The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-18

With all the dignity of true Romans,
the Birmingham triumvirate welded the
| mighty governmental powers of commits
| sion form of government in their new
sanctum yesterday afternoon. 1t was an
| imposing spectacle.
The change from the meetings in one
small room like a crowd of college boys
discussing a football victory to the meet
irgs in the large council room" where
the commissioners solemnly sat behind d
gIeat long desk on a raised platform
! guiding the wheels of the city govern
ment along the straight and narrow was
very sudden and very awe inspiring. 1t
eXuded dignity.
With President c. Exum in the middle,
Commissioner Lane on his right and Com
missioner Weatherly on his left, all
parched in easy chairs with nothing
but their heads appearing above the
solemn and flignified oak desk, the com
has Travelled over since leaving Mo-
bile 10 days ago was run over this
morning in Limestone county, on the
trip here from Florence. The distance
betwe Florence and Athens, accord
ing to the speedometer reading, is 1876
miles. vet this distance was covered
in about three hours and twenty min
utes, Notwithstanding the fact that
2S.5 miles lead over rough country
roads in Lauderdale county.
From the Limestone county line,
which lies just across the Elk river,
the Buick touring car had plane sail
ing from that place to Athens, and
the Is and odd miles Were covered in
"A minutes.
Nearly five miles of the road be-
tween the river and Athens was con-
structed by state aid, and the remain
ing distance by the county. Both the
state and and the county roads have
been constructed within the past year.
The county road is a graveled pike
that follows comparatively straight
line, although it passes through a sec
tinon of the county that is both hilly
and rough. over this road the state
highway touring car Travelled at the
rate of 25 miles per hour.
State Engineer w. S. Keller and his
party were met at Athens by large
number of prominent citizens of the
place, all of whom manifested great
interest in his trip, and expressed a
large degree of enthusiasm over the
proposed state highway through this
section of the state.
Among the well known citizens of
Athens who met Engineer Keller and
his party were James e. Horton, a
member of the legislature; r. II. Wal
lker, former immigration commissioner;
II. B. Malone, II. c. Thach, J. w. Frost,
a delegate to the last democratic con-
vention at Montgomery; DIR. w. j. Ha-
gan and others.
The state scouting partly will spend
a couple of hours at Athens. and will
push on this afternoon to Huntsville,
which city they expect to reach abouv
4 o'clock in the afternoon.
Limestone Progressive County
Probably no county in this section
of the state is more progressive than
Limestone. The condition of the crops
passed by the state scouting partly on
the way here from Florence was good,
and indications are that the farmers
of this section will have ag GOOD season
Limestone is a great cotton growing
county, and the farmers declare that
while the crop is somewhat behind on
account of the late spring, they have
hopes of making more than the aver
age yield. Corn and wheat are other
farm products that are much grown
in Limestone county, and these crops
are also good.
On the question of good roads, Limo
stone county is not behind the other
counties in this section of the state
1t has been a noticeable feature of the
state highway scouting trip through
the counties of the Tennessee valley
that nearly all the farmers are enthu-
siastic on the subject Of good roads,
and Engineer Keller has met with con-
siderable encouragement whenever this
subject has been brought up durine
the trip through this section of the
state.
Car Making Schedule Time
Probably no scouting car that has
ever Travelled the state has made bet
ter time than the touring machine in
which Engineer Keller and his party
are travelling through the state Dis
tances between the leading cities OF
this section of the state are being COW
cred in remarkably short time. and
the time in which the trip from one
place to another Is usually made often
occasions the greatest surprise on the
part of the people who gather around
the touring car as it enters some OF
the towns.
The good time the state highway ca,
is making Is due largely, however. to
the fine weather and to the condition
of the roads. Since leaving Decatur
yesterday morning the car has travelled
over nearly 100 miles of road, yet little
difficulty was met at any points alone
the way. The roads in this sectior
of the state are in a much better con.
dition than the highways leadins
through south Alabama, and jadgin !
by the enthusiasm with which the
people of this section discuss road
building. there Is every Indication tha,
the next few years will see a numbe,
of remarkably fine highways al
through this part of the state. unitina
all the principal cities and towns. anS
connecting with main highways lead.
ing to Birmingham and MONTGOMERY.