seventy five members Of the Chamber of Commerce E.et at the Chamber of Commerce hall on Wednesday evening and sang and lis tened to an interesting address 5y J. o. Stevenson of the American City Bureau in New York on the Modern | Chamber of Commerce.
 The meeting opened with the sing ing of America, Keep the Home Fires l Burning and other popular songs ur- I der the leadership of C. W. Pearson | After the singing President Frank J. i King, in opening the meeting, called | the attention of the chamber to the aborninab1e condition of Laurel Hill avenue, saying that it was q dis i grace to the city after the state had l put in the Military Highway not to 1 supplement this work with a few iE- provements to this section Of the city. 1 He also called attention to the poor way in which the detour around the West Thames street work was marked and suggested that more suitable signs should be erected. In speaking of this West Thames street improve ment he called attention to the fire conditions of that section Of the city, saying that if fire broke out there the blaze would be IbeNond control before the fire apparatus could go around the detour and get to the scene. He suggested that. the cham Der of commerce confer with the fire commissioners to have a piece of fire fighting apparatus stationed in the West Thames street station until the road was paSSable.
 Charles L. Stewart in behalf of the Victory loan committee spoke briefly on the coming campaign and advocat- ed the buying of bonds.
 Thomas McGraw of New York, rep resenting the Salvation Army. asked , the chamber of commerce for cooper ation in the coming campaign for war service funds. The chamber readily stated it's willingness to be identified with such a cause.
 !! A short talk on indiscriminate ad- vertising was given by Secretary L.. M. Crandall, who. speaking of the sub ject, stated that within the last week advertising had been solicited in this city by a young woman and that over | $500 had been taken out of the city. The advertising scheme was along the church directory and manual line. He referred to the agreement of the mer- chants to advertise only with those ] concerns indorsed by the chamber of commerce.
 Robert McNeely made a motion that the chamber send an Easter greeting to Joseph D. Haviland who is i'll at his home on Greene avenue.
 It was voted to send an Easter lily to Mir. Haviland with the best wishes for a speedy recovery.
 Mir. Stevenson was the next speaker of the evening and during the course
 of his talk showed many slides of oth-
 CT chambers of commerce in the
 country and views of what they had
 accomplished along city beautiful lines and community betterrnent. The stereopticon was operated by J. J McKenna. MT. Stevenson said il
 part:
 Heretofore, chambers of commerce have been organized mainly to assis business men in their effort to make more money. This they have done b! l rendering service to the member traffic bureau service credit bureaus
 conduct of trade excursions, fairs
 collar day sales; prevention of frau dulent advertising. etc.
 Merchants and others have looked
 upon their membership in the cham Der as a business proposition an |, have valued it according to whethe , they could see any profit as a resul e of the payment of their fec Me n have declined to join because they go = nothing out of it.
 n The need for the old type Of com h mercial organization has been pass = ing for some years. It may now b If said to have passed. America is ricl - We have more money than we kno, Il what to do with. It's cheap as com
 pared with the things it buys, becaus : there is so much more than was fol If merly in circulation. By the increase 2. production of gold, due to moder l. mining; importations from Europe = the stepping of huge ocean freigl T10 ar6 t,a i,,+a of o q, enormous tourist travel in Europe, ot J. gold reserves have increased from 3 !. to 15.S. This accounts for the trt h mendous increase in currency, an
 moreover, there is still a possible c! se pansion of 70 per cent and a vel r. probable expansion of 50 per cent
 So it is not more money that V oe need in America, but more happines
 if you please. We are reaping u
 fruits of our thoughtless policy
 pursuing wealth regardless. and no . that We have it in greater quanti .d than any other country in the worl l. we find less real happiness than
 any time in our history. We can cal , from s to $20 a day. but can't find if house to live in, nor food to eat, n Id real friends nor peace of mind. V
 are haunted with fear-fear of uner l. ployment, fear of Bolshevism. fear n. strikes, fear that the whole fabric of civilization will be destroyed F. te Why is the country feverish? WI do we fear the mob spirit that in u
 past has destroyed the civilizations
 Jerusalem, Babylon, Athens, Rome |?
 A committee Of. the Union Leag no Club of New York, appointed to stu, as the problem of Bolshevism in | oy United States. says in brief that o n. country is suffering the conseuuenc h. of selfishness.
 Our leadership has been a self
 leadership. The builders of our citi
 have not like Pericles, worked
 make the American city famed for ce beauty. culture, cleanliness, health al
 general desirability. On the contral V they have been mainly interested ry irealty speculation, in exploiting pu
 lie service franchises and in maki IVY huge profits on paving contracts, SC, d CT contracts. and the like.
 Who is to blame for this state of 2 u fairs? We are all to blame We ha H. fingered in tie individualism of o II forefataers who lived under very d 'i- ferent conditions. Our inheritan
 from them with respect to public ma to ters has not been improved. We ha sit been thoughtless with respect to pu es lie affairs and to the future of our C
 ies and of our government.
 Just how thoughtless we have be he is seen from comparison of pub to progress with our progress along t he lines in which we have been thinlzi! ed Yankee ingenuity is a trait we z is proud of We came to America {. a found 9 wilderness. By thought, en have transformed it into the great, ch and Wealthiest, nation of the world
 was Yankee thinking that gave 1
 world railroads, steamships, the ele - tric light, the telegraph and tnlepho |. the giant dreadnought and the supn, ! rine and the airplane.