Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-05-22

| The past year has been a year of
| growth in which your. organizati ton
| has again demonstrated its value both
to its membership and to the commune
ty at large. says George c. Clarke,
| secretary Of the Augusta Chamber OF
| Commerce, in his annual report which
was presented at the annual meeting
of the orSc atIon recently held. Con-
tnuine, the report states in part {.
! There have been definite concrete re-
suits by which our success may be
| measured and there have been other
tar-rcaching, immcasurablc and intan-
gible results which have added to the
| influence Of Your organization i'll Au-
gusta. Tho object of this report is to
summarize briefly what part the
| Chamber of Commerce is playing in
| the life OF this community.
| We have gradually come to under
| stand why our members were asked
, to sign "A thrc, year contract of 1inan-
cial support. The Chamber of Com
mcrce in any C immunity must be more
! than passing fancy, hobby, or a
( fad; it must b" permanent. function
! ing, service giving organization.
This requires much thought based
! on knoWlCd of community facts of
people. and Of possibilities.
/ The two outstanding major results
! of the year arc CD the promotion of
retail trade and co the promotion of
the first annual state of Maine Win
i ter Carnival Results along the line
! of trade promotion arc comparatively
easy to obtain. They require a scien-
tific plan, cooperative effort, the ex-
! pcnditure Of energy and the proper
! advertising of the city as a retail CEN
| ter. With The prospect of profit as the
! fruit of effort, llen ere willing to bend
| their energies to the tainment of a
| definite goal. In regard to the second
, of our accomnli shments. and in direct
| contrast will, the former the pros
! pcct of monetary reward is relatively
| small but the benefit to the community
j in tho promotion 6 healthfuI, il vigor-
ating out of door sports and the
! growth E \ .gusta as a sports center.
as well as the invaluable publicity
/ given to the fair name of the city. is
! beyondcstimated. Thus along two
| quite differ lines, depending upon
| two entirely different motives. We have
! been able to demonstrate tho value of
civic-con morcial organization such
! as ours
Major Program
Plank l. Good Roads: Urge the
adoption of definite reads policy.
Very fe wcitios have had as careful a
survey made Of its roads by its citi-
| zcns as Angus has had in thu survey
rlade in 1920 ard the re-furvcy made
| in 1921 by your committee on good
| roads ard We are glad to mote OFT the
city has consciously or unconSciouSIy
carried on lis road work under the
policy then suggested: that is. that the
expensive, Anticipated policy of scrap
| ing the same old dirt back into the
| roads each year should give way to a
policy under which some permanent
work is done each year.
This policy has been applied to the
Bond Brook road and the Togus road.
In the interest of better trade it is
hoped that similar wor. will be done
on the North Belfast road this sum-
MGR.
Plank . Housing: Work for the
building of more houses and apart
ments in Augusta. Here is problem
that has received our attention to a
greater extent than any other problem
in our program. Your manager has
interviewed scores of people. both
those interested in construction as a
business and those interested in
building for themselves. and it is his
opinion chat the people of Augusta
are merely waiting for lower con-
struction costs. The Chamber of
Commerce can do much to induce this
decrease. providing all parties con-
cerned will cooperate in the move
mcnt. A QUESTIONABLE has been sent
to certain of the State officials and
their assistants to determine the need
of an apartment and the replies show
that such building would be profit
able as an investment and quickly
tenanted. small apartment is to be
built at the corner of Grove and
Capital streets by Two of our members
who became interested in the project
through inves. legations made for the