The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-03-13
ALL BIRMINGHAM
SHOULD Be PAVED
Alleys as Well as Streets Should
be Improved
MORE LIGHTS NEEDED, ALSO
Police Force Should be Increased and
Made More Efficient-county Roads
Need to be observation-disclosures
err Birmingham.
MORE LIGHTS NEEDED, ALSO

Pave every square foot of every street
and every alley inside the city limits.
Macadamize every square foot of every
road in Jefferson county.
Light up every street and alley in the
city and suburbs in way that will pro-
vide adequate illumination for pedes-
TRANS and vehicles at all hours of the
night
Increase the police force. Make it SO
efficient that life and property will be
secure from North Highlands to South
Highlands and from West End to East
Lake.
-Four Great Problems.
These are the four great problems that
need now to be solved if this community
is to take and keep the position it de-
serves to hold.
All these things ihould be done.
Each and every one of them can be
done If the subject be attacked ener-
getically by "the powers that be-
This community has got the men, and
r has got the money TO carry forward
this all important work.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Greater, cleaner and better Birming-
ham can not be realized in a week, or a
month. or even In a year.
But the work can be done--in time.
Nor will it require decade to accom-
pl.sh the transformation.
Birmingham has outgrown its swaddling
clothes.
II has passed the primitive stage of
municipal development.
It has ceased to be an overgrown coun-
try town.
The earmarks of the village should be
erased. and erased at once
A Cosmopolitan City.
This is cosmopolitan city. At heart,
it is Thoroughly democratic, In taste 1t
searns for the things that nourish the
soul as well as the things that sustain
the body.
It has ideals. 1t is striving seriously to
Keep faith with these ideals,
1t has built beautiful temples of re-
liglous worship. 1t has erected Impressive
buildings for the instruction of the youth.
The church and the school are doing their
work and doing 1t successfully.
Birmingham has lighted the fire from
the top 1t has kept the torch of idealism
glowing But. with all its material wealth,
1t has failed and is falling TO do what
should be done in the effort to rear here
a city-truly beautiful
This town needs better streets To get
them, 1t needs to pave the uninvltng
streets and alleys. at
A Word About Needs.
Twelve-story buildings require that all
streets and alleys within a radius of at
least twenty blocks be we'll paved
Churches INTELLECTUALLY beautiful re-
quIre that sidewalks within a radius of
fifty blocks be the best that can be
made.A
School houses that adorn town re-
quire that every alley and every street
within searshot or eyeshot be kept clean
and readily passable in all kinds of
weather.
The man who invests money and the
man who earns money-the capitalist as
well as the laborer-insist that what
is good enough for the wealthiest section
of the city is none too good for the Sec
tion that Is least wealthy.
Each section breathes or SHOULD be per-
mitted TO breathe the same quality of
air, enjoy an equal abundance of sun
light, drink the same quality OF water.
share the same quality and an equal
abundance of electric illumination and
be equally protected by the law when in
noeent and equally punished when guilty.
Meaning of Better Streets.
Better streets mean
More artistic and moro comfortable
residences
More beautiful lawns surrounding the
residences.
Cleaner and purer homes
More satisfactory transportation facili-
ties.
Greater interchange Of neighborly cour-
tesles.
In a word better streets make for a
higher and better municipal life.
well paved city should be well light
ed
Birmingham is neither
1t should be both.
Light and lust were ever deadly ene-
miles," says Shakespeare.
Where light is crime can not be ram
pant.
Vice fees the light.
One arc light is worth as much to a city
as five policemen-and. In the end, Is five
times more economical.
Pave all the streets and all the alleys,
and light up both with electricity, and
crime will be reduced wonderfully.
Birmingham needs, nevertheless. an In
creased police force. 1t needs also more
efficient police force-better trained and
more intelligent men.
What the city needs. the county needs
also. Its highways of travel should be
improved Some Of them are already
macadamized. All should be. II would
help the town to have them macadamized,
and It would help the county too.
Streets are the arteries of a city life.
Roads bear a similar relation to the
life of rural communities. The Importance
of each has been ignored. 1t should be
promptly recognized by every one who
loves the community In which he lives
Birmingham can be made-and should
be made--as beautiful city as Detroit
or Buffalo. To accomplish this result
the first thing to do is to pave the whole
town from center to circumference.
Then light 1t up-all night long
Then police it--adequately
And, IN the meantime, don't forget to
macadamize the county roads.
Mrs. Wlnsiow's 6cothing Syrup