announcement

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KALAMAZOO TELEGRAPH-PRESS
SEVENTY-FIRST YEAR KALAMAZOO, MICH., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1915. PRICE TWO CENTS
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The Greatest Retail Center of Southern Michigan
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Co-operation has been the shibboleth
of success In every under-#
taking ventured by man • since the
beginning of things. History fails
to record a military victory of consequence
or an achievement of
state that has been accomplished
despite the dissemination of the nation's
subjects. Society is founded
upon the basic principle of
unity. Chaos and disorder reign
when the cementing bond of society
is served by individual discords.
The lexicon of man. contains
the word "selfishness" and therefore
the note corresponding to the
term must be found in the human
make-up. On that account sages
have denied the possibility of a
perfect society in the material order.
Successful community building
requires the concerted effort of society
to override the human weakness
and weld the labors of the
whole towards the obtaining of that
which makes for the common good.
In that is * co-operation—the first
and primal rudiment to learn in
the course of "empire" making.
From its birth as a white man's
village under the siring of Titus
Bronson, who erected the first log
cabin back in 1842, In its adloscence
as a town In ante-bellum
days, during that period preceding
the donning of the municipal
toga, and finally after Its graduation
Into the classified cities of the
west, -Kalamazoo has been Impressed
with the importance of
mastering this lesson In communal
construction. During the lone
period which witnessed the cycle
of changes In her growth, the dty
has experienced reverses and hardships
and In fact, ran the gamut of
dvic emotions, which is the lot of
all municipalities in the making.
Always was there indomitable publie-spirited
men to ride at the
emergendes and awake in the
breasts of their fellow townsmen
the need of that co-operative bond
among all to beat back ill fortunes
and to go ahead.
And advance it did. There may
have been lulls in the wind of progress,
dissensions might have at one
time or another disrupted the civic
concord, private and selfish interests
may have brooked for a moment
the progress of the city, and
idealists and champions of chimerical
cities may have seen their
castles fall like Nineveh and Tyre,
but the prosperity march of the
city has been the steady, unfaltering
charge of Hannibal's infantry,
which knew no halt but for rest.
During the last five years Kalamazoo
has taken her place naturally
and graciously as the fourth
city of the state, and as the metropolis
of southwestern Michigan.
The positions may be called both
her geographical right and her
moral prerogative.
community has merited
the unfiinching zeal and toil of Its
citizenry, who have been led by
high-minded dynamic men of great
moral principle and strong determination.
Co-operation was the
keynote of the advancement which
gave to Kalamazoo her moral title
to the rank in which it has been
placed.
The last the destined to bring the realization of
through their aspirations, the making of
Her geographical position has and Chicago, placing the city on
made the city a formidable rival
of Grand Rapids as the retail center
of western Michigan, besides
the place It already holds in the
southern section of the state. From
every direction*—north, south, east
and west—the city is accessible by
at least one railroad, steam or eleotrio
line. Located half way between
Chicago and Detroit on the main
line of the Michigan Central, the
retailers have open to them a potential
field fifty miles in both directions.
The north and south,
connected by a network of railroads
and interurban lines with the city,
offers as many possibilities.
The retailers fully appreciate the
advantages that the position affords
and have effected an organization
in a co-operative movement
to open up more extensive trading
districts to draw from. They have
not only Inhaled the spirit of co-
the city but have themselves created
a great part of it, as Is manifested
by the role they have taken
in- the events of Prosperity week.
In fact, of co-operation they have
made a ritual which Is ultimately
the city the retail center of central
Michigan.
The retail establishments in the
city are thoroughly modern and
bespeak the thrift and progressiveness
of the men behind the concerns.
The styles and innovations
are shown here simultaneously
with their appearance in Detroit
a competitive level with any other
municipality in the west. The salesmen
and saleswomen are kept
thoroughly educated in their profession
by solicitous employers,
who have themselves taken similar
lessons in the course of efficiency
and keeping efficient
Each fall and spring the various
concerns detail their buyers to
the eastern markets, where the
choicest and newest articles and
commodities are' selected for the
\ consumers of southern Michigan. It
would be fruitless to attempt to
trace the growth or describe the
work of the retail business of the
city. It would be just as hard a
task to faithfully portray what the
merchants have done, are doing
and Intend to accomplish for tho
community at large. They are concerned
with the good of the city
as vitally as the biggest propertyoperaUon
^rom ^^ atrapaphere of _ owners and as morally-as the mo^t
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ardent clergyman, and they have
shown it. ThL-y are of and are for
Kalamazoo "ternally."
But we have diverted from the
subject that was first taken In.
hand—that of the city, of its resources
and its potentialities.
Its
position in the heart of the richest
agricultural district of the state
has already been partly described.
Fifty miles of territory in practically
every direction is connected
with the city by railroads and electric
lines, as has been already said.
The lines total twelve, making the
city the greatest railroad center in
the state aside from Detroit.
