CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE IN IMPERIAL COUNTY
By Wayne Compton, Commercial Secretary,
El Centro
In every community there are a certain
number of enterprising, broad-gauged citizens who possess that fine
inherent quality of constructiveness which takes a delight in creating
something good and worth while, and of such are successful chambers of
commerce composed.
Someone has said that "dreamers are the
saviors of the world." The author mighty aptly have added "and the
builders as well." For every progressive man is more or less of a
dreamer. He has visions of greater and better things to come, and these
"visions" are nothing more or less than constructive dreams. Frequently
he is called impractical and no doubt rightly so at times, still many an
impractical dream has turned out to be a wonderful reality. Particularly
has this been true in this fertile Valley, where our bounteous crops and
prosperous cities are ever-present monuments to the men who dared to
dream of an agricultural empire rising from the forbidding sands of the
desert. The story of the wonderful transformation which has taken place
here in less than two decades has been fascinatingly described elsewhere
in this volume, and the writer has no desire to attempt a reiteration,
but so closely has the work of our chambers of commerce been identified
with this transformation that a reference now and then may be
pardonable.
To recite in detail the history of the
various commercial bodies of the Valley would be to chronicle the
history of the Valley itself. From the time the first cluster of tent
houses on the site of the Valley's oldest city began to take on an
appearance of village dignity up to the present day the development of
this great delta region of the Colorado has been the thought uppermost
in the minds of the men who have given so extravagantly of their time in
carrying on the work of the chambers of commerce to the end that there
might be created here, not only cities and thriving rural districts to
be proud of today, but that there might be handed down to posterity an
empire built on the endurable foundation of unblemished social
worthiness.
The career of a chamber of commerce in
a small town is always one of extremes of fortune. Either the chamber is
vigorous, with a balance in the bank, or it is in the dumps and exists
in name only, depending on how recently the process of rejuvenation has
been applied, but once let an organization be formed an it never
entirely dies. True the signs of life may at times be difficult of
detection, but let a matter come up which is vital to the interests of
the community and the resurrection will be prompt and effective. The
reason why a commercial organization never entirely dies is that it is
the only instrumentality through which a community can express its
opinion without laying itself open to the criticism of favoring some
special interest. And so it has been in Imperial Valley. Our
organizations have prospered and become quiescent, functioned
enthusiastically for a time and passed into somnolence, but have never
died, and be it said in all their varied careers, never took a backward
step. So, no matter how soon the enthusiasm of the get-together banquet
wained, the community was the gainer. This state of affairs is bound to
exist until the time comes when the little city outgrows its village
clothes and becomes sufficiently large and important to support a paid
secretary and maintain a creditable headquarters. It takes money to make
the mare go, and this is especially true as respects chambers of
commerce.
On account of the peculiar topography
of the country and what would appear to be an unusually favorable
arrangement in location of the Valley towns, several attempts have been
made to organize on a firm foundation an Imperial Valley Chamber of
Commerce, having as its directors a member selected by the respective
local chambers and for its object the effective co-operation and
co-ordination of all Valley interests. At first glance this would appear
easy of accomplishment and, without argument, the thing to be desired as
a practical proposition. However, it is unworkable, as has been
demonstrated, by the failure of more than one earnest attempt at that
kind of co-operation. The plan is impracticable chiefly for the reason
that Imperial Valley towns, in common with all rapidly growing western
cities, have an intense and pardonable pride in themselves and, inasmuch
as the main office of a Valley chamber can be located at but one place,
the situation has always proven a source of extreme humiliation to the
unfavored communities, regardless of the fact that the office should be
located in the spot most likely to produce the best results for all. The
original Imperial Valley Chamber of Commerce, beset though it was with
difficulties insuperable, did a valuable work for the Valley, as have
its numerous successors, all now passed into the realm of good things
that could not live. Many of the ablest men of the county were, at one
time or another, earnest and enthusiastic workers in the Valley chamber,
and the chamber in its day played a big part in shaping the destinies of
our incomparable Valley, thereby justifying its creation by the test of
good works. The Imperial Valley Chamber of Commerce was finally absorbed
by the office of the county development agent, an office created by the
county board of supervisors and supported by taxation. The first county
development agent was Arthur M. Nelson, who led the first contingent of
Liberty boys to Camp Lewis, American Lake, Washington, where he is at
the present time. Nelson made an efficient publicity agent, and his
going was a decided loss to the Valley. Since his departure the
development agent's office remained unfilled.
