The age-herald., 1898-10-18
City Man Against It
itnr of thn Ace-Herald A

To the Editor of the Age-Herald:
 The question of territorial expansion for Birmingham is one which should be most carefully considered by the people, in a spirit of equity and fairness to all interests.
 It will not do for the city council to de- termine the matter purely from the stand- point of the interest of the present corpor- ation, or according to the views of few individuals whose opinions are liable to be
 biased by their own personal interests
 The arguments urged by the advocates of
 expansion have been plausibly put, and are
 no doubt beautiful in theory, but they are
 not unmixed with the spirit that animated
 the old "Boomtown'' spectators who built
 grand and beautiful cities on maps and in
 newspapers. The idea that the city can in
 the twinkling of an eye, and by "a simple
 twist of the wrist annex twelve or fifteen
 square miles of additional territory, largely
 uninhabited and thus magnify itself into
 a metropolitan city, Is to my mind absurd.
 If we could, by so simple process, con
 vince the outside world that the material
 advantages we offer are superior to those
 of any other locality, and thereby build up
 the vast area sought to be covered by the
 proposed expansion with new and prosper
 ous industrial and manufacturing enter
 prises which, with their pay rolls, would
 furnish support for an additional popula-
 tion, then I should freely admit that the
 temporary hardship imposed upon the own CTS of annexed territory would be compen- sated by the reasonable prospect of future gain. But would this result follow? Sup pose the census of 1900 could be made to
 show that the city has a population of 1O0,O 900 people, Does any thinking man be- lieve that this simple fact would induce capitalists to run over each other to invest
 their money in Greater Birmngham? l think not Those gentlemen who have had their shoulder at the wheel and have spent large amount of time and money in constant effort to increase the pay rolls of the district by the location of new indus tries, will bear me out in the statement that something more than sentimental ar guments must be used. People whom we have sought to interest have not asked: "What is the area of the corporation linn its?' or What is the population of Bir- mingham?" But they have almost invaria- bly, askdd for the proverbial Forty acres and-a mue' in the shape of a cash bonus after becoming convinced that our induce ments in the line of superior natural ad- vantages are well founded. So, I argue that the proposed expansion cannot be the means of planting one single new industry in the Birmingham district. On the contra ry it will be the means of keeping out those that would otherwise come, if it be not provided in the new charter that all new industries shall be exempt from city
 taxation. If this should be done those al-
 ready here would of course clamor for
 like exemption and the chances are that
 the whole scheme of exemption from city
 taxation would be declared unconstitu-
 tional.
 The argument is urged that improvements
 such as sewers, police and fire protection,
 etc., would come to the annexed districts.
 It is admitted that these benefits could not reasonably be expected "all at once,' but
 that they will surely come, .in the course
 of time,' is freely promised. Let the cti-
 zens who were annexed in 1892 have an op-
 portunity to say whether in the six years
 during which they have contributed to
 municipal taxation they have to any ma ! terial extent begun to enjoy these much talked of benefits. Ask the residents of the l South Highlands how often they see po- | liceman; whether they consider their prop i erty adequately protected from fire; how | often their premises are visited by the l garbage carts, and whenever they think | their strets are we'll cared for More than two Tears ago the city was offered, pract | cally free of rent for ten years all the land
 necessary for fire department building, and the citizens of the South Highlands
 stood ready to contribute the money re-
 quired for a suitable building to accommo-
 date fire engine and horses, and four fire ta ,aIfo But the city was not able to maintain the | extra force, and the plan fell through. To my certain knowledge the garbage con- | tractors, who are paid something like $7O0O | annually by the city, have not had a cart
 at Twelfth avenue and Sixteenth street. | south, oftener than once a mont within | the past three years, and the garbage ac- | cumulated there has been burned or buried as a menace to the health of the neighbor- | hood
 | I am not kicker, and I do not agree | with some who argue that the way to make a metropolitan city is to keep up a row | amongst ourselves in order to stimulate progress, but believing as l do that there is danger 10 the future Greater Birming- ham, in the proposed expansion of the city at the present time, I feel warranted in calling attention to unpleasant conditions l now existing.
 As to the argument that cooperation is
 the panacea for all the ills of the half dozen or more small, struggling towns and villages without credit, is it a reasonable proposition to say that Birmingham could, by absorbing these towns and villages, im- prove her chances for raising money "without adequate credit?"
 Would the consolidation of a dozen or more small commercial concerns, heavily in debt and without credit, result in the creation of one large, sound. solvent insti- tuition? Certainly not.
 The idea that the extension of the city limits would, to any extent, increase the value of the land so incorporated is fal-