| OCR Text |
Show Small Town to Play Large Part in the Development Develop-ment of American Industry By ROBERT S. BINKERD, New York Stock Exchange. The small 'town is destined to play an increasingly important part in development of industry in the United States. The advantages of concentration in many cities are far outweighed by the costs of congestion. conges-tion. Anyone who looks with unprejudiced eyes at the country's largesf cities must realize that they contain thousands of businesses which could be conducted with more profit in smaller communities. You can ship a piano from Chicago to New York for about $14, but you can hardly haul it 20 blocks through New York city for that amount. It costs nearly twice rs much to transport fresh fruits and vegetables through the city itself as it costs to produce them and transport them nearly ha.;fway across the continent. Most communities put the cart before the horse in attempting to Attract industries. They frequently strive with concessions to lure new industry to the town. The right way to start is for the community to take what it has and try to make it more prosperous. The defects of many small-town businesses are obvious lack of jnowledge of costs, lack of knowledge of possitle markets, lack of merchandising mer-chandising skill and failure to kec; up with the times are among the chief of tliom. But if those problems are intelligently met it will be the greatest selling argument for the inducement of other industries to lo cat tliere. |
