Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1921-12-30
THE MIDDLEBURY REGISTER
BOARD OF TRADE WORK

bOhND VI 1 NAOE WONh
Considerable talk has been heard
along Main street the past few weeks
over the prospects OF reviving the
Chamber of Commerce in Middlebury.
The local business people see the need
of banding themselves together ard
are perfectly aware of the many mu-
1ual benefits to be derived from an
association of the business and profess
sional men in the community. All there
is needed is someone to take the initia-
tive, call the folks together and start
There is a prevalent belief, enron
eous nevertheless, that a board Of
trade as soon as it is organized, should
form a posse 60 out, and grab dozen
or so industries by the throat and bring
them into town To do this is of course
entirely beyond any board of trade,
though many a well formed organiza-
ton has been laughed out of existence
bv the censure and redicule OF those
who were dissatisfied because results
were not forthcoming all in a day. To
attract new industries into a live com
munity is without question one of the
objects of a board of trade But civic
organization of this kind serves more as
an advisor and an official medium
through which the town and the pro-
spective manufacturer can act and
negotiate when the opportunities to
secure new industries and business en-
terprises are discovered A board of
trade is constantly on the lookout, if
il is a successful board, for new bust
ness enterprises that are desirable. Very
often they are successful and prove
themselves OF invaluable assistance to
the community and offer help that can
not be rendered through individual Ell
fort. however earnest that effort may
be.
But the securing of new business and
manufactures is by no means the only
benefit to be derived from a chamber Of
commerce. One Of the side issues,
which is usually handled through the
organization is the branch called the
merchants association or bureau. All
questions relative to mercantile regu-
lations are brought before the assoca-
ton and talked over. The merchants
have an opportunity to work together,
instead ii drifting aimlessly wonder
ing what the other fellow is going to do
They have the advantage OF a retail
credit dealers branch, which feature
alone is worth all the time, expense
and effort that are expended in organ
izing. The credit association means pro
lection, mutual protection, for the
tradespeople, and insures the saving of
real dollars for every merchant sup
porting it.
But there is still another side to the
board of trade movement that finds
such full expression in the Greater
Vermont Association, and has spread
TO scores of towns throughout the
state We refer to the fostering of
and the developing of a never-failing
community spirit. Poultney is the lat
est town to organize a chamber Of com
merce, and the citizens OF that town
have evidently proceeded in their en-
deavors along the best approved Jim
Taylor lines.
The Poultney Journal, heralding the
birth of the new chamber OF commerce,
issues a cordial invitation to all the
citizens of the town to be present at
community entertainment, the first
endeavor of the new organization In
offering an appeal for Poltneyites to
attend the function, the Journal says:
This is for the purpose Of establish
ng one of the objects Of the new Cham
Der of Commerce, developing com
munity spirit and getting our people
together, in an endeavor to inculcate
a public interest in everything that
pertains to Poultney, to rouse civic
pride among everyone who claims to be
a citizen of this place"
The enterprise OF the people of
Poultney, no less than that Of other
towns, many of them smaller than our
own, should furnish an incentive for
the public spirited citizens Of Middle
bury to band themselves together in
an active organization, that we may not
be forced into an undesirable back
seat position
Though France has DerSiSted in