The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-05
Prohibition Versus
 Thrift and Industry

Ido with 1t. think I know the atti- Ituds of Northern and Eastern capital Towards Birmingham. Those with lmoney to loan. look most favorabiy on lBirminxhamj They seem to see here the pcssiBflities of . great and grow ling city ana are willing to make in- lvestmentss regardless of temporary. dis lturbancees M
 s.Take for instance the Empire build ling that Is going up on First and lTwentieth. know personally that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company made the loan of sso0.00o to the pro- luaoters of that enterprise. Not that the Metropolitan was attached to pro- Intuition; the comptroller thought noth- ling of that. They simply have that confidence in the future of Birming-
 ham that is measured by the amount
 (which they are willing to loan to office Ibuildfng.s
 This Information was an hour later loonfirmej by Eugene Brown, of the big firm of Brown Brothers and Co. They
 have represented more investors in of-
 flee buildings than perhaps any other ireal estate firm in the city. They are financing the great Empire building Ijust referred to. seventeen stories high;
 and the Chamber of Commerce. building.
 Ia nine-story steel structure,f and also financed the Brown-Marx Annex, q Iseventeen- story steel building adjoining
 the magnificent building of the same lname on Twentieth and FirstAve. It is
 more capacious than it's sister buiId- ling.
 | Blas sn lsis ArguiAent.
 Mr. Brown has, of course. been ac- Icused of bias in his argument against Iprohibition. He was one Of the leaders lin the fight waRed by she Antis in the month of October, 1907. He and his fol- lowers succeeded in carrying the city flor wet" but the other sections of the bounty rolled in majorities for pro- Inhibition that overwhelmed the small Head gained in the city.
 1t Is oil false argument that pro- Intuition had anything to do with. the dbig building enterprises of this city at lpresent and in the immediate past" he Icontinued. sTt ts . natural feature of la city with immense resources and pos lsibilitieg. It is an evidence of the con lfidence of capital in the future of the lefty. The men investing are willing Ito do so regardless of prohibition and iother disturbing factors because they believe that the city will grow anyhow,
 "The erection of the Brpwn-Marx An- mex was premature project. We will inot have tenants for half the space lAfr. woodward had projected the build ling for a year bence. We could sec ithat rental applications were growing beyond the present accomodations oi ithe woodward, the Hrown-Marx. the First National. the Title. -and other lbuiidings. But seeing that the Farley building on~ Third and Twentieth lwould go up and probably claim ths flew tenants we had on file, my clienI lordered us to go ahead with the build. Itng. And we did.
 q recommended the loan of gsOo.0ol lby the Metropolitan for the Empire lbuiIding. But it was not prohibition Ithat moved me to do t. On the othei hand, prohibition has reduced rents & liar as I can see and given discourage. lment to bnsiness"
 ContinuInK his interview. Mfr. Browr
 lsaid his books were open to anyons
 lto show that the rental income iron
 -four places that had been vacated bl
 lsaioons and under his agency. had de
 lcreased S7.e00 during 1s0A
 ssrheae are the quarters In the Firs
 National. the Subway in the Brown
 Marx. the woodward saloon ana tn, A1etropoiitsn." said he1 Tt has piaye'
 havoc with rents generally. Take thu
 IFrirst National place. for instance; tha lis bringing S3.s0o now and brpugh { les, GOO in 1907. And understand, Tn
 mot considering the short-term leases lThe place have just mentioned q
 lleased for six months. We don't know
 whether we win have a tenant evei lat the existing price when this leas'
 expires. 1t Is all a. matter of eon1ec Iture.
 .And or. that point. I venture to sa, that not one~tenth of the places va ! Icated by saloons in this city are oc
 lcupied by permanent tenants. Under
 stand me plainly. Probably c half O more of them have tenants such a i they are, but examine them and see 1 you will find more than one in tel !, ness that is not transitory or that vii
 Inot ahOw on their books that they ar Ilosing propositions.
 Statement Conarmed. : l Investigation by the writer con
 flrmed in part this last statement Q Mir. Brown. It is Impossible in finite time to take an inventory of the Oi saloon stands of Birmingham. In tn
 heart Of the city are to be found som [ lsubstantial substitutes. There are ex ' ceIlent and. promising store fronts o : some corners that formerly were hive . of drinking habitues. On the otbe ! hand, in the center of the city are t be seen picture shows, "peanut-crackle stands, barber shops, postcard empo : riums and kindred business enter Iprises that are rather transitory 1 nature. Inquiry proved in many in stances that the rental value Of tn 5 places had not been impaired In thos eavorabiy located qusrterss but thq g the tenants are of tfmid mood an : have rented on three and six monthI ' leases M
 An effort was made to find out if tn laggregate net rental value of a give city block kn the center of the cit n lhad actually decreased or increase since prohibition went into effect. Tn c block whose stores and establishment 2. front on Twentieth Street betwee n First and Second Avenues, East Sid | was examined. Most of the tenant a were under long-term leases datin 8 beyond January 1, 1908, and yet ]. force. One was found who is Akin f to renew his lease. He said that | - did not expect to pay an advance . rent on account of the three saloor | being removed from his block. Otht - tenants declare that If they had e sub-lease their places they would es
 pect no loss on account of prohib a tion nor anything added.
 fl Taking a sum of rents of the bloc q on this basis, the block had Drobabl
 suffered only the loss of rent in tt ' Subway, formerly occupied by tt
 fashionable saloon of that name an 2 which paid about S2,000 more rent ps i annum than the pool room proprietC ! is now paying.
 I But what of the second-class qual | tere? what of the only half-reflne