The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-31

ing fund which will recoup the city for
the cost Of the buildings within from nifty
to 100 years.
The city of Birmingham. where / am
now writing, has been noted for such ex-
neriments. 1t has erected one set OF
buildings at a cost of 100000 which have
lodgings for 100 families. There are shops
ON the ground floor. with tenements above
them. The first of these structures was
finished in September. 1890, and was at
once rented to respectable people at M.2o
ner fat per week. Since then cheaper
DAT buildings have been erected. some or
the rents being so low as 70 cents per
week.
A City which Manages its Own Bus
mess.
r,irmingi1am Is noted for the numoer OF
,h,ngs which the city owns. 1t prioes IT.
sai, an being a business city run by bus
,nsss men on business principles. II
n,sLss its own gas, provides its own wa
ter supply and has public museums, arr
scbools and galleries. 1t mas extensive
marks. cricket fields and other pieasur o
grounds. 1t has sewage farm Oh i,1o
ecres which cost 100000. 1t has pubic
81, ming and Turkish baths, and launa-
r,ss FOR. the poor, where they can have
49, water and hot irons for or cents
an hour. r, rha
~o,,nc,l house or the municipal building
10 one of the finest structures OF England.
~ 4. a great pile built in the renaissance
stv,e from it's center The main entrance
;s OF the front. and the building Is orna-
mented with sculpture and mosaic SNOW
inc the arts and industries OF Birming-
ham. with a central group representing
britannia reviewing its manufactures.
The interior of the building contains
council chamber, the banqueting nan anu
maxnificent quarters for the Lord Mayor.
In IL there Is also a museum ana ART gar
Ierv and the various city Offices.
Another fine building Is the town hall,
desisned after the model of Roman
temple. This is where public meetings are
held and where the great city organ
plays regularly every week for the bene-
At of the people.
Right back of this hall Is perhaps the
only monument every erected as memo
rial to a living man. 1t is that OF the
Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, who mas per-
haps done more than any other to ao-
vance municipal ownership In the city OF
birmingham. The monument bears me-
dalton bust of Mr.. Chamberlain without
the eyeglass, and upon IT there is an in
scription testifying to his services for
Birmingham.
Old Birmingham.
Indeed, the city of Birmingham has
been recreated by Mr.. Chamberlain and
his associates within the past generation
Before describe it let me tell you some
thing of the Birmingham of the past The
town has for centuries been the 1ndus-
trial capital of Middle England. 1t Is sit
uated where was once the forest of Arden.
the scene of Robin Hoods adventures and
Of "As You Like IT, and others of Shake
speares plays. 1t has iron mines and
coal mines not far away, and BEFORE coal
was used for smelling iron the people
here made charcoal from the trees of the
forest and thus worked their blacksmith
shops and other house industries.
No one knows when the iron making be-
gan, and today there is a vast amount of
work that goes on in small factories The
city Is now perhaps the chief hardware
center of the whole world. 1t has found
ries and shops for making steam engines,
heavy machinery and cannon. 1t makes
pins and needles by the tens of millions
and steel pens and buttons for all parts
of the globe. 1t has glass works and
crystal works, bronze foundries and
bridge works, and its gun works are OF
enormous size. There are 100000 factory
hands in the city. and 1t is estimated
that 10 600 of these are employed Il; max
ing guns and rifles. The guns are ex-
ported to all countries. The works were
pushed to their full capacity during our
civil war. when 10000 guns were shipped
to the United States, including large
number which went to help the South.
The Birmingham of Today.
The Birmingham of today is about as
large as st. Louis. 1t has one or two
streets as fine as the better streets of
st. Louis, and indeed it looks much more
like an American city than an English
one The streets are well kept, and not
withstanding the foundries and factories
which are scattered here and there upon
them everything is remarkably clean.
Birmingham has been called the town
of two great streets. Its chief business
houses are on these streets, and the build
ings have all been put up within the
last few years. They are the product. of
Birmingham's principle of municipal im-
provement. When Joseph Chamberlain
was Mayor the business of the toTF was
congested. There were slums in its heart,
and 1t was Chamberlain who planned to
wipe the slums out, to build a great
street through them. which should be
known as Corporation Street, and 10
widen what Is now New Street, or, In
short, to practically rebuild the business
part of the city. This undertaking was
begun in 1875 and $S,000,000 was borrowed
to carry it out. Inasmuch as the money
was needed at once and it would take
time to get an act of Parliament author
izing the city to issue bonds, Joseph
Chamberlain offered to advance $4,000 to
the city for the purpose, other B!rmng-
ham capitalists did likewise, though In
smaller sums. and the work was immc-
diately begun. The property was con-
demned and bought, the old houses torn
down and the land leased on seventy-five
year leases for the putting up OF new
buildings. The leases were SO worded
that at the end Of the seventy-fiye years
the buildings upon the land should revert
to the city, so that eventually the Birm-
ingham Corporation will practically own
the best part Of the municipality, and 1t
will then probably be the richest city in
the world. The holders Of the leases now
pay a regular rent to the city. and mag
nficent structures have taken the places
of the old slums.
The Birmingham Arcades.
One of the features of the new buildi" gs
is a system of arcades which run here and
I &c. "a. - ANn