Coming now to the chamber of commerce
situation as it exists at the present time, the spring of the year 1918,
we find practically all of the Valley towns with active organizations.
The great war in which the United States is engaged had brought serious
responsibilities to all commercial organizations undreamed of in times
of peace, and the chamber of commerce in Imperial Valley have responded
patriotically to the call. The chambers of commerce of America, taken
collectively, are the national stabilizers, and it can be said that each
individual chamber acts as such for its respective community; certainly
this is true with the Valley chambers. The directorates are composed of
level-headed men, who, when something comes up vital to the welfare of
the community, whether that something originates in the national capital
at Washington or with the local board of city trustees, consider the
matter intelligently and then act with the full knowledge that they are
expressing the sentiment of the people affected. The desires or opinions
of individuals expressed separately have, as a rule, but little force;
express them through the local chamber of commerce and quick action
usually results.
Due to the fact that the great
irrigation canals which furnish the all important water to our ranchers,
reach Imperial County by dropping down into Lower California, Mexico,
together with the fact that the Colorado River, the source of that
water, constitutes the boundary line between California and Arizona, has
made it necessary that this section secure official recognition at
Washington more frequently than any other section of the State, and in
securing this recognition our chambers of commerce have rendered
invaluable assistance. Not only have their co-operation been sought at
Washington, but they have been called upon only recently to take a stand
in regard to certain undesirable conditions which had been created
affecting the moral welfare of the Valley. The response was immediate
and effective, and the saving to the people resulting therefrom was
great indeed, viewed either from a moral or financial standpoint. Remove
the chamber of commerce from the community and you strangle the tap-root
of progress.
While, as has been stated, the chambers
of the Valley are functioning to the best of their ability, only one so
far has reached that stage of opulence permitting the luxury of a
secretary who spends his entire time in the conduct of the chamber's
affairs. El Centro being the largest of the Valley towns, and the
railroad center of the Valley, finally, two years ago, emerged from the
stage of spasmodic reorganizations of her chamber of commerce and
decided to establish an organization with stability and dignity enough
to be a credit to the Valley's metropolis. Accordingly several of the
business and professional men of the city who had made a success in
their various lines, took the matter up, spent their time and money in
raising a sufficient fund to guarantee at least one year of existence,
elected progressive citizens, with Mr. A. L. Richmond, as president, to
direct the affairs of the chamber, engaged Mr. Don C. Bitler, a
newspaper man, as secretary, and launched forth to "do things" for El
Centro. For the first time in the history of any Imperial Valley city
the end of the year saw the chamber financially a "going concern," which
was the source of great satisfaction to the men who had given so
liberally of their time in directing its affairs, and, best of all, the
chamber had become recognized by all, except a few alleged business men
with cobwebs on their merchandise, as an indispensable asset to the
community. At the end of the first year Mr. Richmond retired as
president and Mr. F. B. Fuller, president of the El Centro National Bank
and a pioneer of El Centro, was elected to take his place. Soon after
Mr. Bitler resigned as secretary, returning to the newspaper field, and
Wayne Compton, who had had charge of Imperial Valley's interests at the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915,
and the commercial publicity for all of Southern California at the
Panama-California International Exposition at San Diego in 1916, was
offered the commercial secretaryship. He accepted the offer and still
holds the position.
At the expiration of Mr. Fuller's term
as president, so faithful had he been to the interests of the chamber
that he was unanimously chosen to succeed himself over his very earnest
protest, and so the El Centro Chamber of Commerce enters auspiciously
upon its third year of vigorous activity.
Because of its location, El Centro
(Spanish for "The Center") is naturally the clearinghouse for business
in Imperial Valley, and it naturally follows thatm while the chamber of
commerce, strictly speaking, is an El Centro institution and supported
by El Centro money, it is the fountain head for Valley information.
Faithfully and regularly its eleven directors meet every Thursday night,
and the amount of important business handled at these meetings is a
revelation to anyone who has never sat through a meeting. Space does not
permit a recitation of the big things this organization has done and is
doing for El Centro and the Valley.
The El Centro Chamber of Commerce has
already become recognized as one of the most active and important in the
West, and its usefulness has just begun. With the rapid development of
the Valley and consequent growth of El Centro, accelerated as it will be
by the coming of another railroad, now building, will in the next decade
take its place among the leading organizations of its kind in America.