The Caldwell tribune., 1922-02-03
DEAD TOWN very .
SELDOM RECEIVERS
Community That Is Not Prosper
GUS Cannot Attract New
Residents.
IS like Big CORPORATION
People Are Stockholders and When
They Spend Their Money Away
From Home They DepIets
Its Capital.

(Copyright)
There Is nothing deader than q dead
town. Try as hard as 1t may to con-
ceal the facts, the truth is written all
over it so that he who runs may read.
No camouflage of bluff and bluster can
conceal the true situation from anyone
who comes within the limits of the
community. A dead town is dead and
that's all there Is to it.
The worst of it is that once a town
dies it stays dead. There have been
exceptional cases in which dead towns
have been revived, have taken on new
life and prospered, but these are mere
ly the exceptions that prove the rule.
The fact that town can seldom
"come back" is easily explained. The
growing and prosperous town today
Is the one that can attract new resi-
| dents and new capital. 1t Is one that
can offer attractive inducements for
the location Of new industries. The |
dead town offers no attraction to out |
side capital. A man looking for q |
place to launch a new business or q
new location for an old industry, Is
not going to pick out dead town.
He is going to select a town in which
money Is plentiful, town whose busi-
ness men are progressive and whose
residents, as a whole, are prosperous
and contented. There are too many
: live and thriving towns in the world
! for a man to risk his future In one
q that is dead. This Is the reason that
y a town, once dead, almost always re-
n mains dead.
: Town Like Corporation.
There is just one thing, ordinarily,
r that kills town in the first place and
e that is lack of money. A town is
IS Just like q corporation and the money
J. possessed by its inhabitants Is Its cap
J. ital. If this capital is depleted the
II town will fail just as the corporation,
rt whose capital is depleted through poor
s, management or other causes, falls
e, And Just as the corporation which has
Ill once failed can seldom retrieve its lost
is fortunes, the town which has failed
Is- cannot often "come back"
Id The capital of a community is de
he pleted when its money is spent away
he from home in a way that brings M
1g return benefit to the community. /
takes no great amount of thought t.
be able to realize that the town, like
,r- the individual, cannot last long IL
r. Is paying out more money than i
he takes in. That does not mean that
ed prosperous town Is one in which tn
lis people do not spend any money. Oh
| I,o. .frar
ar one in which the people do spend mon
RS ey but it is one in which they spen'
,ss the money at home. AS long as tn
he money is spent at home, the tow
IN gains by having it kept in circulation
IS but when it is spent away from home
em either by being sent to the mail orde
m houses or by shopping trips to othe
,at cities, the towns capital is impaire
ch to that extent and IL enough money
Is spent away from home in that wa,
of the town collapses and virtually got
tn into bankruptcy just as does the CO
,er poration which dissipates its capital.
aot The people of a community are al
ses to overlook the fact that they al
stockholders in their town and tn
ex- their fortunes are bound up with tho
est of the community as a whole. Th'
or do not realize that If their town fai
ldf they will fail with 1t. They-or mai
lin of them at least-send their mon
or away to the mah order houses in t
the great cities, without realizing that tn
yer are impairing the capital of their oy
t 1t corporation and that If enough OF ths
her pursue that course they will force tn
corporation into certain bankruptcy
Merchants Not Only Ones Hurt
der Many customers Of mail orc
hile houses say that they are under
mer Obligation to trade with their no
re- merchants and this may be true. TT
or overlook that fact that the busin
Is men of town do much for their &C
VINO munity and are entitled, in return
unt what they do, to the support Of
nrst people in the community, but leav
that this out Of consideration, they o,
'onu look the fact that they are bring
turn about their own downfall when t
mas drain their town of its money
tue capital.
OF The home merchant will not be
apie only one that will be hurt when
. II town "goes broke" The merch
mere can reduce his stock and cut down
be e~nensas and get along some way
e Is he can sell out and move to some
ef town which has not been so b
re- to its own welfare. 1t Is the G
ever body Of the people of the commu
'ner- including all those who have sent
Inc money away to other cities instea'
'take spending it at home, that suffers l
mail -, .,.. hora t,pas come
The "n~A % ~ -. - -. IN .,o noon,a 70
! at e AZ. 49, to,vn ,s while
reats .oee'ne. -.,u ,,. "a not sftor ,
theirs .o". - to,,r a,o. A.
order eenu' - - 80 e,r.vor
Is to 'ons 'Ane NeAN
d out