The age-herald., 1898-03-17
MHTT MINOR ON
 GREATER BIRMINGHAM

| Ing what may De termed the BlfminRlam
 district A few days ago I made my
 initial trip up and down the valley on either
 side of the North and South Highlands. | The inexhaustible wealth of the Brming-
 ham district may be regarded as marvel
 ous. The topography of the city makes it an ideal site for a great city With the | high elevations upon either side of the valley makes it a beautiful place for resi- dences, while in the valley proper is an ] ideal place for business. Ample room for
 the largest manufactories in the world and | the most of them.
 Nature has been kind in the extreme to l those who people the district. With the
 heat that prevails in this section in the
 summer, life would be much harder to
 bear weEe it not for the fact that upon the Highlands the weary toilers may sleep
 with comfort after their days labor and | be refreshed and reinYigorated for the
 task of the morrow. The south wind fam
 ming the Highlands at night brings com
 fort to those who suffer from heat in the
 valley during the day. Another evidence
 that Providence favors the district with in- ] comparable generosity. I must confess 1 that I was very much Surprised at the
 
 had been told of it thousands and thous- | ands of times, but the recital of it's great
 ness did not impress me at all as compared with the sight of 1t.
 l With all that nature has done for Bir- | mingham and the surrounding district | there seems to be something radically | wrong What it is I do not know, but | hundreds of reasons have been assigned i why Birmingham is not larger and greater | than it is. Birmingham, as I understand | it, is in the neiehborhood of twenty-five years old. It came into existence at time l when the greatest era of progress that has | ever blessed this country began. Within
 those twenty-five years the republic has
 almost doubled its population. Thousands and thousands more miles of railroads 1 have been constructed. The great iHven- tions of the age have been made useful. | Progress and development have been the
 watch words of every hour. Onward and
 upward have the American people so | progressed in the last quarter of a century
 that their energy, intelligence, ambition
 and greatness have in fact startled the world
 l Birmingham should today have a popula- | ton of a. quarter of million of people. | With it's unequalled resources it should be | the largest city in the south. It should
 have more diversities of industries than any other city in this country It should | possess as much wealth as Pittsburg. It | should have some of the finest buildings | in the United States. It should have every | thing and much more than any other city in, has What has kent Bir-
 mingham back is a question often asked, and as often as asked some one has an | answer for it. Some assert that dictatorial | and unwise management upon the part of | certain gigantic corporations which con- | trolled the destiny of the young city in its infancy Birmingham has thousands of | people as it's citizens who have earnestly worked and are still working to make the | city what they believe it ought to be- | There are others, however, who manifest | desire to tear down what other men have | built up.
 | What Birmingham most needs among its l people is a unanimity of sentiment, de- | sire of purpose and concert of action. Bir- mingham should not only be made great | city, but it should be the model city of the
  vantages than has Birmingham. From
 sanitary point of view, 1t is unequalled The natural drainage of this city is superb It's streets should be the easiest to keep
 clean and at the least cost. Modern methods of municipal government is of great value to any city, and especially i this.
 Many people say the city government | was bsliCy managed in its infancy, that reclo,esenees i'm the expenditure of public | funds was shameful, that lack of experf- l ence then was 8 conspicuous feature In | thpes walo controlled the c.ty's present and | future the result being the municipality l was plunged heavily in debt. Far beyond l its pciger to pay. A want of constotutiocaa | authority ito levy taxes upon that should | bear it resulted in making general taxa | ton offensive. The question of licensing rersons engaged in mercantile business and 1 tfpat class of commeroe has no place in the progress of tine age. That belongs to 1 the past. All other cities of the world | have loag since abolished that method of ! taxation. Property must be made to bear | it's share of duty to the state. In Birming l hahn there is too much representation aTlf l too lihtle taxation of the proper kind. | What Birmingham needs most is the un- doing of many things that have been badly | dome and dlhe doing of many things that | were not properly done. The voters of the | state of Alabama will be doing to grant the | an injustice wftsn they refuse to grant the | state the right of constitutional con- vention. The city is blessed with fine | public school buildings, but has little,
 if any, money for public school pur-
 poses The bonded debt of the city of Bir- l ming'lgam is net great when compared with | the indebtedness of Nike municipalities. l The great trouble lies in the city not nav | ing constitutional authority to levy taxes | on the property most capable of paying 1 taxes.
 | It Is true Birmingham is young, but it is | old enough to hErve had a much more pro- l gressdve career than 1t has. There is noth- | ing that contributes more to the prosperity and progress of a city tran first-class