There have been frequent rumors
afloat pertaining to the proposed
electrification of the Fruit Belt line,
which conneots the city with the
rich fruit growing country directly
west to Lake Michigan. The territory
has been a lucrative tributary
to Kalamazoo In the past but
the opinion has prevailed that with
better transportation facilities, a
far wider retail trade could be
drawn from the district. The mati
ter has been proposed on several
occasions and Is at present under
the advisement of the officials of
the Michigan United Traction company,
owners of the road.
The new Michigan Railway interurban
line between Kalamazoo
and Grand Rapids has opened up
a large territory to the north which
was formerly closed to the merchants
on account of the inadequacy
of transportation facilities.
The records of the road are
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business caused In the city by the
beginning of operations on the line.
The Grand Rapids & Indiana,
Lake Shore and Grand Trunk railroads
bring the residents of northern
Indiana and southern Michigan
into the city from the south. About
twenty passenger trains are scheduled
on these three roads daily. A
large amount of express business
that/the books of the local offices
showed for the last year are a
bright indication of the rural business
that is being done in the city
also. Freight receipts are also
heavy for the last year.
One- of the most fitting testimonials
of a city's progressive
spirit is the number of large buildings
and the kempt appearance of
the streets.
Kalamazoo is better
equipped in this respect than any
city of Its size in the country. Indeed,
its metropolitan appearance,
its business district, paving, and all
the other manifested signs of civic
pride have been commented upon
by the press of the country. It is
not only a healthy omen but signifies
growth and communal pride
reflecting on the humblest citizen
and taxpayer.
The city is wonderfully free of
the smoke pest, with which so
many manufacturing communities
are afflicted. This Is largely due
to the plan by which the city was
laid out and to which posterity has
rigidly adhered. All of the industris
are located either in the eastern
or southern part of the city,
and at a considerable dislance
mute evidence of the expansionfit from the business district, The
route Of the railroads in and out
of the city-have largely aided the
maintenance of the plan.
The merchants and propertyowners
in the downtown district
have collaborated In "putting on
a front," which Is maintained the
year round. The shop windows are
given as much attention in the way
of artistry in display and neatness
as the professional decorators of
metropolitan department stores
shower on their creations at the
fall openings. Competition in the
display window and the appearance
of the buildings is unusually
keen and but further proves the
thrift of the Kalamazoo merchant.
A prominent educator of the
east has contributed the statement
that Kalamazoo Is one of the leading
educational centers of the west.
Her place as the foremost instructive
community In the state is however
undisputed.
The city's industries speak for
themselves. The city is the papermill
cente^ of the world and ranks
high in the metal Industry, ^he
Kalamazoo Stove works are known
and advertised from coast to coast.
Sixty per cent of the peppermint of
the world is manufactured here.
There are an aggregate of 20 industries
operating in the city.
Water supply from the Kalamazoo
river is at hand, factory sites and
facilities are naturally provided.
Nature has been provident and indulgent
to the city. Located in a
valley whose fertile land has
brought to the community the fame
derived from the choicest and most
abundant celery In the world, all
the beauty and resources of the
state seem to have been specially
collected and endowed upon the
city destined to come into its
natural , inheritance as the second
city of Michigan.
As a site for state and interstate
conventions, It is not to be equalled.
Not only is it centrally located but
the new state armory on Water
street and Its hotel facilities make
it better fitted to take care of a
convention than any of its neighboring
cities.
The armory has a
seating capacity of 3,000 people,
and at present is being used for
an exhibit hall during the events
of Prosperity week. The city has
22 hotels, four of which are rated
as high class. The city is equipped
with the finest of restaurants in addition
to the hotel cafes. *
All this has been recorded to further
Impress the significance which
Kalamazoo has assumed in the
state and to indicate In some manner
the setting for the exposition
which will be held in the city. Prosperity
week itself is the manifestation
of the spirit and co-operation
among the business men, merchants,
and Industrial heads of the
city.
It has been breathed from
the city which was built on that
co-operative spirit which is the
flesh of "empire" making. Like the
men who fought, toiled and sweated
in the hewing of the first log
cabins that were to make the village
of Kalamazoo; like the champions
of the ideals that were to
later carry the village to the rank
of a city; like the sturdy citizens
of the municipality who saw in
the community what it promises to
be, and strived for that end with
might'and vim", so today, not two
months ago, men of the same call*
ber who perceived that the city was
in need of a stimulant, rolled up
their sleeves and started after a
panacea for the times.
Maybe the co-operative spirit of
the community was wavering that
caused the peremptory tackling of
a proposition that would result in
a fair that is to be conducted on a
scale hitherto unthought of in the
state. At any event these publicspirited
men, actuated by that loyalty
of city which lifts the heart
and burdens the body beyond Imagination,
saw their community in
need of concentration of its units
and decreed Prosperity week.
The preparations for the events
have been completed with painstaking
labor and toll that lasted for
two months. The men in charge
have put their hours, their minds
and hearts into the work. To them
the city Is indebted beyond that
which couid be expressed by mere
W>rds,