The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-12
TWO PHENOMENAL
 SOUTHERN TOWNS
ATLANTA AND BIRMINGHAM ARE DISC SSED INTERESTINGLY. THINKS PROPHECY FOR 6lR- MINGHAM IS WELL FOUNDED.
From the Atlanta Constitution.

From the Atlanta COnStltullOn.
 Citizens of Birmingham, Ala, have taken pleasure in the past in bracketing that city with Atlanta as a joint con crete instance of the militant spirit abroad in the south of today Atlantans have taken kindly to the comparison since the growth of the inland metropolis of Ala bama has been almost as phenomenal as that of this city In both cities the genius of progress and unanimity is the foremost municipal asset and the future of each is such as to stimulate the imagination of the man given to passing his predictions on solid commercial and industrial prem ises.
 The Birmingham News has just issued a fortypage special edition which con tains much material for speculation of this sort. It vii also come as a distinct revelation to people who have not been keeping abreast of the strides made by the "Pittsburg of the South" In this con- nection. the following comment taken from the Chicago Record Herald will prove of interest:
 For every dollar that is invested in Bir- mingham, Ala, property today the fortu- nate possessor will be able to take out si0 in less than ten years from now. We make this assertion on the authority of The Birmingham News, which backs the prediction in red ink with forty pages of boom edition. The editor himself calls the prediction a conservative es- timate ''in roseate hues." Perhaps the reader may inquire as to the percentage of the rosy" but we can testify that the paper is the live product of a live community. There can be no doubt that Birmingham has made a remarkable rec- ord and that her already large mercantile and manufacturing interests are destined to have great expansion.
 As intimated by The Reeord-Herald the figures given by the editor of The News may challenge the credulity of many westerners and customers to whom Bir- fningham may have been very vague figure in the commercial world. South erners, however, accept such statements without the least reference to the salt cellar They know how rapid and sure has been the unfolding of Birmingham's trade and commerce, and their informa- ton has come through witnesses and expert students of economic conditions, with not suspicion of interest or prej- udice to tinge their view points
 The Record-Herald, moreover, is a little unjust in applying the derogatory word bloom" to either the intent of the special edition mentioned or to the status of the city itself. Birmingham long ago overlook and passed the necessity for
 Doom advertising" It's people have seen the folly of such procedure in their own experience From the boom stage the city has emerged strengthened and re- built, and today it's prosperity and pros poets are founded on tangible bank clear ings, bona fide furnace. mine and foun- wholesale mercantile trade which stretches far into contiguous territory.
 Some months ago The Manufacturers Record of Baltimore sent one of it's most reliable staff correspondents into the Bir- mingham district. In series of articles he related verihable facts which to the uninitiated had all the seeming of com mercial fables. He established that the foremost business and corporate interests Tn the country were pouring their capital into the mines and furnaces of the famous district" and that improvements pro- jected were calculated to double values in that vicinity within a remarkable short interval of time. Further evidence was adduced showing that Birmingham was surely creeping up on the record held by Plttsburg; and that its manifold advant- ages and q syet undetermined wealth of resources had many years ago drawn from such a practiced observer as the late Abram Hewitt prophecies more rad ical and circumstantial than those made by the editor of The News.
 William E. Curtis the veteran corre- spondent of The Record Herald. could add confirmatory evidence to these state- ments. We imagine his influence Ia at work when the paper mentioned comedies that Birmingham is destined to "great expansion The Constitution has Iono been of that opinion itself. Prophecy is a dangerous and unprofitable pastlme h,, if we cared to indulge in it. we wo,Ic pin our faith to the estimates of inc p,r- mingham editor.
 EAST LAKE