The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-06-09
VI.


Birmingham. 1t was thus de
scribed by Counselor White in an elo-
quent plea before the town council lot
improved conditions:
at is not easy to imagine the dreary
desolation which acre after acre In the
very heart of the town presents to
| those who will take the trouble to Wis
it it. Little else is to be seen but bow
ing roofs, tottering chimneys, tumble
down and disused shops, heaps OF
| bricks, broken windows and coarse
rough pavements, damp and sloppy. In
| one case l found q house Of only two
| rooms, about nine feet square and six
and a half feet high, and in this hovel
lived husband, wife and four children.
Amid such deplorable conditions r.
600 of our fellow townsmen are spend
ing their lives, with no bright thing
about them and nothing Of Joy OF glad
ness in their homes"
Joseph Chamberlain vas then mayor
of Birmingham. and the city had not
yet attained the proud distinction OF
the metropolis of midland England, nor
had that brilliant young man climbed
far toward his present fame. He had
| evinced marked talents in municipal
| affairs and was an enthusiastic advo-
| cate of public ownership-so much so,
In fact. that his political enemies de-
| clared him a Socialist. It was due to
his efforts and energy that Birming-
ham had purchased the gas plant and
the waterworks from private owners,
and the success which followed these
ventures gave him a prestige Of which
he was not slow to take advantage.
The desolate tract populated with thou
sands Of miserable persons aroused his
sympathy, but he was more than a So
| cial reformer; he was one Of the
shrewdest business men in Great Brit
ain. He surveyed the field as a gen
eral does one Of a coming battle. He
formulated a plan, n so startling in
its originality, SO radical in its scope
and so ~stupendous in its magnitude
that his friends and supporters hest
tated when he proposed it to them.
Mr.. 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 a large percentage
Of the land to broad thoroughfares. He
proposed to demolish 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 land for business
purposes. He admitted that for years
this investment would impose a burden
on the taxpayers, but contended that
in the end it 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.
h 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-
ton. He claimed that Birmingham
could never aspire to the commercial
supremacy Of its natural territory 50
long as it permitted thousands Of its
townsmen to live in misery.
II believe" he said, that the town
and, above all, the next generation,
will have cause to bless the town coun.
ell of Birmingham If it carries out
this scheme and exercises what l ven.
ture to a a s%agacious audacity. We
know how from time to time upon our
coast vast operations have been under.
taken by which large tracts of land
have been redeemed from the sea, and
what was formerly the sandy bed OF
the ocean has been converted into smil
ing fields. l say that no less merito
rious and no less necessary is the work
which we are undertaking in this in.
A0AA NASy ny "AA(u We AOpc 10 WToSy
from the fell grasp Of disease, misery
and crime whole populations which
would otherwise be abandoned to them
II heard it said the other day thai
che position Of these people was theil
own fault. Their fault? Yes, it is le
gally their fault if they steal, and when
they do we send them to jail, and II
they commit murder we hang them 70,
It. But if the members Of this council
had been placed under similar condi
hons-lf from infancy we had grown
up in the same way-does any of us
believe that he should have run no risk
OF the hangman OF the jail? For nv
part I have not sufficient confidence ir
my own inherent goodness to believe
that anything can make headwa,
against such frightful conditions as j
have described. The fact is 1t is nc
more the fault Of these people thai
they are vicious and incorporate than
1t is that they are stunted, deformed
debilitated and diseased. The one is
due to the physical atmosphere. The
moral atmosphere as necessarily and
surely produces the other. It is the
only occasion for which l over wish to
i've beyond the ordinary term Of hu.