Document text
President of Barre Chamber of Coerce
"I'm not in a position to sneak too liberally siply
because I feel like an outsider. You see I'm frau the South,
I've only been in Barre for three years. To be perfectly
truthful when I left the South to come here I had the toe
press ion that I was coning to a very frigid and indifferent
people, Dut I can also say just as strongly I was nevermore
surmised nor nore pleased since comLng here to Larre. I
found the people very sociable, end easy to get acquainted
with. I have never recretted coning here to Darre.
Comparison of the 7orth and the South!? Well, that's a
pretty general question. s for a 'feeling' existing between
the two I will say this. That in some of the rural sections
in the .oputh there is no question but what they Lre still
fighting the Civil iar• hut in your larger co Immities, there
is no indication whatsoever of any strained feelinr still
existing. Yeelative to livinr conditions here and in the South,
there is a very great difference as you no doubt know. fhe
were scale is 77,1ch hirer here than it is doen tere, but
this is offset of course by the cost of comnodities. Take
for instuee klorida. how In speaking of resiCent people.
This doesn't hold true for the tourists. They can be seen
coming a mile off, a -C It's written all over their faces.
_4aturally they pay. Hut in the case of your residents, they
pay so little for foodstuffc ce-ld clothing that it just abcfut
balances the scale. I elvf I can buy an overcoat which will
last no for three or four years without s7:4>vinc much wear,
19833
2
naturally because you would wear one so seldom down there.
Up here the sane overcoat would last but half the same tine.
It's the sane story in the upkeep of your home. You can heat
yourself down there for about sixteen dollars a year. But
here your larger income is eaten into by the cost of heating
expenses.
Disease. Although both places are naturally afflicted,
I really think that there is less ill health in the South.
Of course, there is much nalaria and Tape Worm disease down
there. Dut that is all dile to the carelessness of the people
themselves. There is that certain class of people that just
cannot be educated to the care and prevention of these var—
ious diseases. And they just don't seem to care They're
listless and irresponsible. cl.w you take a higher class of
people and they could live in the very sane -Astricts and
never become diseased. hut aside from that, I think that
there is. more sicknesn trn here. head colds, nose and throat
trouble, and mastoids. Down there those things are never
heard of. Of course it can be attributed to the climate.
With our sudden chalges in temperature, dampness, and so
forth this is only natural.
Dut looking at i')arre economically,. I don't think that
it can be beat. Atli the business that granite brins to
Darre in addition to its awn thriving possibilities there
is no question that Parre is a town with untold opportunities..
Of course there are improvements to be made, and changes are
being made everyday to meet with competition that is always
cropping up. I would say that in the last few years that
liarre has made wonderful progress towards promoting itself
in the granite world. The memorials that are put out here
cannot be equalled in craftemanship or quality. It's worth
anybody's time just to visit one of the cemetery's around
Barre and really see the works of art that non have produced
Pram a lifeless slab of granite. And as for the manufacturers
who put out tese. .emorials I would say without hesitation
that they L,re experts in their line. lhere is no. one who
can beat them. They are absolutely tops in their orofessionS
Looking at Barre fro- a social point of view, I don't
t, ink that it differs fm..7 any other town. You have your
different classes of Tmonle v! -.Jo have teir own way of enjoy-
ing themselves. You'll find your men who like fishing, on
who in joy following the ball team, young folks who are int-
erested in athletics, dancing, winter sports, and so forth.
hut aside from a social noint of view, I would not say that
Barre was a typical Vermont town. Simply because it hasn't
that conservatism which you will find in your Vermont towns.
I really,CAnk that Larre is alive and anxious to promote
itself. And then too, when times are good, you will find a
higher wage scale bee, a-ld naturally the people al,e able
to enjoy t,enseives nore freely and without worry.
hut of course Barre owes its existence to granite and
if you take granite away from here there would be 7ractically
nothing. I think that the young man starting in granite to-
day feels that there is a wonderful future ahead oflAba.
They realize lust how much these new suction devises mean
to the business and they feel that there is a future in granite,
which there certainly is. I honestly believe that those
suction devises are the greatest improvement that has come
into granite since its origination, that is, speaking from
a health viewpoint.
About the hotel business. There are many interesting
angles to it which many people are not conscious of. I:ow a
town does not realize how important a hotel is to it. A hotel
is really an institution in a community, For every person
coning into the house there is money enring into Barre. If
n\ we take in so much fro 7n certain person, some store, or
amsement place will take in almost dodble. Take the case
when people visit LarTe here to see its granite quarries.
If they stay for two days, then they're going to be buying
various incidentals such as cirarettes, tooth paste, candy,
cosmetics, and so forth. Tnis all adds Up. And it means
bringing new money into nerve. And if you didn't have a suit-
clale house for these ruests you would have then stopping off
at some other town and thpt extra money which Tumid be coming
into erre would be oirr into f.ome other community. -ales-
non coming here may s13end from eiC_Irt to fifteen dollLrs a
day. ne nay net one fifth of that and the other four.fifth:
is going into the connuntity. And then you take all the sun-
-Ales that h otels needs. ilhere is P-frod„ furniture, f.).,e1,
varlcus utensils which are needed in the upkeep of the house.
All these aro bought in the comrunity, all of mr7ch goes to
snow that the money etich vie take in is turned over to the
town. Then there is yur help. e employ quite a fey 2eople
to work in this ouse and thetre all local help. And they
are employed the year around. You see this force cannot be
changed at any time during the year because it is necessary
for us to maintain a rigid service regardless of yhether
ther is one person staying in the house or whether there are
a hundred. And then too, we never do know when we are going
to have a house filled to ccoacity. We mast always be pre-
pared for that.
Of course this all reverts back to granite. 'lake granite
out of Barre and it would be like taking the Capitol out of
Montpelier. Just as the Capitol City requires a large per-
centage of its population to work in it, so do the granite
sheds here in Barre reuire a large percentage of local help.
And that brings 1173 a point regarding strikes. If you
want to know just how a community is affected by a strike
just look at that graph Ivo there on the wall. Where you see
that large decline was the result of the last strike. This
is what happens when ther, is a strike. Your tourist trade
begins to fall, although it is not affected too -1.beatly.
Salesmen who would ordinarily be coming here star) coming
entirely because there's no business and naturally no reason
for ther, to come. People stop buying except for bare necess-
ities and gradually there is a standstill. That's why strikes
arc dreaded so much because it will set a community back for
some time to come.
As for the future of Barre I really think that there
are wonderful op-f)orturities„ especially for the younger
people. Of course with competition becoming keener each year,
it becomes necefaary for various industries to become more
6
alert and alive with their production. A fellow must keep
just one Jump ahead of his competitor, and he must be aware
of his competitor's next move. That's what makes business
function. That is why Barre is going to the front!