Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-09-19
MONDAY MORNING TALKS
A SERIES BY
George c. Clarke, Manager,
Augusta Chamber of Commerce
.. OUR CITY

| IL has been said that we never
truly appreciate our blessings until
deprived of them nor our home until
absent from 1t. AS an interested OBJ
server of community life, it became
the writer's privilege during the pas
two months to compare Augusta
with other towns and cities during
his travels in the Middle West and
IN the Province of New Brunswick
I One cannot help be impressed in
study of this kind, which concerns
itself more with the economic life
Of the people and thetype of citizen
ship inthe places visited than with
gorgeous scenery of points of histor-
zeal interest, with the favorable po-
sltion of Augusta from both of these
standpoints. These comparisons may
be advantageously grouped under (a1
! Economic life diversity and contin-
uity of employment; fb) citizenship
economic margin.
! While Chicago, Detroit, and other
| large cities are faced with the great
est problem of unemployment in
their history, Augusta homes for the
most part are free from the spectre
OF want that haunts the souls of
men. Not that our people will work
to capacity or even TO normal dur
ing the present winter, but that there
will be wage earners in every home
bringing in their weekly pay envel-
opes. In the cities mentioned there
Is great concern over the wave of
crime, the probability of much sick
ness and the oppression of poverty
Men who are hungry are desperate
and moral fibre is weakened in direct
proportion to a mans restitution.
How helpless we are in situations of
this kind. The diversity of employ
ment that is ours in Augusta insures
us against complete economic loss.
In this connection it might be well
to mention a condition that obtains
in the vicinity Of ST. Stephens, y. E.
where farmers have given up the toll
of the farm for the more lucrative
task of getting out pulp wood for
American consumption. Here, il
spite Of the possession of fertile soil,
men are facing a complete reversal
of conditions. Where prosperity,
with pulp wood selling at $4,000 n
cord, was general. today with no de-
mand for their product folks who
have partaken of the luxuries of life
and who have been living in a par
adise of easy money must either re-
turn TO the life of the farm or be
faced with poverty. With tariff on
pulp wood likely to be imposed as
forest conservation policy, the ,'cturr
to the farm is imperative But, un-
fortunately, the return to the farm is
by no means easy. Not only have
men lost the art of farming and
gained a dislike for chores and long
hours in the fields but they have
long $50 lost their capital equipment
Of herds and machinery. their iicl Is
have grown to bushes. and they lack
enthusiasm for the task. In\Maine.
as in Augusta, we have learned thai
a diversity of employment is a wise
policy.
City life in other localities IS life
of contrasts. Rich and poor are di-
vided hv a clear and unmistakable
, line of dcmarcation. Wealth and
poverty, the two economic extremes,
are found side by side. In Augusta
however, we have no idle, inactive,
i luxuryloving wealthy class. The
/ possession Of wealth does not take
man from the ranks of the workers
in factthose who arc working hardest
to keep our mills running and our
business on a favorable basis in tho
present crisis are our men OF means.
Will" We do not always appreciate
'.c~>. -" financial and business
; y ""o onr most earnest workers
"nd ~ contrast Il tn greater he
'a''s~ this intor"et inthn city itself
and il tho prosperity of cno's fellow
mon is not found in Ike degree in
th" average American city.
The fact that impresses the student
Of civic conditions most deeply, how
over. is the presence in Augusta of
q substantial economic margin. At
ter all, it is not what man earns
in ages or salary that counts; it is
the margin that exists from week
to week between what he earns and
what hespends. This is often spoken
Of as the purchasing power of the
dollar. In Augusta a comparatively
small income can secure comfortable
shelter, good food and raimcnt. and
sufficient of the ordinary Injuries Of .
life. and still leave some margin for
savings. We are consequently con-
tented and thrifty people; contcnted
because we have n margin of reward
that we can call our very own, if we