POPULARIZING A LOCALITY'S PRODUCTS.
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The Travelling Exhibition—a Development in the Use of Motor Vehicles that Agents Might Consider With Advantage.
By " Vim."
OOKING through some newspaper cuttings the
Lother day, I came across two which set going a train of thought and resulted in this article. One cutting described a tour which was being carried out in (I think) Spain by a motorcar laden with
British goods, in order to popularize abroad the manufactures of certain British firms who were financing the trip. The other cutting gave a report of a meeting of a local town council, at which some of the councillors strongly supported a suggestion that efforts should be made to let the rest of Great 'Britain know that their town can produce, and does produce, not only the particular type of chairs identified with it for generations past, but all kinds of furniture of the highest class.
Now, High Wycembe is not the only district in this country that has a special industry of its own, in which its pride, wealth, and aspirations are centred. Lace. cider, boots, wood-working, printing, bicycles, torsets, pottery, cutlery—all these and many other industries have one or several shrines dedicated more or less exclusively to some craft. The factories, or the families—for many of these local industries are carried on chiefly by home-workers—may be competitors amongst themselves, but they unite in main taming that their town or village, and theirs alone, produces the best goods of the kind for which it is famous. The quality of patriotism has many dimensions. In its smallest size it embraces no greater area, than the individual's own hearthstone, but at a word it will expand to include all that little community in which he lives : at two words it will grow big enough to cover the whole of his country, and it is hardly to be doubted that if the need arose it would swell until it took in the whole of the white race. That is why a district which has specialized in a Product is always ready to unite in supporting the claim that it is the one place where that product ean be obtained in its perfect form.
Letting the Country Know What the Country Produces.
And that, too, is the reason why. I think that it might be possible to do something in this country with travelling exhibitions for local industries.
It is highly desirable that our export trade should be encouraged, but no less important that, as a nation, we should buy from ourselves such of the articles we consume as can be made by us. It. is Obviously wasteful to export Some of them, and then to buy exactly similar articles from abroad ; yet that ds being done every day, just because nine-tenths of this country does not know what the other tenth is producing. The things that should he exported are those which we do not require, and to that end let every possible endeavour be exerted, but don't let .is lose sight of the fact that internal commerce needs every bit as much stimulating as external commerce. This point is apt to be overlooked in these days of scare-hatched schemes for creating employment.
Our travelling exhibitions would have to be specially designed vehicles ; that is to say, specially designed bodies, for standard chassis would probably be quite suitable ; and since speed would be unimportant, they would be made up of a leading car and trailers. Preferably, the towing vehicle would carry a well-fitted office for the officials in charge of the exhibition, where buyers would he entertained, and sleeping accommodation for the same officials and the driver. The office portion should be furnished with comfortable seats, so that when necessary the trailers could be stationed at temporary headquarters and the motor sent around the neighbourhood to pick up notabilities and buyers. In the construction of the trailers there would be room for considerable ingenuity on the part of the body-bailder. Much would, of course, depend on whether the exhibition train was to be • for the exclusive us 6 of any one industry, or was to be adaptable for exhibiting practically any class of goods of a portable description. In general, they would probably be constructed so that the sides and ends could -be opened out to form a miniature hall, with the trailers proper in the centre. The available space could easily be augmented by joining a small_ marquee to the trailers, the marquee, when folded up, being carried on the top of one of the vehicles.
The Potential Buyers of Vehicles.
Who would be likely to buy or hire a travelling exhibition outfit of this sort? Local chatabers of commerce would, I think ; and where no such useful institutions exist, then combinations of the chief men interested in promoting the industries of each All business men are beginning to see that trade will not revive without stimulus, and the value of this scheme, which would bring their products directly before buyers, would certainty appeal to them. In some cases it would pay them ta buy a travelling exhibition outright, and to keep it running constantly in their service ; in other cases, as, for instance, with strictly seasonal trades, it might only be worth, their while to hire one for a few months.
Without going deftly into figures, the cost of a motor office-caravan, one trailer and a portable marquee would be somewhere round -about -2,500 (the actual cost would, it is understood, vary with the elaborateness of the affair); this sum, split up amongst ten participants in the scheme, represents but £250 capital outlay apiece, if they had to find all of the money, but some of it could undoubtedly be raised by public subscription. The cost of running the travelling exhibition could scarcely exceed another £2,500, including 2600 a year for the exhibition manager, driver's wages, and the salary of a junior clerk-typist. This, again split up amongst ten, would mean only ge a week each, which is a negligible amount to :spend for so first-rate a business-getting advertisement. The effect of the publicity obtained would be most durable and profitable.
The Stimulation of Internal Commerce.
A number of British business men are to finance the building of a special steamer, which will be a floating exhibition for their goods and will call at foreign ports the world over. The cost will be colossal, but it is said that the moment the scheme was propounded applications for shares in the venture flowed in, and that the requisite finance has already been secured. This may be true or not ; I expect it is, for the idea is a grand one ; but it certainly shows that travelling exhibitions are wanted. And if they are wanted to revive our foreign trade, then I say that they are also wanted to stimulate our internal commerce and to promote interest in local products.