The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-10
BILL EXPOSES IN COMMITTEE No Capitol Improvement
 in Sight. HELD UP BY THE SENATE Goodwin Fought ManfulIy, But
 Without Avail. Plan to Erect North Wing Of State House and to Overhaul old Por-
 ton of Building De-
 fented.

The State Capitol of Alabama will in all probability remain lopsided for the next four years. The Capitol Inn provement bill died in the Committee on Finance and Taxation of the Sem ate, and it is not very likely that the measure will be resurrected when the Legislature reconvenes In July.
 Representative Goodwin fought man fully for the bill and he got it through the House with but little trouble. It came across obstacles only when it got in the Senate. There the atmos- phere seemed to be rather chilly frig- Id for that particular measure.
 The bill embodied a general scheme of Capitol improvement. It carried an appropriation of s250,000, but the appropriation was to be spread over a period of four years. The scheme of Capitol improvement contemplated double entrance similar in a way to the National Capitol at Washington. The rear of the Capitol, facing Union street. was to be transformed into second entrance, with wide and grace full steps and with the hugo columns which ornament the front entrance of the building. The part of the build ing facing Union street would, in a word. be made identical with the part of the building which now fronts Dexter Avenue.
 It is 8 certainty that this will be done in the years to come. But the bill provided that these improvements were to be made within the next four years; that the start in the work was to begin at once.
 It is only a question of time when the front of the Capitol will open upon the business district of Montgomery, so rapidly is the city growing. It is only a question of time for the best part of the residence district to sur round the Capitol Square. It is only a question of time when the Capitol will have two entrances as the Ma tional Capitol has, one facing the east and the other the west.
 To Overhaul the Building.
 The scheme of general improvement included the overhauling and rehab- ilitation of the Supreme Court wing of the present building. The guar ters of the Supreme Court in the re- constructed building would occupy the same place as the present wing, but the wing would be reconstructed and changed in many ways.
 The plan of improvement which the bill sought to carry out included also the erection of a wing on the north of the Capitol similar to the wing on the south. which is nearing completion. These Improvements would have left LIc OIu part Ol luO IudL part which was erected in 1S49 and which was the scene of the birth of "the storm-cradled nation that fell" as it was in the stormy days of the war between the States.
 There has never been any desire to have this portion of the building changed. Tn the first place, it is so hallowed by history that no one would want it to down, and in the sec- ond place, leading architects have pro- nounced it one of the purest and best specimens of Grecian architecture in the country, On the one hand no patriotic citizen of the State would want the historic old building removed and in the second place no building that might be erected in it's place would have more of architectural beauty and grace than the old Capitol, built nearly sixty years ago.
 The bill. with it's four years of ap- propriations, contemplated also the building of A mansion for the Cover nor. Part of the money carried by the bill was to be used for that pur- pose.
 But the bill sleeps in committee and it is feared that death has succeeded that sleep. It would seem strange that the Legislature should block this appropriation. when it appeared so ready to make appropriations and did make them. for any purpose in which there seemed to be merit. The Legis- iature seemed so generous that one membed described the heavy and nu- merous gifts as "a saturnalia of money spending" It was hoped that the Capitol Improvement bill would get | through while the Legislature was in it's generous mood. But the hope 1 went unified.
 Was 1t PersOnaIs
 Some members of the House have l gossipped that perhaps there was a | personal element in the holding up of | the bill. This bill was one in which | Representative Tyler Goodwin was more interested that his insistence to |