The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-29
Birmingham and Its Wonderful Ad-
vaneement When Joseph Cham
berlain Was Mayor.
His Agency in the Purchase Of the
Gas and Water Com
panies.
The improvement Scheme and the Drain
age and Sewage Systems Overhauled
The Cost and the Profits.

his name and enterprise with the city new
birth. It is only measurably fair to do this
but certainly he deserves great credit
for many important reforms and
accomplishments. His appearance
in public life in Birmingham, some
time before he was mayor, was the occasion
for the awakening of the best men OF the
town to an interest in the local govern
ment, The tavern coterie, that had taken
too forward part before that, now lost its
influence. This was in 1871; Mr.. Chamber
lain, then in business as a manufacturer
of wood screws, entered public life
unostentatiously, but was soon elected
mayor, and served three terms in that Office.
Under his bold and able administration the
water works and gas works were made pub
lie property. the health department was
more than modernized, and the improve
ment scheme, which will be explained fur
Their on was instituted. But first as to the
gas experiment. Birmingham is the home
of the invention of gas lighting, but the
town did not adopt the system until 1917,
after London had done SO. In time two
companies came to supply the city. 1t was
in 1874 that Mayor Chamberlain moved the
purchase of those corporations. The tax
payers voted for the scheme in the same
year, and the necessary parliamentary stat
ute was enacted in July, 1875. In the
same year the check of the then borough
of Birmingham, drawn for s45o,OOO
(S2,25O,0OO), was paid to the BIZ
for rs Property aba
9103,S45 (S519,2 was paid to the Stafford
shire company for its interests. The sys-
temiZation of the new undertaking was
more or less complicated and costly, but all
that is necessary to be stated here is that,
as result, the price of gas has been ma
il,,r a61,ap1 tn fbp tim of the
city and its citizens, and the investment re-
turns an annual profit of more than$15OO 900.
The price of the commodity i'll 1870 was
three shillings to three and half shillings
per thousand feet, but in 1854 it had been
reduced to two shillings and one penny and
two shillines and tivepence per thousand
feet. Five per cent discount is allowed for
prompt payment. The officials claim to
have shown by an exceptional llluml-
nation near the main public build
eings that gas, used at it's full strength,
is capable of competing with the
electric light. Their demonstration would
not satisfy resident of an archaeological
American city, however. 1t must be re-
membered that Birmingham has the natur-
al pride of the birthplace of gas lighting,
and that the corporation is the owner Of its
gas plant, so that it is not an unbiased
Judge of the comparative qualities of the
two systems of lighting
For more than thirty years the public
ownership of the water supply of the city
had been proposed and held in allegiance.
In 1874 Mayor Chamberlain moved the trans
fer by agreement. or the compulsory pur-
chase, of the water-works, then in private
hands. Both town and council were con-
WINGED by his arguments. and voted accord
ingly. During the discussion Mr.. Chamber
lain urged that whereas there should be a
profit on the gas undertaking, there should
be none on that of the water supply, as all
profit should go toward reduction of the
price. The water company fought hard
against having to sell out for their proper
ty was of great and increasing value.
Before the house of commons. in the argu-
bitter, Tut was won by the high-minded
policy of Mr.. Chamberlain, i'll arguing that
the city's only profit should be in the health
of its people. The bill received the royal
assent on August 2, 1875. The dicker over
the sale was a close one, but it was finally
agreed to give the water company E5f, 491
annually. The town council at once as
sumed control of the works, and has con-
tinually enlarged and improved the plant.
The profits. which are handsome, are APP
piled to the improvement of the supply and
the reduction of the cost to the consum-
ers. Up to 1884 the annual reduction in
water rents had amounted to 425.S34.
The improvement scheme undertaken by
the city under Mr.. Chamberlain and the
town council of 1875 will long be pointed to
as one of the most stupendous. courageous
and wise acts .---r performed by a munich
pality. Taking advantage of an imperial
statute called 1.-THE Artisans Dwelling Act
giving large towns and cities the right to
improve unhealthy areas, the council I'M
proved several highways. and finally bought
up a great tract OF Sums and narrow pas
sages in the heart of the city, and there laid
out that now beautiful avenue called Cor
poration street. which is one of the hand
soonest streets to be seen in any city in any
part of the globe. The squalor and crowd
ing had been fearful, and the death rate
outrageous; vice. crime. poverty and drunk
enness tiourished there, and the saloon
durable lives. A loan of 81 100000
was obtained at three and half per
cent for thirty years, the property
was purchased. the great street, % yards
wide, was laid out, and the area was re-
built on leases running IS years. Super
cost, and designs of the new buildings,
with the result that in the principal street
at least all are stately, substantial, and
even elegant. OF course at the end OF the
leases they will become the property of the
city. This said Mr.. Chamberlain will
make this the richest borough in the king
dom 60 or 20 years hence. 1t is the only oc-
casion for which [ wish to live beyond the
ordinary term of human life, in order to
see the result of this improvement, and
hear the blessings WHICH viii lIeH DC SHOW
cred upon the council of 1875, which had
the courage to inaugurate this scheme"
But the stranger sees the result now. and,
if he will. he may read it III the sanitary re-
ports, which show that the death rate IS to-
day less than one-half what 1t was before
the renovation was made.
Again. under Mayor Chamberlain, in 1876,
the drainage and sewage systems were over
hauled. union was formed with the towns
close around Birmingham, under board in
which the city elects twelve out of twenty
two members. The united district conf
prlses A, 215 acres, and an aggregate popu-
lation of Cos, 594 souls. Here had been
more or less compact population served by
nature with only a little river, the Tame.
and mainly putting UP with old-fashloned
methods and conditions. To-day what has
/ been done Is pointed to as the best solution
OF the sewage problem in England. The
drainage board now manages so-called farm
OF !. 200 acres IN the Tame valley. The sew
age IS conveyed thither through an eight-foot
conduit, and Is passed through the land by
an extensive system, of filtration by grayitH
after which the efauent reaches the Tame
river near by in the condition of perfectly
pure water. The sludge remaining after
the disposal of the fluid is dug into the
land. The cost of the farm and appurten-
ances was about e49o, 000 and roughly speak
ing, it costs e5i .21s year to operate it. But
the meat. milk and vegetables grown on
the farm and sold from it realize c25 600
1t is insisted that in time the system will
yield enough to pay its cost
In dealing with the problem the autbori-
ties separate the night-snil and ashes from
Se-yaya The rsscbt.coil Sc on,trxpo1