The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-16

The movement for civic betterment ano the improvement of the physical beauty of the city. is just now receiving US due consideration In Birmingham. There has been decided wave of re- form in civic matters in the United States in the past few years. but until recently the Idea of improving Birmingham in an aesthetic way had been overlooked.
 The municipal authorities have taken such steps as the limited funds of the treasury win permit, and already the eff fects of their work can be seen. The greater part of the work will however, fall upon the individual citizen. It is left for him to decide whether or not he will make his lawn present an attractive ap- pearance, whether he will cut the tall weeds that have grown on the sidewalk, whether he will go to the expense of painting his house, whether he will trim his trees. and whether he will clean and keep clean his yards, potn back and front.
 When every true and public-splrited cit izen awakens to a sense of his duty, and every person interested in the physical advancement of the city VIII determine to do his or her part in the work then the city will begin to present the appearance of a city beautiful.
 The work of the individual citizen will have to be pushed in certain sense by the Mayor. He will have to set aside a day for the people to engage in the work of cleaning, just as the people of Denver did at the request of their mayor. The chief executive of that town asked that every citizen observe day that he named, close their places of business, and make the day real holiday. He handed out number of wise suggestions, which have 1 been printed in The Age-Herald several times, and the day following the cleaning day showed that the city had undergone a wonderful transformation.
 l Among other things the mayor of Dem yer suggested that the stores that needed I it be repainted, the old awnings replaced | by new ones, trees on the sidewalks trimmed, improvements made on the lawns, yards cleaned and kept clean. l houses painted and flower beds made. l The result of the cooperation of the good citizens of Denver with their mayor, was that Denver, already beautiful, was made l even more beautiful
 1 Birmingham is naturally beautiful That cannot be disputed The reason then for the reputation that this is city wholly | lacking in the aesthetic must be as- I SlBneu to the 1dCI lilstl III tle Iclndl hhpiy short time in which 1t grew from strug- | gling little village to a world-famed me tropolis. no thought was given to making the future great city beautiful. The op-
 portunity presents itself now, and the | sooner many of the changes and improve
 ments are made the better They can be
 accomplished with less difficulty now than
 later. Time places more obstacles in the l way of the reform
 In their present condition the alleys positively defy all efforts that may be
 made toward rendering Birmingham more beautiful, either physically or aestheteal- ly. That alleys were ever included in the
 original plan of Birmingham is fact to
 be deplored, but now raat they exist the
 question Is "can they be eliminated?' Possibly not-and then again 1t may be
 a comparatively easy task. In any event,
 they should be improved. The evil should
 be partially corrected. That can be done,
 and should be done.
 There is hardly an exception to the
 rule that they are nothing but habtats
 of trash and filth of every description
 Only poorly lighted, badly paved and
 seldom patrolled, they are left to them
 selves free and unrestricted to pursue | their course wrecking every enterprise