Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1932-01-29

OMMERCE
OOLUMN
By r. E. L. MEL

the city for the annual meeting of the
National Grange next November did
not come as a surprise to those who
were advocating the claims of this
community. The requirements for
the meeting as placed before the rep
resentatives of the Rowan County
Oranges and the Salisbury Chamber
of Commerce just could not be met.
Perhaps the hardest thing to overcome
was the fact that a hall, seating at
least 400 yet allowing floor space for
the degree team to initiate several
hundred candidates, was necessary.
The strongest point advanced in ia
vor of holding the meeting here was
that Rowan County has the largest
membership of any county in the
South and in truth there are but few
counties in the United States exceed
ing Rowan in the number Of af6liates.
Conventions are termed "pots of
gold" for any community. The con-
vention dollar circulates faster than
the savings bank dollar. 1t doesn't wait
for mark down days and bargain sales.
1t can afford to buy things that its
spender wants. 1t purchases things the
average person doesn't need. 1t comes
to the city in a spending frame Of
mind. 1t increases the merchants mar
ket without charging his rent, taxes
or other items usually affected by a
population gain. 1t gets acquainted
with our industries and can be Undue
ed to bring its brothers and cousins
from its home town. Finally it pays
cash and it is just so much new"
income.
Like the tourist dollar the v
ton dollar circulates in all marts of
trade. An authoritative survey de-
clares hat of the convention dollar
p cents goes to the hotels for rooms
and service; 10 cents to hotel dining
rooms; 8 cents to restaurants; u
cents o retail stores; 4 cents to au-
tomobile supply houses; 4 IL cents
to wholesalers and manufacturers; 7
cents to amusements and J II cents
for miscellaneous.
It is of interest to know how the
dollar paid to a hotel by a convention
visitor or a tourist is spent. Account
ants of the American Hotel Associa-
ton state that 81 cents goes for sal
aries and wages; 10 IL cents for
merchandise, food, beverages, cigars,
ETC., II cents is available for interest
and return on capital employed; 6 IL
cents goes for taxes and insurance;
7 IL cents is set aside for deprecia-
ton; 9 cents for telephone, heat, light
and power and IA 1-2 cents for sun
dry expenses.
"In the face of known conditions,
how in the world did The Salisbury
Chamber of Commerce manage to
survive the year of 1912" asked a
we'll wisher and supporter of the Or
ganization. The answer was that first
by cutting salaries and office expens-
es 80 1-3 per cent and then by uti-
LIKING every known means to keep
the standard of functioning up to
that of former years. There is but one
point on which the Chamber of Com
merce fell down during the past year
and that was the lack of up-to-date
literature, the old supply printed two
years ago having been exhausted. The
first step of the new year will be to
remedy this point and already the
staff of the organization is preparing
the material and getting ready to ask
for bids in order that the 1892 budget
may carry the amount.
The January number of Conserva-
ton and Industry the monthly publ
cation of the North Carolina Depart
ment of Conservation and Develop
ment carries an interest table giving
the climatic data for North Carolina
towns and cities. 1t shows that Sal
isbury average annual rainfall is 47.43
and average annual snow fall is So.
There are Sc days in each year in
which some rain falls. The average
maximum temperature is ia and
the average minimum temperature is
48.9 giving an average annual mean
of COL.
The same publication shows that
Rowan County families having radio
sets in 1880 numbered 1865 which
was 1874 per cent of the state total.
The number of families in Rowan
county in 1880 was 12,112 as against
9,217 in 1920. The number of per-
sons per family for Rowan is placed
ar a 7 for 1o3O &c ,oainst 4 & for