Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1921-02-03
COOPERATION
URGED BY otto
Pontiac Man Speaker at First
Chamber of Commerce
Forum Session.
VERY STRONG ADDRESS GIVEN
Indicates A Need of Membership
Meetings to Discuss the Various
Problems.

A good attendance marked the
meeting Of the Chamber of Com
merce held Tuesday evening in the
auditorium of Alma high school, and
the session promises to be only the
forerunner Of series of open forum
meetings of the membership which it
is expected will be held about every
two weeks.
The meeting was opened with a
violin solo. and the community sing,
this being in charge of j. w. Kelder,
superintendent of schools. Harry
Gerber, president of the Chamber of
Commerce, in a short talk called at
tention TO the objects Of the meeting,
and closed with an introduction of
William Otto, secretary of the Pom
tiac Chamber Of Commerce, the
speaker of the evening.
Speaking Of the open forum and
the relationship of the members and
the directors, Mr.. Otto brought out
many things of considerable interest
that can well be followed in the Alma
organization.
In his discussion Of the open forum
he called attention the fact that the
forum was the place for the discus
sion of the problems that confront
the organization, and a place in
which it is possible for the member
ship TO give the directors an idea of
the wants of the membership. He
assumed that the forum should be an
educational department of the Cham
ber of Commerce, but that it should
not have power to put the Chamber
of Commerce on record in any mat
ter, as the final decision on questions
should be left to the directors.
In discussing the relation of the di-
rectOrs TO the membership, he called
attention to the fact that only by CO.
operation Of directors and the MEM
bership could the best results be
achieved; that the membership had q
responsibility in this respect and
it was necessary that this cooper
alton should be given. Only to the
degree in which the members lend
their cooperation in making known
their wants through the exchange of
ideas at the forum meetings, can the
Chamber of Commerce meet with
success, he said.
He called attention TO the need
that there was for the directors TO
lay out a plan of work, and assumed
that no chamber of commerce could
be successful without active commit
tees; that it was necessary for the
committee members to believe in
their town, and it's activities that
they might give their best efforts to
the committees of which they were
members. In this connection he
gave Roosevelt's famous quotation,
"The test of mans worth to the
community in which he lives is meas
ured by the service that he renders
to it,"
He spoke of the need Of a cham
Der of commerce in getting in touch
with the farmers in the community
around city; inviting them in and
getting them interested.
In connection with industries he
stated that the big industries have
Vhe tapltdl 10 pldce factories Wnere
they choose, but that they desire to
locate plants in communities that
are alive.
In closing his address he quoted
King Solomon's words, "Where there
is no vision the people PERISH and
added the now famous remarks of
Toledo's mayor:
What is the big thing we call
city?
"Just a lot Of folks. They have
different colors, different politics.
different faiths and different ideals.
Some of them are at the top of the
ladder, some are at the bottom, some
are climbing up and some ale Slip
ping down, yet all Of them are equal.
"The city is just huge human
hive, where the strong and the weak
render like obedience and receive like
protection. The city is not built in
a day. Neither does it live only for
a>moment 1t must behold the fu-
ture"