The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-24
Selection of City Will Be Taken Up at Future
 Meeting ENTIRE STATE WILL ASSIST IN PROJECT Birmingham Makes Strong Bid and It Is Felt That Her Efforts for the Big Show Will
 Succeed
By l.. S. BETTY.

lion of a location for the Alabama cen tennial exposition in 1919 by the cen tennial committee. which met in Mont gomery for the purpose of considering [ the advisability of holding a mammoth . celebration at that time in commemor- ntion of Alabama's admission into the union
 Birmingham and Montgomery were the two bidders for the big exposition. Birmingham, through it's representa- 6 lives, offered to raise in the neighbor- hood of $1,000, ,0o0 for the purpose of !. promoting the movement. Montgomery ] gave assurance of ample financial sup I port at the proper time, but made a ], special appeal for the exposition on the grounds of sentiment and historical in 9 terest.
 The final vote showed IS votes for Bir I hingham, r for Montgomery and two zach for Selma and Huntsville. It was decided, however. to allow the final se- lection to be made later.
 The principal contest. however. was between Birmingham and Montgomery, ! the one offering every possible assur Hnce of sufficient funds with which to $ put through the movement and the & other maintaining that Montgomery Y was entitled to the exposition on the q grounds that it was the capital city of z the state. and for other sentimental !, reasons.
 The vote was taken the location M of the exposition as the final business A of the day. and when it was decided by the \ centennial committee that this question 1 should be decided at a meeting to be 1.<II r.rff t.. th.x fanr to ha j caNed by the executive committee of q l3 members from the entire state. N This committee consists of one mem # Der from each congressional district in N the state and of three members from k the state at large.
 Personnel of Committee K Dr. Thomas M. Owen of Montgomery * Is the chairman of the committee. The G other members of the executive com E n,ittee are as follows: First district, |rAs l. J. Buck, Mobile; second district 8 Will T. Sheehan, Montgomery; third . district, J. K. Afford, Hartford fourSh E district, A. D. Pitts, Selma fifth dis trict. Judge A. J. Driver, lafayette; ; sixth district, George A. Searcy, Tns- \ caloosa; seventh district, Gardner Green, Pell City; eighth district John IL Wallace Jr Huntsville; ninth dis trict F. P Glass, Birmingham; state Bt-large, C. A. O'Neal, Andalusia w. r. G. Harding, Birmingham and George w. Jones of Montgomery.
 Full of Enthusiasm
 The centennial committee had one Of the most enthusiastic meetings prob ably ever held in Alabama The com- mittee was represented by some of ehe most prominent and influential bust- ness and professional men in the state, End the sense of the entire committee was that an exposition should be held In 1919, in commemoration of Alabama s admission into the union.
 None questioned Alabamas s ability to hold in 1919 the largest exposition ever given in the south. The forty-hve members of the committee who were present represented the best and most substantial element in the state. They were men who had studied the situa- tion and their impressions on the neces- s:ty Of holding such an exposition were the result of a careful and painstaktnS Investigation of the subject. Men in every walk in life were represented at the meeting. representatives Of the federal government representatives or <the state government, and prominent lawyers. bankers and business men They were all in accord on the propo- sition that Alabama should hold cen tennial exposition. but they declared that the celebration should be com mensurate with the dignity and inn portance of the state.
 Following the speech of MT. Joseph. there was call for vote on the To- cation of the exposition. After some other discussion it was then decided to select location at another meeting of the com nlittee to be called by the executive com mittee of 13 members. The meeting then adjourned.
 Enthusiasm at Initial Session
 Great enthusiasm marked the initial session of tile Alabama centennial and ex- position committee, which convened Tn the auditorium of the Business Men league at lO.30 o'clock Wednesday morn ing Invocation was offered by the Rev Dr Charles A. Stakely, pastor of the First Baptist church of Montgomery.
 On motion of John H. Wallace. Jr., Paul Stevenson of Gadsden and Stafford Betty of Montgomery were selected as tempo rary secretaries of the exposition commit tee. An effort to elect a treasurer was successfully blocked by Alex Pitts of Selma and Congressman George w. ray lor of Demopois, both of whom declared that this officer should not be selected until it was determined where the exposi- ton should be held, inttmating that the treasurer should reside in that city which secured the location of the big celebra- tion
 Following the roll call in which it was shown that there was not a quorum present, committee was appointed to round up any members who still fingered about the hotel lobbies, and to draw up rules looking to the perfection of the cen- tennial committee organization. The most important rule brought Tn by the special committee was that the committee of the whole should decide at the present meet ing whether not the exposition should be held. On motion of w. P. G. Hard ing of Birmingham the discussion of this rule V As ordered deferred until the regu- lar programme had been completed
 Regular Programme Taken Up
 The regular programme was taken up following brief address by pr. Thomas M owen, chairman of the centennial committee who said that to Paul Stew enson of Gadsden, at present a news paper man of Montgomery, belonged the credit for the movement which had crys- nalized in the appointment of the commit Ice to consider the advisabiity of holding the exposition in 1919. Dr. owen said Birmingham and other cities in the state had at times suggested a centennial ex-
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