The age-herald., 1900-01-02
THF GREAT GROWTH OF
 ALABAMA'S METROPOLIS
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
 Birmingham, Ala, December S0.-When the census enumerator comes to Birmlng- ham next year and collects for the gov- ernrnent the facts and figures required to make up the exhibit of the city's develop ment in ten years he will secure some in- disputable material, a surprising array of figures to show the increase of population and the growth of industrial activity, but there will be much about Birmingham that cannot be properly included in a census. What is more important and satisfactory
 to the citizens of the place and to the neghborhood is that the exhibit that must be made of this now healthily busy town is that 1t will illustrate condition in one city of the south that is bound to become d commoner condition all over that section of the country.
 Ensley City, about which your eorre- spondent has given some information, and
 which he has spoken of as Show" city, is not enjoying monopoly of the prosper- ty in which the Birmingham district is sharing without too much proclamatio9 of the fact, a prosperity that will, it is be- lieved. last as long as there is any demand for iron manufactured at prices with which Alabama is convinced none of her rivals can compete. The city of Birmingham had in 1880 a population of 2,OOO. The census taken in 1soO will find in and near Brming
 ham something like 100000 people. With in tho incorporated limits of the city there are now something like 45.OO0 inhabitants. Avondale, one of the suburbs, has 1000 in- habitants. East Lake, an unincorporated suburb, boasts of 40OO population. Wood lawn, also unincorporated, has a popula- tion of 3,5O0 East and North Birmingham, with 2,000 population, are unincorporated, like Elyton Smithfeld, West End, and Powderly with 5,5OOl population all told. Pratt City, outstripped in the race for inn portance by Ensley has still 5000 inhabi- tants Ensley has anywhere between 5000 and 10000. Bessemer has within it's cor porate limits 5000 workers that gives the whole population as 5000 is, I am assured by some of the men who dislike overdrawn statements, too far below 100000 to be re- liable.
 Cause of the Rapid Growth
 What is 1t that has brought all this pop ulation to this place and its neighborhood? Not the desire to give Birmingham a repu- tation for rapid growth. The people who suffered from the overpushing of the early days of the city have learned that there is nothing but distress in booming" It may be stated with perfect confidence that the backbone of the improvement of Birmng- ham has been the actual development of the marvellous mineral resources found in the immediate neighborhood, favorng the nf and steel. To get the ore and coal out of the hills and the pig iron out of the ore re- quired laborers. To feed and clothe the la borers, shops well supplied with food and clothing became necessary and profitable. All classes of artisans were needed to pro-. vide and equip houses and business places. The incoming of money and the necessity of providing channels of business brought banks. The whole march of civilization was soon established with representatives, of all classes in the line.
 See what has takAr flace under tiIs sciouds' ed skies oof Birmingham in a few sharz montchs. During the year ending lg4lx.i 1 1899. $S,6O0000 was employed in starting some 1 fifteen business concerns indispensable to 1 the growth and prosperity and comfort of i the city and its suburbs. The Alabama
 Steel and shipbullding company began opar-
 ations with a capital of $1 ,000,000. The Ala l bama Steel and Wire company, with $2,000,- l 900 capital the Birmingham Cement com
 pany, with s900,0OO capital, and other com | panes, for the manufacture of lumber, | electricity ice, woodwork, oil, flour and
 cooperage supplies, all contributed to make l up the amount invested as stated. Nearly
 8, 100000 was authorized to be expended, l and has been in large part spent, in im-
 proving works already in operation. It is 1 plain that building has been active to even i the most casual observer, and it is not dif1i- | cult to believe the report that S1 100000 was l spent in a year in the erection of new ! buildings, for dwellings, 2f7 of them in Bir-
 mingham, at a cost of about $1,O0O0Oo; 800 ] in Ensley, at a cost of $250,0 ,000 and many in the several suburbs enumerated in prior paragraph. The banking capital in
 August last was $159O000, and the bank clearlngs in 1898 were $23,777 ,S99. For the first six months of 1899 they were $l4,75O,Sf5, and the showing for the last six months un- doubtedly will be better.
 Monthly Amount of Wages Paid In popular estimation boom" is some | thing like a balloon, thing composed | largely of wind. But wind will not sus- tain the hungry laborer. Only employment | and pay will draw and keep the men to whom labor is a serious matter, for which they must have regular and prompt conn pensation. It is stated that there are in the Birmingham district something like 35,- GOO laborers To these wage earners is paid out monthly about $15OO0OO. This is an in- crease over the number of men employed a year ago of l5 per cent, and the wages paid to labor have been increased some
 thing like an average of 20 per cent That there is work to do and money coming from it. is evident from the condition of the street railways which run frequently and in a crowded state most of the time over a hundred miles of line. Like the cars on