Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1905-04-15

"! 1870 the most Suualid district In
81 England lay like Il fostering sore
z Idjoccnt to the business center Of
birmingham. 1t was thus de
srwh"d by Counselor White in an clo-
uurnt plea before the town council for
! improved conditions:
III is not easy to imagine the drcary
d"~"lHtion which acre after acre In the
very heart of the town presents to
th"S" who will take tie trouble to Wis
| il it, Little else Is to hc seen but bow
in" roofs. tottcrinG chimncyS. tumble
down and disus"d shops. heaps of
! bricks. broken windows and coarse
rough pavements damp and sloppy. In
one case found house Of only two
rooms, about nine feet square and six
and Il half feet high, and in this hovel
! lived husband. wife and four children
Amid such deplorable conditions 12-
OUo of our fellow townsmen are spend
| in@ their lives, with no bright thing
about them and nothing Of JOY or glad
ness in their homes"
Joseph Chamberlain was then mayor
"f Birmingham. and the city had not
| yet attained the proud distinction Of
the metropolis of midland England. nor
hai that brilliant young man climbed
| fa" toward his present fame. He had
cN'0cCd marked talents in municipal
affairs and was an enthusiastic advo
| Cat" of public ownership-so much so,
| in fact that his political enemies de
clarcd him n Socialist. 1t was due to
| his Efforts and energy that Birming
| la'' had purchased the gas plant and
IT," WaterworkS from private owners,
ami The success which followed these
! ventures gave him prestige of which
he was not slow to take advantage
| Titr 'IcSolate tract populated with thou
! sands of miserable persons aroused his
/ sNupathy, but he was more than u so
/ SNrnWdest business men in Great Brit
ain. He surveyed the field as Il gen
I cra' does one of Il coming battle He
formulated Il plan, one so startling in
its originality, so radical in its scope
and SO stupcndous in its magnitude
that his friends and supporters hest
tatei when he proposed it to them.
Nr. Chamberlain urged that Birming-
ham proceed TO purchase every foot of
land in this contaminated area and he
Included in it fifty or more acres prac-
/ tiCally in the center of the city. He
/ proposed to ignore all existing street
/ lines and to devote Il large percentage
/ of the land to broad thoroughfarcs. He
proposed to dcmoliSh every house in
! this district. to lease part of the site
to reputable landlords who would
erect dwellings under the supervision
OF the city authorities and to lease the
remainder OF the lnnd for business
/ purposes. He admitted that for years
7 this investment would impose burden
on the taxpayers. but Contended that
i'll the end 1t would prove a splendid
investment More than that, the Grad
iCation of the slum area would increase
the value of every foot of property In
the city.
The future statesman formally intro
duCed the matter to the town council
and, in one of the most mastery
speeches of his career urged its adop-
tion. He claimed that birmingham
could never aspire to the commercial
supremacy of its natural territory so
long az 1t permitted thousands of its
toWnSmcn to live in misery
Il believe" he said. that the town
and, above all, the next generation.
Will have cause to bless the town Coun-
ell of Birmingham If 1t carries out
this scheme and exercises what | ven
turr to call Il Sagacious audacity. We
know how from time to time upon our
coast vast operations have been under
taken by which large tracts Of land
hay" been redeemed from the sea. and
what was formerly the sandy bed OF
the ocean has been converted into smil-
inG fields. | say that no less merito-
riuuS and no less necessary is the work
which we are undertaking in this in
land city by which we hope to wrest
from the fell grasp Of disease, misery
and crime whole populations which
would otherwise he abandoned to them
Il heard it said the other day that
the position Of these people was their
own fault Their fault? Yes, 1t Is le-
Gally their fault If they steal, and when
th5v do we send them to Jail, and IL
they commit murder we hang them for
il But if the members of this council
hHn been placed under similar cOndi-
tiOnS if from infancy we had grown
mp in the same way-dOcs any of us
believe that he should have run no risk
of the hanEman or the Jail? For my
part have not sufficient confidence I'm
my own inherent goodness to believe
that anything can make headway
against such friGhtful conditions as I
have described The fact Is it Is no
more the fault of these people that
they are vicious and Incorporate than
it is that they are stunted. defOrmed,
debilitatcd and diseased. The one is
due to the physical atmosphere, The
moral atmosphere as necessarily and
surely produces the other. 1t is the
only occasion for which ever wish to
live beyond the ordinary term of hui