Milford chronicle., 1948-04-02
address Delivered By Roy Sabean
AtTbe c. Of C. Dinner March IS
Continued from Page 2

from rage
leaders, teachers, clergymen, .edi-
tors, ETC., showed considerable
misunderstanding of businesses mo-
tives. Obviously the program in
that community needed to be
/ geared differently from one in
community pwhere workers alone
showed misunderstanding. And in
some communities this problem
has been met by regular luncheon
forums where clergymen and tea
chers and editors and businessmen
sit down and discuss their Mutual
problems.
Another local business group in
seeking to increase the cOmmuni-
tvs understanding Of the stories of
business decided to start in the
schools. They called on the city's
teachers and asked what the EN-
plOyers could do that would be
most useful to them. The teachers
I responded enthusiastically AS
result, these businessmen are now
underway on very important pro-
ject. They are preparing with COM
petent professional help a special
course for each grade in school,
from the third grade up, that will
in years to come result in a better
understanding Of how business
operates and how that community
ties in TO the nations economy.
We have sought in these dOcu-
I 20 un7Nrf fnh ~
shortly to outline briefly some of
the more effective and successful
methods that have been used. We
believe that the principles are uni
/ versal and that they can be adapted
to almost any business Organiza-
ton or community. They are not
! foOl-prOOf nor can they serve as an
absolute blueprint in every case.
But we sincerely believe they are a
worthy attempt to get the job
started.
When we talk about community
relations, we're talking about a
subject that is practically second
nature to all of you. There may be
some instances in the annals of our
country where projects of COM
munity betterment were successful
without the cooperation of the
Chamber of Commerce, but l
doubt that there were very many
of them.
We businessmen belong in large
numbers to local chambers of COM
merce. Just why do we belong? Is
it for some advantage to ourselves
in a material sense? In a small way
perhaps, but not very much so. The
truth is that we become chamber
members because we want to pro-
mote the interests of our cOmmuni-
ties and because we like the feeling
of playing on the team.
To my way of thinking, the
American chamber of commerce is
direct offspring of the New Eng
land. town meeting, which was an
open forum designed not only for
democratic exchange of ideas,
but one for positive action on
things important to people who at
tended and just as important to the
people who couldn't get there.
l imagine Delaware in its early
days had about the same kind of
meetings under a different name,
but New England must have had a
better press agent. 1t made its
name stick.
Sometime somebody is going to
write an authoritative book about
chambers of commerce in this
country. Who he will be l do not
know. But l do know it will be a
lively book. 1t will be a story of ad-
venture, romance, struggle, tri-
umph and sometimes refeat.
Anyone who thinks a chamber of
commerce is just a board of trade
is not keping in step with the
times. In scores of American cities
the chamber OF. commerce is the
meeting place-if nothing else-Of
{ every other civic organization in
town, but almost always it is one
hundred times more than just a
meeting place.
/ have never yet heard of a
chamber of commerce which was
1T interested in everything that
was good for it's community, or
even that which promised to be of
benefit. That is why / say a cham
Der of commerce is the hub of the
community
1t has been said that teamwork
comes more naturally to Ameri-
cans as a people, than to the i'm
habitants of other cOuntries-if
that is sO-and / for one am con-
vinCed it is sO-this characteristic
derives from our inherited political
and economic background. It is in
accordance with some of our
cherished traditions. Only by work
ing closely together, by united ef-
fort made possible frequently
through the unselfish relinquish-
ment of individual interests, were
our fOrefathers able to pave the
way for development of those great
and ultimately prolific and fruitful
riches Of the west and midwest
Thus, we came by that spirit OF
community cooperation which we
exercise in the general interest OF
civic betteTment and the resultant
we'll being of all.
i L.