The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-02
Advertiser Bureau.

| Advertiser Bureau. Selma, July II. | Once more persons are troubled over
 the new municipal buildings.
 | R. F. Manly. the contractor. had be- gun the work. had walls rising like mushrooms and everything going merry as a marriage bell, when of sudden ! there was idleness on the site and an absence of workmen. The reason of the
 cessation is not known.
 | Mir. Manly has completed enough of the work to entitIe him to his first install rnent of 5000 which the city was to pay | him when he had placed the window
 easements for the first story of the
 building. But there are no bonds to pay
 him with because the valuable bits of paper have not been printed and are not
 in the hands of Mayor Atkins and City Clerk Stewart for signatures and seals. | This may be the reason why MT. Man. ly has knocked off. for a while. He has | several months in which to complete the job, and may be waiting only for a time. He has made bond in the penalty of s. 000 that he will have things ready at the required time.
 | Chairman John c. Norris of the coun- cils committee on the building. said to-
 stopped. MT. Manly is not in the city
 and his representative, Foreman Jim Hayes. is also absent. The contractor
 has a brick-makins machine in the freight depot waiting for him so that the delay of this machinery was not the cause of the cessation. The affair Is somewhat mysterious and all the citizens of Selma are agog to know how their new house is coming on. But 1t seems they will have to wait patiently for an
 answer to their question.
 -
 As to Charity.
 The Society of United Charities. an as- sociation that has for years helped the indigent of Selma and of Dallas County. is now apparently inert and in conse- quence of it's inertia the municipality is
 confronted with a problem that is seri- ous not only because of It's far-reaching
 results but because 1t is precipitatefy placed before those whose business 1t is to solve it.
 The society has for some time oper- ated an infirmary, several of whose | wards were for charity patients and
 much good was in this way accom- plished Besides these benefits the Unit cd Charities assisted the needy in num- berless ways and instances and the or ganization has had practically entire control of charity work Nor has 1t left any ground for complaint for the ladies in charge discharged their self-imposed duties with generosity. a cheeTfulness and a faithfulness that were indeed ad- mirable.
 But through lack of funds the society has been almost disorganized and quite
 useless, to all appearances, in the dis pensation of charities to paupers and in- valided persons The aims house. which
 was a medium whereby the city and the county gave aims to their paupers has had to be discontinued and now 1t is announced that the United Charities can no longer operate the Infirmary. One cause of the lessening of revenue that usually goes to the society was the re. duction of the city's appropriation from $75 to $60 a month, which decrease was
 made when the new city administration consummated e general curtailment of
 expenditures.
 The city officials first learned of the suspension of the aims house when ali the paupers of the county and of the l city, unable to obtain their usual rations and other supplies from the aims house swooped down upon the governors. cap tains and rulers and raised mighty shout tor victuals. Of course the city and | the county will be quite able to take
 care of their dependents, but the sur prise party was embarrassing. The off,
 cers of the charitable organization had, 1t seems, written a letter to Mayor At
 kins explaining to him the facts of the
 situation; but for some reason he had
 not received 1t.
 A mass meeting has been called for to-
 morrow afternoon when 1t is hoped plans
 will be made for a systematized method
 of caring for the needy and iEvalids.