The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-14
Relation of Montgomery and It's People
 to the Seat of Alabama Government
A Story of Removal of Capitol, Its Destruction by Fire and Rebuild
 ing Fifty Years Ago.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

BY WILL T. STEPHAN.
 Suppose in the good year of 1907 the Senate of Alabama should meet in saloon and suppose on the same day the House should hold its days session in a ball room what would the Anti Saloon League have to say to thatE
 But it is recorded in the Journal ot the Alabama Senate that 1t once met in the saloon of Montgomery Hall to pass laws for the State. The saloon was the samS sort of saloon that may be found scattered throughout the city of Montgomery, with this dinerehce- 1t was larger than the modern saloon and whiskey sold for only ten cents a drink. The site of Montgomery Halb the saloon of which occupied the lar CT part of the ground floor, was on the spot now occupied by the Federal building.
 The session of the Senate in question was held on December 15, 1S4s. The Capitol of the State had burned the previous day. Still there was no ade- sentiment of the present day, for the Senate to hold its sessions In a Sa- loon. The city of Montgomery was practically turned over to the Legfs- lature and to the State officials to give them temporary quarters.
 Several churches were thrown open to the senators. But they met in a sa- loon. The meeting was held there, however. not because 1t was saloon and not because whiskey could be bought for ten cents a drink, but be- cause the saloon being a part of the principal hotel of the city, and being centrally located, was thought m re convenient. In the meanwhile the House of Representatives, being more ~gr har session in the ball room of the Ex- change Hotel.
 The saloon incident may be doubted but the doubter can satisfy himself by looking at the Senate Journal of De- cember 15. On that day the Secretary of the Senate records.
 "The Senate met today, pursuant to adjournment The Capitol having been destroyed by fire, the Senate met in the saloon of Montgomery Hall"
 Inaugurated fin a Church.
 The Legislative department might have been subjected to some censure. by having one department deliberating in a saloon and the other meeting in a ball room, but the Executive De- pertinent under the trying circumstan. ces acquitted itself most creditably. The incoming Governor. Hon. Henry W. Collier, was inaugurated in Q church. The building was that of the
 
 stood on the spot wtere the present handsome edifice now stands. The old structure is now rebuilt into j church for negroes, we'll known as "Old Ship" Church. But great throng of people attended this church inauguration al- though only section of the crowd could find place in the building.
 Come December 6. in the modern year of 1907, the city of Montgomery will have had the Capitol of Alabama sixty years The unique incident, here in alluded to, was removed from a forgotten record, in the illustration of the relation of the people of the City those who occupy it, be their cccupa- ton as temporary as 1t may. An ad- dition, @ new wing to the old building Is near the finishing touches and great plans are on paper for harmonious additions which will make 1t one of the handsomest if not one of the larg- est State houses in the country.
 As the new additions grow into completed beauty modern Montgomery can recall with a sense of pride the relations of the people of the city to the Capitol and the government of Alabama. They can mentally turn back for more than sixty years for a word of tribute to the strong and pub lic spirited men who, fighting against the established order and against pre-. cedent, had the Capitol moved to Mont. gomery over the strongest opposition It will strengthen the spirit of the 1910 movement. if It's promoters are fa- miliar with the energy and the devo- ton of those men who, sixty years ago, not only succeeded in fighting down opposition to the moving of the Capi- tol but who raised $80.0 and paid for the building of Capitol, for the re- moval of the seat of government
 It Is well enough for modern Mont gomery to know that there were in- dustrial problems her citizens met be- fore the war and to know, too how creditably they were met and solved In the rapid movement of the city, growth which is so fast that Mont gomery may grow away from old ideals and customs, it Is well enough, too, to recall the city's olden standard of culture, intelligence and social charm. Life in Montgomery should not be SO strenuous in modern days that her peo- pie may drift away from the charm of that social and intellectual life which has characterized her since her earliest days.
 What is put together here is written not in the interest of any history or for fancied historical value it may have. It is recorded that modern Montgomery may understand the rela- tions of the people of the city to the State Capitol, from the day their en- ergy and enterprise won it away from Tuscaloosa until that January day when the City of Montgomery of its own initiative. and at its own expense, gave the greatest inaugural show on the taking of the oath by Governor Conner, than was ever given in the history of the State.
 Montgomery an Ideal Place.
 Montgomery is an ideal Capital City. Nature. human enterprise und develop ment in Alabama has in a peculiar manner set her apart for the distinc- tive honor of being the States Capi- tai. Geographically the city has every claim. It Is near the center of the State. No city of the State, not even Birmingham, has any better rail road connections. And the Alabama river runs by It's doors It was the Alabama river. too. more than the railroads that brought the Capitol to Montgomery. for the railroads more than sixty years ago, were the unre- vealed things of the future for Ala bama. The building of the Western of Alabama had been launched, how ever, and Col. Charles T. Pollard was bending his splendid abilities to the construction of that enterprise His name shall appear presently as one of the influential forces which moved