The age-herald., 1898-11-13
THE GREAT CITY
 AND HOW TO BUILD IT
Lucien Julien Walker 1ndu1geS in CauStic and Wise Sayings
 About Birmingham.

There have been nine men who have la bored with the single purpose of upbuilding Birmingham.
 There have been nine hundred men who haven't appeared to care much about it, and who have joined the procession re- luctantly, or stood by the wayside and watched the bandwagon pass.
 There have been nine hero leaders, and nine hundred who were laggards to a greater or less degree, unmindfui of the unspeakable benefits of unity of action.
 There have been nine citizens who blazed the way to greatness, and one hundred times that many who have been openly jealous or clandestinely reluctant.
 There have been nine valiant and devoted sons struggling for the material advance ment of the city whilst a whole regiment have slumbered in the low green valley of supineness. needing not the enorts to capture the fortress upon the hilltop or material advancement.
 There are a few men in Birmingham, very few, who have responded With aiac- rity to every call for progressive work, who have toiled to plant the standard ol progress high up the side Of that steep whence fames grand temple shines afar But they have not been adequately sup ported. Often they have been left to their fate, and more than once they nave been driven back disastrously.
 There are men of money in Birmingham today who would not give ten dollars each to secure a steel plant within a mile or ten miles of the county court house They have got their own little 'wad, and ac- count themselves lucky enough. There Is amongst them one, at least, who wouldn't give ten cents of his own money to plant paradise in Capitol park, because he owns no property overlooking that particular spot in this municipal domain. There is no need to mention names. This public knows its conspicuous men.
 The time came long ago for Birmingham to get together. Spasmodic efforts in that direction have been made, but no real, sincere, honest purpose has asserted itself, except on the part of the honored nine those public-spirited ones who have kept their lamps trimmed and a-burning, and sought as best they might their way to the summit upon which the golden glow of general prosperity beats ceaselessly.
 The time came long ago when, if the nine hundred had caught step with the nine and marched to the rounded music of the anthem of material things, Birmng- ham would now have had twice the pres ent population and degree of prosperity thrice greater than that which now pulses through the throbbing arteries of our trade.
 Birmingham is at the parting of the ways Wonder lies the way to the valley
  way to the temple upon the hill, bright. glistening in the noontide of splendid de- velopment. The nine and the nine hundred must choose the one way or the other There is no standing still. The world hur- ries It never pause. It rests not at all
 The momentum of the passing world has -sarced us beyond the rocky entrance to the rocRyraad so easy to travel, yet so hard Il is for business men Iosay whNtner thls community shall halt and turn aside, as ax,I t.,rn nad ida
 It Is time to get together. It has been so any day these ten years. But now the call s imperative. The cry will not down. High and low, great and small, must join hands in the supreme effort to place Bir- mingham where 1t ought to have been dozen years ago. Selfishness and stingt- ness and cowardice, jealousy and the spirit of pickering must give place to unity or action, to oneness of purpose, the upbuild- ing of Birmingham.
 Much has been done, but more remains to be accomplished. A great steel mill is being built; gigantic wire mill Is as- sured; other things are under way. But they are not enough. They are single plants springing up in the garden of great ness
 The nine hundred must take up the high purpose of the nine. The outside world does much for Birmingham, but Birmingham does absurdly little for herself. This has been the misfortune of the town. It waited for others to do the work that lay ready at its own hands. It shivered over the fading embers of self-satisfaction, while the fires blazed cheerfully in the camp of material development hard by.
 Let the nine hundred of Birmingham em- ulate the mighty nine and come together for a strong pull, a steady pull, and a pull altogether. Every man cannot be a leader, out let him come as nearly to that stand ard as he may. If he have a superior, let him acknowledge that superior and fall into line. It is not given to all men to play the part of the local Duke of Bir- mingham, so dear to the memory of those