346 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



the interests of each. It includes both business and social activities 

 of life, and gives vent and direction to the urban and suburban 

 energies of the town and the farm. 



With this range of thought clearly before them, the members 

 of the Trenton Commercial Club agreed to inaugurate a new cam- 

 paign for membership. The new commercial club was to contain 

 not only the citizens of the town of Trenton, but also the farmers 

 who resided within the circumference of the sphere of common 

 welfare ; within those bonds "The Trenton Idea" was to operate. 



This campaign for membership was unique and decidedly suc- 

 cessful. With a previous membership of only 50 members, all of 

 whom were residents of the city of Trenton, the organization grew 

 to nearly 500 citizens of the greater city of Trenton. The total 

 membership was about half farmers, scattered in every direction 

 within radii of twenty miles of the center of the idea. Thus could 

 it truly be said that according to "The Trenton Idea " that Trenton 

 has a population of 20,000 instead of 6,000. The organization, fully 

 representing the territory in which it thrives, became a chamber 

 of agriculture and commerce. A new campaign now in progress 

 promises to increase the actual paid-in-advance membership to 

 1,000, two-thirds farmers. 



In the terms of the definition, a Trentonite is a man who lives 

 within this zone of common interests, whether he walks six blocks 

 or drives six miles. He is a citizen of Trenton and an exponent of 

 "The Trenton Idea" in actual life. In other words, the interests of 

 all the citizens are identical. What is good for the citizen six 

 blocks from the courthouse is good for the citizen six miles from 

 that point. A citizen who raises eighty bushels of corn per acre 

 ten miles from the courthouse has identical interest with the man 

 who raises enough tomatoes on three vines on a twenty-foot-square 

 garden in town to serve his family during the season. The work- 

 man in the factory in the old corporate limits has equal concern 

 with the poultry-yard enthusiast on the farm who is making Grand 

 River Valley famous in the production and distribution of the Mis- 

 souri hen. 



Back of and still deeper than the commercial and financial 

 features involved in this proposition lies the better part of "The 

 Trenton Idea," to be found in its practical application to the social 

 side of life. Remarkable results have already been accomplished 

 in that particular during the last twelve months. The old sus- 

 picion which the farmer unconsciously entertained toward his fel- 

 low citizen in the city, and the similar feeling which the townsman 



