The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-26
InterUieW With A. o. Lane
ARMIES, Autho In

cantile or corporation business: that is, with system, order dispatch and scientific | regard for detail as well as form on the
 whole. Had he entered the United States
 army he would, without a doubt. have
 become a great officer well in the lead in
 directing and managing wide and sgnifi-
 cant campaigns.
 He is holding today, as one of the first commissioners of Birmingham, a position for which, by life, training, experience,
 ideals and straight "horse sense.' he is
 singulary adapted. Indeed, he might have
 trained for it." so admirably does he
 fit into il, and so thoroughly equipped
 all along the line is he for holding it. For if ever a man knew the city of
 Birmingham it is A. O. Lane. He knows it. stock and store, in and out, and. over
 and under. And he has the measure of
 most men here-no one need fool him- self on that score. Judge Lane knows. What has been his life-certain of the
 main outward facts? The son of physi- elan, who settled in old Macon county
 many years ago, A. O.. Lane was born
 on a farm sometime in the early fifties.
 During the war he entered the University
 of Alabama. and that closing. he was sent
 to the University of Georgia. and fin-
 ished his senior year at the University of
 Kentucky.
 His law practice he began with his
 brother, Judge Lane of Greenville, in
 Ozark, where in 1s1-72 it was thought
 the mal<ings of a town would be. Not
 discerning any of these makings the
 young attorney quit Ozark and came up
 to take a look at Birmingham. then just starting
 It was "a look that has been branded
 in his memory. It was in the spring of
 1873, just before the cholera epidemic, after which house after house was va
 cated. The mud in the streets was fet- In1Iy Iirrl,t g.pt 1,Z
 lamps quivered in the forloIp dark like will O the wisps in a graveyard. How our city looked long ago! The young lawyer went up to see sGads- den, then returning to Birmingham put
 on harness and set to pulling for the young town. He has been pulling ever since. He is the sort who will always pull. And he Is the sort that fight. and has courage to stand up against any odds that be-the heavier the better. Four times he served as mayor of young Birmingham, when being mayor meant seven offices in one. Every ad-
 minstration. straight from the black days
 of '73, he has followed in minute de-
 tail, behind the scenes" As they say it, he "knows the ropes''
 Quite,. clear-eyed. erect in bearing, white-haired, withsfine features and a cer- tain squarely-drawn, firm moulded chin. l he is, for instance, when seen passing on the street, a man one LOOKS at Wlln ln- 1 terest. In the courtroom one is impressed with his common sense and clear eyesight, his keen, direct manner. Upon knowing him. it is found at once he has that quality more rare, perhaps, among the men of Birmingham than any other. char acteristic simply the quality of being
 genuine. He is just himself. He Is never anybody else or anything else, simply himself.
 Although having, as matter of course. strongly marked. the judicial point of
 view, it does not follow that he loses one
 whit of the point of view of mortal man
 himself, He sees things and people from many sides and very much as they are And he is singularly sensitive to and apprecative of acts of loyalty and comradeship on the part of the people of Birmingham.
 Not since the spring of 1871, when Bir- mingham was born, has it known the spring until today. The coming into ex- ecutive office of such a man as A. O. Lane means in many ways an awakening. Under the commission rule it may even be that public spirit shall be born here. At any rate, whether it be for long or for short. the citizens of Birmingham are coming now face to face with fair play
 and the square deal and Birmingham for the sake of Birmingham