Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-26

and secondly an appropriation by the
legislature for $4,000 or more is to
| he sought, this amount to be used
by the State to prepare statistics and
information OF all kinds which may
be used IN discriminating q wider
knowledge of the opportunities
which Name has to offer along the
three lines already mentioned.
! BY an act of Legislature il has
heen provided that any city or town
may appropriate any sum. not to ex-
coed one mill on the dollar, based
upon the valuation of the preceding
year TO be expended and used Cor
advertising its natural resources. ad-
vantages and attractions, and thus
! such a procedure as outlined by this
meeting Is entirely feasible.
/ 1t was pointed out at this meeting
! that this general committee while
1 being entirely separate and distinct
from the Maine publicity .ureau
should work in close cooperation
with that organization and that
in many cases this. publicity bureau
would be able and willing to assist
with work which would otherwise
call for the expenditure of funds for
various expenses not resulting in ac-
tual publicity space but necessary
for the proper carrying On Of this
work.
1t was the purpose of the meeting
in arranging for a committee COM
/! posed of one member from each
! county to place particular emphasis
| upon the fact that the work Of this
! new organization is to be for the
good of the entire state and not for
the exploitation of any particular
section Of Maine. Thus the small
counties will have equal representa-
ton with the big ones. and in the
same manner by the fact that the
cities and towns contributing shall
! each have one vote, the representa-
ton within the counties shall be
equal.
! The various county representatives
as named by the special committee
will undertake the work Of bringing
| this organization and It's plans to the
attention of the people of their
county. This work viii be carried
on until the counties are organized,
after which the appointed represent
atives to the general committee will
! take up the work.
| Governor elect Ralph o. Brewster
of Portland. who is vitality interested
| in this work and who was instru-
| mental in the formation of this gen.
1
| Brewster has just returned from
| Florida, where he attended a meeting
| of the governors and governors elect
| and while there he made an intensive
| study of the state and its publicity
methods.
! He declared that Florida has some
agricultural advantages which cannot
be found in the state Of Maine, this
being in particularly rich sections of
the country where land is worth a
thousand dollars an acre. But in no
other respect can Florida Guido
Maine. 1t is necessary, the speaker
declared. to emphasize the recre-
ational advantages of Maine but that
is not all the state can boast of.
At the governors meeting Senator
Brewster was interested to hear the
governors boasting of the features of
their states and he gave them some
thing to think about when he told or
Maine in an agricultural way, He
spoke of Names enormous crop OF po-
tatoes. of her superior brand of apples
and sweet corn, and in this regard
suggested that in advertisements de-
voted particularly to recreational ad-
vantages of this State it would be Il
good idea to speak of these three crops
in which Maine reigns supreme.
With respect to the organizations
which are boosting Florida as a winter
playground, he stated that they have
a bureau which advertises the entire
state. and in addition various cities,
such as Tampa and Miami, raise large
sums to advertise their particular To-
cality. This work is done by publicity
committees ana the chambers of COM
merce also raise money and carry on
work along similar lines.
; Referring again to the natural ad-
vantages of the State of Maine. Gov
ernor-elect Brewster declared that this
| is a unique vacation land. No other
state approaches it in number of sum-
mer camps and these act as a feeder
for getting people into the state. Not
only do the children come here for the
summer, but their relatives come here
to see them and while here they can
be prevailed upon to stay for time
at least.
The senator advised the people of
| the State not to look for land boom
] such as has taken place in Florida,
| chiefly because of the size of Maine
and it's many beautiful lakes and many
miles of ocean frontage. This he be-
lieves to be for the best, but said that
a gradual and healthy increase in val
uation might be looked for.
! Another feature taken up by the
| speaker was the length of the season.
While there IS no reason why Maine
| should not become winter as we'll as
a summer playground, he stated that
there has been change in the length
of the summer season. 1t was former
| ~ considered TO he of but few short
months duration, principally due to
the mud of spring and fall. Because
of the many hard-surface roads now
built this trouble has been remeded
to a great extent and today the sum-
mer season extends from May through
to November. In Florida they have
but three or four month season in
winter and even now the season is
just starting, so they are no better off
| in that respect than is the State of
/ Maine.
II In concluding Mr. Brewster stated
that there is now rapidly springing up
a semi leisure class and that while
the people of Maine may feel that
this is a step away from the stan
dards of their forebears, someone is
going to derive benefit from those
people who can afford to vacation A
large part of the year. and the State
of Maine should do it's part in deriv-
ing material advantage from them.
The discussion at this meeting was
particularly with regard to possible
objections which might be raised to
such a plan and to the obstacles
which must be surmounted. Every
one present was in favor of the plan
but this did not prevent them from
taking all angles of the matter into
consideration and when any one
question was raised which could not
be answered by the ordinary man,
it was always possible to call upon
ownarf IN TINT limo e. oxnloiy opd