The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1921-01-27

this exodus Of population aHa Of bus.-
ness. and / believe that can be-
applied which will eneetgaI'g do this
! have already suggested .ae means
and that is by having the citizens them
selves become more loyal and bigger
boosters for their home t1sH sug-
Eest that they, In turn, commence a
campaign in their towns for "a cleaner.
a more attractive, a more up-t0-date
town. and that they be the sponsors for
a development movement such as they
have never yet ATTEMPTED, IA a they
endeavor at the same time TO make ii
attractive to the young people and the
children, to try and teach them that
there is no better place In which to live
and in which TO enjoy life than With
their parents and amongst their friends
in their own home town and district.
| am going to take the liberty Of Jug
costing some of the means by which
this can be done.
II there is not a live commercial or
g~anization or other public body in ex-
i~stence, let the citizens l have referred
to Immediately see hat there is one.
If the town has only three or four hun.
sred Inhabitants let the business men.
the clergymen, the school teachers and
others get together and form a repre-
sentative committee that will lake up
the work which usually falls to a COM
mercial organization, and to go further
than that, to commence a movement to
make that town as far as they possibly
can, the most attractive in the state.
There are many ways which will sug-
gest themselves to such a committee.
/ might mention just two or three. The
painting Of their homes and stores that
require paint, the cleaning up of every
yard and every vacant lot which needs
1t, the Strengthening Of all fences that
are good and the renewing Of all fences
that are dilapidated and an eyesore, the
planting of every front yard with
shrubs or flowers. and the offering Of
I small prizes for the best Improvement
that has been made during the year in
all matters of this Kind.
The committee might appoint an Ar
Dor Day and have the schools declare a
holiday of that day by which the citi-
zent and children as a whole can plant
trees along the streets and the high
ways running through the town and in
identifying public and semi-public
places.
| don't claim that this can be lone
all in one year, but II can be started,
| and If this progressive movement is
| carried on, it will not be long before
| that town is entirely changed and has
become a thing Of beauty and a delight
to those who live in it, and to those
who pass through it.
Now, as to increasing the business Of
that town. Let every store keeper
practically throw all his goods out on
| the side walk, clean up his store, fix his
| shelves and his show windows, paint
them. if necessary. and kalsomine the
store, and then put them back in a sys-
tematized and methodical n so
that to his customers and to strangers
his store has taken on the appearance
and attractiyeness of any store its size
in the larger cities.
Let him sell as far as he can at the
same price that the people would have
to pay elsewhere. Let him carry an up
to-date line of goods even though his
quantities may be very small, but
wherever he has a small line Of goods,
let him put the greatest possible stress
on the fact that he can procure in the
shortest possible time anything that he
does not happen to have in stock, just
as well as if the people themselves, and
much better In fact, ordered it from the
mail order house.
Wherever possible let the store keep
err put someone younger than himself,
or some other person. behind the coun-
ter for as many hours as possible dur
ing the day and let him drive out
amongst the farmers and country resi-
dents, make their acquaintance, tell
them thai he has an up-to-date, attrac-
/ tive store, that to buy from him means
the up-building of the community in
which they live, and that more prosper
ity in their community means more
] prosperity for the people he is calling