The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-28
HUDDLESTON ON THE SLAGP|LE REMOVAL Says Highways Have Been Blocked Long Enough FURNACES MUST GO Estimates Slagpiles Occupy $50,000 Worth of City Property, the
 Interest on Which Is
 s40O0 Annually
FURNACES MUST GO
To the Editor of The Age-Heraid.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald | My attention is called to the statement
 made by the president of the Sloss com
 pany in your Sundays issue, in which MT.
 Maben asserts that the petition that the
 city commission open up the streets
 through the slag pile is inspired by my lack of confidence in the pending suits which seek to abate the smoke and slag
 pile nuisances. The petition Is signed by
 300 leading business men of our city. and
 his suggestion that they are lending | themselves to my purposes Is highly com plimentary to me. I have quit practlcing law. I have no personal nor professional
 interest in this matter My activity is
 merely that of citizen desiring to pro-
 mote the public good
 Violating Criminal Laws 1 I have no disposition to try the smoke
 and slag pile cases in the papers. The
 great fact that concerns the public is
 that the Sloss company, in open violation
 of good morals, as well as the criminal laws, Is maintaining two public nuisances: | d) It is poisoning the air of our city with
 the dust, smoke and fumes from it's coke
 ovens. and @ 1t is blocking public streets
 with it's slag pile.
 | The deeds under which the company
 holds this property recognize the streets
 as public property. MT. Maben will not deny that he is blocking public streets. The defense urged most earnestly in the
 slag pile and smoke cases is that the re-
 lief has been barred by the lapse of time. The theory is that the wrong has been
 perpetuated so long that injured parties cannot now complain. The company's law | yers know that this defense cannot be
 made to suit to the city.
 Make City Beautiful When Birmingham was a mere mining camp, furnaces and coke ovens near it's center were tolerable, but that time has passed. They have no place in the heart of a progressive city. We must make Birmingham beautiful and n place desir- able to live in, not a dirty hole, fit only | for money making
 Practically every enlightened coke mak- | ing company in the entire country has in- stalled by-product coke ovens. It is in- disputable that they cause a great sav- | ing Even from the low viewpoint of mere profits and dividends, the Sloss com. pany would find it to it's interest to tear
 down It's dirty and offensive coke ovens and install modern by-product plant. Make Trespassers Pay | The Sloss company slag pile and others works occupy about six acres of pubic
 highways. This property is worth per | haps $50000; the annual interest on this sum is s4000, which represents the yearly donation the public has been making to l Sloss company's stockholders, The com | pany has had the free use of this prop | erty for 30 years; isn't 1t about tune ior l 1t to move? The use of public property for private purposes is dishonest and cannot be tolerated.
 l There are many instances of such un- | lawful use in our city. The trespassers should be evicted or at least should be re- quired to pay a fair rental. This would
 do much to relieve the city's financial | troubles.
 The Furnace Must Go | The furnace and it's attendant coke | ovens rest like blight on the eastern | half of our city. It blocks all develop ment in that direction. With it's nuisance | of dust and smoke, and it's blocking pub | lie streets it has inconvenienced the pub l lie and affected the public health. It will have to go. Such conditions are out of harmony with the modern civic spirit. 1n- vincible Bourbonism has had its period of darkness Wake up, MI. Maben. The sun is shining. Respectfully, GEORGE HUDDLESTON. | Birmingham, November 27. 1912.