Editorial 9.9, September 2007, by Deirdre Helfferich

The Ester Chamber of Commerce
September 12, 2007

The envelope, addressed to the entity above, drew snorts from a couple of us as we looked at the Ester Community Association’s mail. Mindy had saved this particular gem for me; I forget what the writer had wanted, but we agreed that it was a little funny for someone to think that such a tiny community—and one like Ester—had a full-fledged Chamber.

The United States Chamber of Commerce is humongous: it represents more than three million businesses, 3,000 state and local chambers, 830 associations, and more than 90 American Chambers of Commerce outside the US. The US Chamber was established in 1912, and the Alaska Chamber of Commerce in 1953. The mission of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce is “to drive positive change for Alaska's business environment and to improve our member organizations by providing leadership, advocacy, connectivity and support.”

According to Wikipedia, A chamber of commerce, also known as a board of trade, is, essentially, a formalized local business network, formed by business owners in a given area to protect their interests. They are relatively venerable institutions: the first chambers of commerce were founded in 1599 in Europe. Chambers of commerce serve the following purposes:

• Promotion of trade in their own towns or cities
• Support of municipal regulations in interest of business in their regions
• Settlement of disputes between members by means of arbitration
• Collection of information and statistics which may be of use to their members
• Prevention of unnecessary competition by establishing uniform hours, wages, and prices

I confess that I have always been rather suspicious of chambers of commerce. I suspect that part of my bias against such groups is founded in an old, old bigotry against burghers, as in, “a comfortable or complacent member of the middle class; a member of the mercantile class of a medieval European city.” In other words, I have an unseemly prejudice against those who deal in commerce, business, money. This is, of course, utterly silly, seeing as I am a businesswoman myself. Yet, there it is, warty irrationality and all: a deep-seated suspicion of people and organizations out to make money. Let’s face it: “let’s all make a bunch of money” is not exactly a noble cause. However, “let’s help each other make a living and make our community a better place” is. (I suppose the kicker is what one means by “better.”)

What would the Ester Chamber of Commerce look like? Who would it serve? (Aside from the national economic interests of the People’s Republic of Ester, that is—most decidedly NOT a communist nation, no matter what Joe Ryan thought.) Ester may be smallish, but there are quite a few businesspeople, self-employed and employing, within its somewhat stretchy borders. Most of us use money. Still, most people I’ve mentioned this idea to seem to be both intrigued by the possibilities it could offer (strengthening the local economy, group health insurance, bargaining power, etc.), and just a wee bit creeped out by thought of something so, well, normal and, er, organized. It is somewhat the same reaction I see when the topic of incorporating the village comes up. “Y’mean, like government? Uck.” It is as though a chamber of commerce might not really look out for the welfare of the small and local, but take on a life—and a self-interest—of its own.

But, like our community association, the Republic of Ester’s Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have to become stuffy and stray from its basic purpose—which can be about creating and maintaining a resilient local economy—and having a good time doing it. If you’ve been reading my editorials over the years, you know that I am a fierce supporter of local produce and locally manufactured goods. I advocate regularly for buying from independent and local merchants, eating at locally owned restaurants, and so on. One of the most influential books in my life was E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. (It’s a very odd thing that a book on economics, of all things, has turned out to be so full of ideas that serve me as guiding moral principles.) I have, over the years, jumped up and down metaphorically (and sometimes literally) about the value of humane economics, business and finance as if the community and the people living there matter—and this, it seems to me, is what chambers of commerce at their best should be striving for.

And hey, if we can get a laugh out of it, too, so much the better.

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