The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-08
strated, by reason, by precedent, and by high professional opinion.
 Lexialatiye Contemplation.

Legislative Contemplation.
 It was not, I take 1t, in the contem- pIation of the Legislature that either the executive officers or the judges, in- dividually or collectively, had any spe- cial knowledge of. or talent or genius for architecture If the lawmakers had any such notion, they were mistaken. But suppose 1t may be said, as sort of generalization. that all sensible men of polite education and some travei and observation have some general knowledge to discern and distinguish, to some extent, that which is excellent and pleasing from an architectural point of view in the lines and propor- tions of prominent or pretensious edi- fees, and, in less degree but still to an extent, the capacity to form Judg- ment of some value from the drawings of proposed buildings. This general knowledge and capacity of the Judges of the Supreme Court. insist, possessed equally man for man. with our friends of the executive department on the com mission, and as there were seven of us to five of them 1t would seem to follow that the judges collectively knew more about this matter from the artistic point of view than they knew. In the matter of utility of the proposed build ing, there was not one of the judges but who knew more than any one or our executive coadjutors. We claim no advantage of them account of the judicial habit and temperament which are incident to our profession and du- | ties, and which are not supposed to per l tain, in like degree at least, to their | positions. We accord them that entire | purity and disinterestedness of motive | which none but libeller will deny to | us. Such in personnel and characteris- | tics was the composition of the com mission which undertook to select th thY1ltd al nf architects plan for additions or wings to the Capitol of Alabama.
 Architects' Competition. --. -.. | was present by invitation at a meet l ing of the executive officers. held on 1 May {, for the purpose of adopting "a l program and plans for a competition of | architects in respect of plans and spe- citlcations for the proposed new build- | ings. The other judges were not pres l invited. I participated in the proceed ing only by way of suggestions. l found that the executive officers had | changed their position in two important | particulars: They had concluded the new building should not be altogether separate from the old. but, being set somewhat apart, should be joined by colonade or corridor. and they had fur ther concluded to invite plans for two buildings instead of one, the additional l structure to be joined onto the north end of the Capitol in the same way that the building designed for the Supreme l Court should be joAaed onto the south end. I have never believed that such joining on of the Supreme Court build inR-or the other for that matter-was proper to the attainment of one of the ends universally desired, namely, the preservation of the present building in its very satisfactory architectural in tegrity. Another objection Is that the scheme they insisted upon and adopted will necessttate. upon architectural con sideration, the ultimate building of the north wing which the commission Is | without means, If they have he author ity to build at this time and, therefore, in a way seems to be an attempt to force the Legislature to further appro- priation of money. On the other hand, separate building at the south, bal anced and compensated in an architec- tural sense by the splendid Confederate monument at the north, would. in any untutored Judgment. have presented an entirely satisfactory prospective. left the present Capitol in Its beautiful lines, proportions. symmetry and sim plicity to dominate and give character to the whole, to stand untouched by the impious hand of change as q monument
 to the glorious past it has witnessed and to which 1t has contributed; and at the same time have left the Legislature, as 1t Is entitled to be left, entirely un-
 trammelled on the question of a new
 building at the north end of the Capitol.
 But the executive officers seemed we'd
 ded to that scheme and they adopted
 1t in the program of competition in the
 following language:
 The general scheme is to extend the
 present building by the erection of two
 annexes or wings. one at the south and
 the other at the north. These wings are
 to be separate from the main building
 but connected herewith by a colonade,
 corridor or the like device, in such a
 way as to make the whole appear as
 one mass or building. and they are to
 be so located and in such way joined,
 and of such dimensions, as that the ar
 chitectural lines and effect of the pres
 ent building will not be impaired or
 distorted, and as that 1t will not be
 necessary or even desirable to the pre- servation of the satisfactory lines and effect of the present building or to give