The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-17
Visit ReViveS Talk Of Big Hotel So Badly Wanted
 In Birmingham
SHOWN OVER DISTRICT
 BY THE MEN INTERESTED
J. H. Carpenter of "Hermitage" in Nashville Will Spend An other Day Here

For the purpose of conferring with
 local financial men and of Investigating Birmingham's hotel needs, w. H. Mar
 shall, former manager of the Waldorf
 Astoria In New York, and J. H. Carpen- ter, proprietor of the Hermitage" Nash ville's new $1.oOO,OO0 hotel, arrived in Bir-
 mingham yesterday.
 The two visitors were taken in charge
 by several we'll known men here and
 carried all over the district. They vis- ited many prominent men with whom they have become acquainted In New
 York and elsewhere and seemed to pass
 the day very pleasantly. The two vis-
 itors will be here today.
 They were accompanied over Birming-
 ham yesterday by Wilson Brown, Henry
 B. Gray, Eugene Brown, Erslzine Ram
 say, Culpepper Exum and others. They
 were saturated with the hotel needs Of
 Birmingham and seemed to be duly im-
 pressed with the fact that Birmingham
 people are In earnest and will cooperate in every way in the erection of a big
 hotel building.
 While none of the men identified with
 the conferences and trips yesterday
 would talk hotels to questioners, it was
 admitted by the two visitors that Bir- mingham looked very attractive from a
 protective standpoint.
 Marshall Discusses Views
 In talking to people here MT. Marshall &t.z A cit cajd
 We have recently opened the Hermit age hotel in Nashville, which represents
 value of s1,0O00oO, and I am now en route to New York, where I will open
 the Vanderbilt hotel within short time
 I have met many Birmingham people
 while they have been in New York and
 they have told me many times about Bir-
 mingham needing hotel. l cannot give any information at this time as to my connection with a hotel here but certainly it looks to me like you need
 one.
 "The presence of a hotel In Birming- ham of the right kind and one that would
 reflect credit upon the city would do
 more than any one thing to help the city
 grow into the metropolis which IS the ambition of the entire population here. "Birmingham Is seemingly great big city. but I am told that a great many people shun this place on account or
 having been unable to secure those
 niceties and accommodations to which
 they are accustomed in other larger
 places I should think that Birmingham
 could support a great big hotel we'll. Mir. Carpenter Talks
 Mr. Carpenter, who opened the Her
 mitage in Nashville, and who is said to
 be a millionaire. said that he did not
 know fully about hotel here, but that
 he was under the impression such a
 project was under way. He said:
 Birmingham cannot claim to be well represented in the hotel line. The city
 should have q hotel as good as Chatta-
 nooga and Nashville. Both of those cities have all that could be desired In this line I cannot tell yet whether I will be interested in a new hotel here or not. We are here simply to look over the district and gather some ideas that will guide us in thinking about the proposition from every angle. We are interested in the up building of ali southern cities, and if we can help Birmingham I should think we
 would do so This town will be the larg- est in the south, excepting New Orleans at no far future date, and any invest ments made here cannot fail to be safe
 and paying. We will be here today and tomorrow, leaving for New York tomor- row."
 Causes Revival of Interest The presence of two men prominent In
 hotel work caused the talk of a new hotel for this city to be renewed. Their pres ence here and their entertainment by the men who have been striving to erect a hotel here were sufficient to cause specu- lation to be keen. Wilson Brown, who was with the gentlemen practically all
 day, said they were not ready to give out
 anything yet, and perhaps the visit of MT. Carpenter and MT. Marshall might
 result in nothing at all. He said they admitted as did anyone familiar with con-
 ditions here that Birmingham needed a hotel and should have one.
 Eugene Brown, who strived nightly tn the day of the late William H. Woodward to build hotel here. said the presence of the hotel experts was sufficient to en- courage the people a trifie, and that he hoped that a new hotel would be the re- suit.
 l The presence of MT. Marshall here was | of special interest to local men who have been trying to build a hotel in this city. It was the intention of promoters here to | allow Mr. Marshall to have charge of 1 the hotel which was to have been built, but which has been abandoned for the time being. It is considered probable that | if a new hotel is erected at any time soon MT. Marshall will be offered the manage ment of it. He has been very successful | in operating large hotels. and is &C., counted one of the best managers in the country.
 | Y. M. c. A. SERVICES