Glens Falls in 1919 — Chamber of Commerce drive

The Glens Falls Chamber of Commerce brought in a college football coach and newly elected congressman to kick off its 1919 membership drive.

U.S. Rep. Daniel A. Reed, a Republican from Chatauqua County, offered timeless advice that still resonates a century later.

“With your beautiful city and lovely country surrounding and being the gateway to the Adirondacks, you have something you should tell the world about and let them come to see,” he said, according to an Oct. 31, 1919 report in The Post-Star.

Reed, a lawyer and former chamber executive, played football at Cornell University and coached the Cincinnati Bear Cats, Penn State Nittany Lions and Cornell Big Red.

He was elected to Congress in 1918 and went on to serve 20 terms in the House until his death of a heart attack in 1959.

Reed wasn’t in Glens Falls to talk politics.

He was there to tout the benefits of chamber membership and the merits of increased teacher salaries.

Reed said the cooperative spirit of the Chamber of Commerce dates back to the tradition of ancient Greece.

“With this beautiful city of yours, you ought to accomplish a great deal. But you have never invested as you ought to in your organization and the members have never backed the board of directors as they should. You have never played fair with your city,” Reed told “a large audience” at Parish Hall.

“You are rich per capita with most cities, but you have never invested anything to speak of in the up-building of your city,” he continued.

Reed said big businesses and banks “should support the chamber more liberally,” and that all businesses should join the organization.

Reed suggested a campaign to recruit farmers as chamber members.

The Chamber of Commerce membership drive also received a boost from a Post-Star editorial.

“The Chamber of Commerce has done much for Glens Falls and the surrounding county during the (fiscal) year just closed. It can do more, the extend of which is measured only by the number of men and dollars available,” The Post-Star editorialized on Oct. 13, 1919.

“Every man in this city who would see Glens Falls a bigger and better city, would have the scope of Chamber of Commerce services much wider, should during the coming year join the organization.”