The age-herald., 1897-11-21
MM-Muor-
A CHAPTER ON GAS
 AND OTHER THINGS
By NED BRACE.

l
 "You young men are too fresh.'' | If there is anything which a young
 man don't like to be called, it is "too | fresh" This is a slang expression. It | means much. It is an unpleasant thing 1 for young man to have said about him.
 It is a mild form of profanity. It is
 abusive. Men have been known to fight
 for having this epithet applied to them. l see from tha local columns of The 1 Age-Heraid that this epithst was ap- i piled by President B. F. Roden of the | gas company to an Age-H Herald reporter.
 It was undsssryed. Mr. Roden applied
 it to the reporter because that reporter, | Nike 40000 other people in Birmingham. | believed that this city is entitl d to dol- 1 lar gas. MT. Roden is a nice old gentle man. I have met him once or twice. I | like him. He has always treated me
 we'll. He never got mad with me- and
 really don't think fle ought to get mad
 with young men who are doing what
 they conceive to be their duty.
 Every man has a. right to his opinions. All have a right to express them. Why
 should not you and I and all of us say what we think? Why should Wa not | talk through the columns of the news | paper? I am like all the other people | in town. I think if any city on the face | of the earth is entitled to cheap gas, it | is Birmingham Birmingham should l really have gas as cheap as 50 cents | thousand. One dollar a thousand, with l coal at less than a dollar, woula1 give l any company enormous profits It is all right for a man to sell what he has for
 sale fer the grsatest profit But peop'e | are fools to allow themselves to be inn l posed upon. I believe in fighting the devil with fire. If the gas company is | ths devil in our midst, I should say fight | it with fire. s..4.. .. | I don't see why the special committee | of the board of aldermen appointed to investigate the gas company. put it's
 meeting off until next Wednesday. Ths SC people know the charges which have | been made against the gas company. They know the company has violated | its contract with the city. They know | that 1t has imposed upon the people and 1 they know that they must take action upon it. Of course the gas company | is going to fight to hold what it has. ThSt is nothing more than natural. Birmingham has an organization l which it strikes me is ill duty bound to | speak out on this subject. I refer to | the Commercial club That club was organized to aid in building up Birming- ham, That club is endeavoring to bring people here. It is the duty of that club | either to uphold the rate which the Bir- | mingham gas company is charging the people of this city for gas, or else to | condemn it. That club has no moral | right to keep silent. That club is com posed of the business msn of this city. | It is supported in the interests of the | city Its duty Is to speak for the city. | Let it speak.
 Birmingham is on the eve of an era of great prosperity. Its natural resourc- es are unequaled on the face of the | earth, yet in endeavoring to bring peo- ple here to establish manufacturing en- terprises and to make this city their homes, the people here must be honest with the people they expect to get here. This is not the time to bunco people.
 The good in B ningham as compared with the bad is as one thousand to one. Yet that one to home seeker stands out conspicuously to the world.
 The contest now going on in Birnding- ham for cheaper gas, IS not the only contest. Thereis one for pure water and cheaper walter. The people are just as determined to have cheaper water as they are to have cheap gas. Thsre is a
 waterworks company as there is gas
 company. The waterworks company has spent probably ten times as much
 as the gas company tn Birmingham. The | water company had to drill through mountains and pump water over hills | to get the waIter into the city. They | give the best water they can find in dhis region. This water is from small river. At some seasons of the year 1t is bad. The people made a demand through the
 Age-Herald, and the water company has promised to put in ffltas which will make the wal CT pure and clear.
 The people made ancther demand through the Age-Hene1d-t they have cheaper water. The WaterWorks com- dehunen complete change of the system of rates. What will be result remains to
 be seen.
 The people of Birmingham only de-
 mand that which is light and just. am glad to see that everything Is
 coming around all right in Birmingha m. With gas reduced to dollar, and the
 water rates equitably adjusted, one can live in Birmingham as cheap as any other
 place in the world, and people will find | this the best point In the whole country | for manufacturing purposes.
 like Birmingham. There are few fussy people here. There are also some very provincial people. But most of the people in Birmingham are live, go-ahead,
 wide-awake, contemplating. hustling citi- zens. They are determined to push ahead You can't keep this class of peo-
 pie down. They are sure 10 push aside
 th@ old fogies who would impose upon them.