The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-05
Birmingham, July 3, 1918.
Cites Objections to Auditorium


To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
1t is with considerable interest that
note the article in todays Age-Herald
in re the auditorium propositions; partic-
ularly the statement of Mr. Paschal g.
Shook, chairman of the auditorium COM
mttee.
| lnasmuch as the Chamber of Commerce
seems to have press-agented this PROPOSE
tion freely and whereas the greater pro-
portion of the citizens and taxpayers OF
Birmingham who are not so fortunate as
to be affiliated in any way with that be-
nevolent body, have not had voice in the
proceedings, and being one of the mere
citizens. l wish to venture few remarks
| in their behalf.
Mr.. Shook states that the two large
hotels now under construction cannot
prosper without an auditorium. For sake
of argument we will grant that point.
| He further states there will be consider
able income from the building itself This
| statement is ridiculous upon the fact it
would be an utter impossibility for the
Chamber of Commerce or anyone else to
get enough conventions to meet in Bir-
mingham to make an auditorium self sup
| porting.
Now the above points are the only two
arguments Mr.. Shook has to make. In
| the rest of his statement he is upon the
defensive.
In the first place, the question arises:
| Who, primarily, will be benefited? An
| swer: The hotels, shopkeepers. bars street
car companies and taxicab companies.
This being the case, let the hotels, shop
keepers bars, street car companies and
taxicab concerns finance the auditorium
by forming a stock company and purchas-
ing shares in the enterprise in proportion
to the extent they expect to be benefited
Why should the citizenship of Birming-
ham be taxed to bring profits TO this class
of people? If they were the real hustlers,
boosters, etc, ad infinitum, they claim to
be, let these interested parties subscribe
to the undertaking, and If 1t turns out
all they claim it WILL they will not lose
penny by it. However, they are too anx-
ious to let someone else hold the bag for
them in the event that it does not prove
| to be as successful as they are now
claiming it will be.
| And Furthermore, as men of judgment,
they should know that an auditorium of
| itself will be no inducement for any ma
tional convention to come to Birmingham
When a convention is held it is with the
idea OF mixing pleasure with business at
the ratio of about 10 to l, which naturally
brings up the question of what attractions
have we here to offer visitors? People
are not going to travel hundreds of miles
merely to view the South Highlands and
| inspect the steel plants. If we had the
attractions a pleasure seeking crowd de-
mands we would get the conventions
whether we had an auditorium or not
| AS to putting the question to a referen-
| dunn, it will be a saving of time and
money not to do IT, as it would be over
whelmingly defeated by those who will
derive financial gain whatsoever.
| | think that the nerve of the Chamber
| OF Commerce. representing the hotels,
shopkeepers. bars and interested real es-
1 tate men of this city, is collosal in en-
deavorng to exploit such inequitable
proposition upon Birmingham. If they are
so anxious to build up the community so
| that there will be more taxpayers to mulct
why don't they go to the city commits
sioners with the proposition that the city
issue several million dollars worth of
bonds and use the proceeds to buy real
estate at boom prices from members of
the Chamber of Commerce to donate to
poor but worthy industries who wish to
come here and thus enlarge the popula-
tion? That would not be near so absurd
as this auditorium proposition, and the
| benefits reaped would be more lasting.
| believe l have said enough for my
| part but IL the Chamber of Commerce
| ct al. desire any more verbal broadsides,
| | doubt not but what there are a great
many patriotic citizens in Birmingham
who could rake them fore and aft and do
| much better job of it than J! have. Very
truly, AMOR LORENTZ.
| Birmingham, July 4, 1913
Wrong Data on Pickett's Charge
| To the Editor of The Age-Herald
1t will be Impossible to correct the pop
uar idea of Picketts famous charge,