The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-29
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Miss Arms on Survey Articles

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Inasmush as certain ponts of the ar tiele on Birmingham in the Survey en- titled ''Tne Spirit of the Founders" have been questioned in your columns of the 22d inst. by a resident of this county Mrs Sarah Prince Carter. the matter it seems calls for further explanation.
 'Whence all this tirade against old Jef- ferson famiies?" Mrs. Carter asks And there may perhaps be large number ot native born residents of this county who feel what Mrs. Carter so clearly ex- presses.
 There is no "tirade"
 There is a simple direct statement of historical and concrete facts in this Sur Vey article, as borne out by not only the written records of this county and this state, but by existing circumstances to- day. To the people of this county, O. whom am now one, and with whose best interests I am permanently allied, l have gwen several years of service in the fieli Of historical research and historical writ ing.
 Ir ''The Story of Coal and Iron in Ala bama," to which I refer Mrs. Carter for detailed descriptions of the early settle ments here there is a complete list, in- tersperse1 throughout the pages of the authorities consulted. It is too long for reproduction here. Every line in that book is based upon solid fact. The Sur vey article is based in large degree upon this book.
 No writer upon historical subjects de. sirous of being of constructive value in his community, desrous of becoming an his- torian in the fine, large sense of that word, can afford, even at the risk of pres ent day unpopuarity and misconception. to make a false or inaccurate statemen; about anything whatsoever; his people, his town, his county and his state least of all.
 His interpretation os the spirit as well as the letter of a fact must be accord ing to hls own lights And those lights he must hold clear and high above the dust, the raould 'the cobblestones, the little prylne dinwows; the streets that dream O what the neghbors sayi"
 This. I repeat. if he desires to be of any constructive value in his community; if he desires to achieve the true patriotism. Gle, of course, in this instance means she.)
 Are the people of Jefferson county. gen. erally spealing-mark that generally speaking g"-'.yhat may be termed "a read ing people" today?
 of course). But they are not today as a whole and they were not yesterday, nor the day before yesterday. But that does not imply that they may not become sol
 Do family "ties," old silver, old furni- ture, old pictures, etc., make men and women?
 I may be slightly radical, of course, but my idea If men and women is that they are made of flesh and blood and spirit, and of heart and brains and grit. (BrainE! BrainsD
 What is aristocracy here in America? {? Here in Jefferson county?
 It is formed, or ought to be formed, on personal worth alone; personal force, per- scnal achievement. native intelligence, genuine culture. and the milk of human indness It matters not whether one $ forbears were bootbacks or candlestick mekers-or what. What is the man him- self worth today as man? the woman } q woman? That's the question.
 Why aholld one stand in his grand fathers sh, es eternally-on old silver, ol furuiture old pictures, and beautiful soup in general And why if ones grandfather were one thing in reality. why should any of us maNe him another? The log cabins or weatherbeaten shacks of our ancestors flor many were just that-frequently became in the march of our southern fic- ton, manor halls and palaces"
 Why?
 Whom does this help?
 We of the south are gifted with a su- preme and magnificent imagination. Why not turn it 10 practical end? Construct out of Birmingham clean, wholesome. beautiful city? Build more public schools, endow our colleges, Owenton and Howard to start with, and the University of Alabama. and the University of the South at Sewanee.
 Cooperate with them.
 Men and women students. teachers poets; writers, artists and musicians have worked in Alabama under dark skies .n- deed, form the beginning to the present time.
 And still the dark lies heavy,
 Through Jefferson county as through many another place, stalk greed. graft, ignorance stupidity and petty spite. Money is placed first and foremost. To skin f ea and save the hide and ,hoofs' that's the thing-here.
 When one sees in this county, which Is the largest taxpayer in the state, the poor, pitiful little sums doled out to main tain certain most worthy charities here. what can one d0 but gasp?
 Why cannot the ministers here, Catho- lIc, Protestant and Hebrew, take these various facts and statistics relating to the