7. Educate the people of the city to appreciate and support the Bridgeton Hospital. 8. Develop a sentiment favorable to the proper marking of streets and renumbering of houses. 9. Advocate erection of a municipal abattoir. 10. Discuss the possibilities of an improved form of city government. II. Consider advisability of conducting a campaign to secure a Y.M.C.A. INTERRELATION OF CIVICS AND COMMERCE It has been a common sport for socially trained "civic" workers to assume a superior and self-righteous attitude toward the chamber of commerce and the chamber of commerce secretary. This pose is bred of a false philosophy of life which assumes that social and economic points of view are separate and distinct, and that, therefore, civics and commerce should be kept in thought-tight compartments. Actual experience of the chamber of commerce secretary has served to demonstrate the oneness of the community problem. In secretarial literature it finds its expression in more than one paper on "The Interrelation of Civics and Commerce." Thus one finds that health and education, city planning and zoning, municipal administration, language and religion, politics and race, are intertwined with the business of making a living. A few illustrations quoted from a Manual on City Planning Procedure1 will serve to illustrate more in detail: Street traffic. Is retail trade handicapped by the inadequacy of parking areas for automobiles, and by the consequent parking in front of store windows furnished for display? Does the trade avoid congested streets, and can shoppers approach store fronts by automobiles? Is the time of business men and workmen wasted by traffic delays caused by a congestion of street cars, horse-drawn vehicles, motor busses, and automobiles? Must trucks take "the long way around" in delivering industrial products or merchandise to railroad terminals? One could elaborate on the economic significance of the street traffic problem at length. Zoning. Real estate men everywhere are anxious for zoning, in the interests of their property or the property of their clients. Does it mean 1 Manual on City Planning Procedure, by W. J. Donald, American City Bureau, 1920. anything to mortgage companies that homes are protected from the encroachment of stores, from the shadows of apartments, and smoke and fumes of industry? Does the dry goods merchant want proximity to a garage or does the manufacturer of silks seek a chemical plant as his neighbor? Retail business men succeed best where business men "most do congregate." The retail "corner grocery" was ever a precarious financial adventure. Grade crossings.-Consider the time lost to business by delays caused by grade crossings. Street cars, automobiles, pedestrians, trucks and delivery wagons are kept standing, and workmen and clerks are late for work. Life that can be valued only inadequately in money terms is destroyed by grade crossing accidents. Retail business districts are damaged and residential sections are blighted, until the obstruction is removed. The principle suggested by these illustrations is one which the business man understands more or less in its concrete applications. It is a principle so well understood by a large percentage of chamber of commerce secretaries that their years are being devoted to teaching it to business men and to applying it in the solution of practical problems. Indeed the chamber of commerce secretary who thinks only in terms of one of the special social sciences will fail to solve the problems of the community, and sooner or later will destroy the chamber of commerce by undermining the only philosophy on which it can live. This statement is not only theory-it is also tried and proven practice. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SECRETARY To understand the nature and scope of the program of work of a chamber of commerce is a challenge to the man who would serve the public. The opportunity of the chamber of commerce secretary invites men of the very best of training in the social sciences together with executive ability. One's knowledge of the sources of information is likely to be taxed to the utmost in the course of a week's work. What level the profession has reached is indicated by a "Code of Ethics" prepared by a committee of experienced secretaries and adopted by the Students Association at the American City Bureau School for Chamber of Commerce Secretaries held at Madison, Wisconsin, in August of 1920. The "code," which might well be emulated by other professions, is as follows: COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP IS A PROFESSION I BELIEVE That it offers an exceptional opportunity for constructive and substantial community service. That as a member of this profession I should strive to improve my knowledge, widen my mental and spiritual horizon, and arrive at an understanding of the forces which move men to united action for the public weal. That I should be at all times sincere, considerate, unprejudiced and fearless. That my morals should be above reproach. That I should apply myself to my work with a diligence and industry consistent with my physical and social efficiency. That I should scrupulously administer the finances and affairs of my office in accordance with the best business practice. That I should be honest and accurate in the dissemination of information regarding the community which I represent. That I should hold in strictest confidence all information given in the same spirit. That I should take no advantage for personal gain of private information received through the activities of the organization which I serve. That a greater field for service rather than a higher salary should be the actuating motive in any future advancement in my profession. That I should make no tender of my services to another community unless certain that the position desired is to be vacated. That I should not accept a salary greater than commercial organization experience shows my organization is justified in paying. That I should accept no remuneration for my services as a commercial organization executive apart from the regular salary for the position, except with the full approval of the Board of Directors. That I should refrain from attempting to increase my salary by playing one organization against another. That to make a change of position after only a few months of service or while in the midst of important incompleted activities is wrong in principle and detrimental to the profession. That the ethics of my profession are best served by giving credit for accomplishments to the organization, rather than to the secretary. That I should have the courage to admit my mistakes and thereon build for future success. That I should so conduct myself and the affairs of my organization that others in the profession may find it wise and profitable to follow my example. That I should be willing at all times, when requested, to assist my fellow secretaries in the solution of their problems and in securing a better understanding of the principles of the profession. That my acceptance of a position as secretary should be founded upon implicit faith in my community, in my organization, in my profession and in myself. That above all I should be loyal to my community and to my organization. That I should exemplify the principles of unselfish community idealism and urge the responsibility and privilege of community service. THE OPPORTUNITY There is a constantly growing demand for well-trained men for chamber of commerce secretaryships. Moreover, standards of quality are constantly and rapidly rising. The problems which the secretary must help to solve call for adequate training, executive ability, the impulse for public service, and a philosophy of society which sees the community problem as fundamentally one rather than diverse. THE AFTERMATH OF THE BLACK DEATH AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT WAR JAMES WESTFALL THOMPSON Ever since the Great War terminated and the world lapsed into the condition-physical, moral, economic, social-in which it now finds itself, historians and students of social pathology have been searching if possibly they might discover a precedent in the past for the present order (or rather disorder) of things. The years immediately following the close of the Napoleonic Wars have been the favorite epoch for examination. But the conditions of the period after Waterloo have been found to bear little resemblance to conditions today. The differences in degree between things as they were then and things as they now are is so great that analogies fail. The old maxims, "We understand the present by the past," and "History is philosophy teaching by example,' are broken shibboleths. There seems to have been nothing in the past comparable or applicable to the present. And yet, though it is true that history never repeats itself, there is one epoch of the past the study of which casts remarkable light upon things as they are today; whose conditions afford phenomenal parallels in many particulars to present conditions; which furnishes not merely analogies but real identities with existing economic, social, and moral circumstances. That period is the years immediately succeeding the Great Plague or the Black Death of 1348-49 in Europe. The turmoil of the world today serves to visualize for us what the state of Europe was in the middle of the fourteenth century far more distinctly than ever was perceived before. It is surprising to see how similar are the complaints then and now: economic chaos, social unrest, high prices, profiteering, depravation of morals, lack of production, industrial indolence, frenetic gaiety, wild expenditure, luxury, debauchery, social and religious hysteria, greed, avarice, maladministration, decay of manners. |