The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

The City Beautiful-the humanizing forces of today are always proceeding from the city. They are creating a new moral sense. new conception Of the obligations of civic welfare and brotherhood. obligations which, in car Her conditions of society, did not or could not exist Step by step the rights of individuals have been merged into larger social ones. And It is this very increase in public interests and actiVi- ties that renders the modern city-aho in a larger sense the city of the future attractive to the rich and poor allKe' In earlier days, even the most elemen- tary public functions were performed by the individuals. He paved, cleaned, and lighted the street before his door. Such health protection as he enJoyea was a result of his own vigilance Edu- cation was conducted at home or py the church. The library was prlestiN possession, as was all learning. Ills house was his castle even in the midst of the city, and society offered him It- tie save the administration of )ust'ce and protection from foreign foes. The spirit of the times has wrought great changes in the civic conscience of the city dwellers and within this human group, out of It's common in- 1erest and common need, sense ot the beautiful and ambition to fulhll the ideal is awakened; when will power and intelligence are civic forces foeus- ing on the united purpose and dennite nrogramme when in addition to sell consciousness and family conscious- ness there arises city CONSCIOUSNESS, that instinct which is willingness to struggle for the common veal such as clean streets, large and well equipped ,,averonnds and a system of public marks, the birth of the city beautifrl is not afar.
 Examples in Other Cities
 The interest aroused by the ideal or the city beautiful is general. one ot the most significant evidences in the. Identification of our cities Is to pc noted in Washington, New York, Bos- ton. Cleveland, San Francisco ana ohi- oago, and very soon the writer hopes' Birmingham will be included. In all these cities public and private move ,nents have been organized for the uni~ fed treatment of the city's architec- ture. a system of parks and the neces- sary playgrounds for the children. A determination seems to have arrived in the public of those cities to general scheme of the city beautiful.
 The city beautiful What Is 1t? What ,s the general scheme? Is it the plan or A civic center of imposing public puild- ings? Is it plan of spacious streets and wide avenues? Is it system or elee- trical illumination to light up the night Is it a system of parks and playgrounds If Is all of this and more for money Will build a city beautiful, but money Will not keen 1t beautiful, and therefore CIVIC nride is needed, a civic consciousness to Inc needs of the city. What is there in building several public buildings in a group of imposing architectural design and beauty If the next block Is an uii- savory slum? What is there in being proud of our beautiful residential section in the South Highlands, Mountain Ter race Cliff Road and Norwood, whenSone cannot leave the downtown district 10 any one of these lovely residential sec tions without passing through as Vlie slums and hives of negro shacks and A mass of interwinding railroad tracks as can be found in any city in the United States? Such conditions do not tend to the city beautiful owing to the lack of CO., operation, the lack of the proper civic spirit. the lack of education. The beauti- full civic center; the parks and play grounds are as naught if the spirit that created these modern improvements stops, 1t must go further it must reach out In the slum into the filth of our modern economical degradation and clean up. The city beautiful means not only archi- tectural grandeur-it means the brother hood which is necessary to the happiness of all.
 The splendid projects now on foot in several of the states are sufficient evil dence that modern democracy is awaken ing to the beautiful The monumental cathedras which awe tourists in Europe are the expressions of the ideals and as- piratlons of mankind In the United States democracy demands and appre- ciates fitting monuments for the realiza- ton of its life and parks and imposing structures as the embodiment of its ideals. It also demands more than that It demands sanitary homes to live in, clean streets and the abolishment of the slum. The 2oth century promises bril- liantly of the ultimate possibilities of ed- ucation towards the city beautiful and in generous expenditures towards that goal.
 What Has Birmingham Done?
 What has been done in Birmingham towards the idea of the city beautiful? A multitude of know-alls would imme- diately answer, nothing. The citizens are too busy making money to bother about the city beautiful. But that would not be the answer, the true answer, for much has been done in Birmingham for it's Identification; the results attained speak well for the effort spent by the devotees in that cause. Of course the squald dis tricts ana the ntertwining railroad tracks are stiil in our midst, but there is evil