The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-02
Commission Rescinds Action
Providing for Employ
ment of Landscape Man
PROTEST MADE BY
GROUP OF CITIZENS
All Approve Civic Scheme But Main
tain That Man of Wide Expert
ence Must Be Employed
for the Work

IPAcinineHL men TO the employment OF
George H. Miller to draft the civic scheme
Of Birmingham caused the commission
Yesterday to wipe the slate clean" and
rescind former order employing that
landscape architect
| 1t has seldom been the experience of
the commission to hear such protests as
were offered yesterday to the employment
OF Mr.. Miller of Boston, the selection of
| whom caused a split in the park COM
mission. For nearly two hours Col.
Thomas o. Smith, I. Groom Beatty Fred
NJ jackson, Walter /. Sessions, Mr..
Weatherly and others engaged in a round
of criticisms and of defense that eventu-
ally caused the commission to rescind all
previous action and decide that further
consideration must be given the park
scheme and the employment of another
expert.
From the tidal wave of protests there
issued one fact, however, that caused
manifest interest and satisfaction from
all of the commissioners, and that was
that every man at the meeting on what
ever side of the Miller controversy, was
In favor of park scheme They all said
III answer to inquiries directed by Mr..
Exum and Mr.. Weatherly that the civic
scheme was a laudable and entirely APP
propriate ambition and should be worked
out. They all said that Birmingham was
to be great city and that a civic plan
such as suggested by Chairman John L.
kaul of the park commission should
be bought and paid for the final execu-
tion of the plan being left to the future
generations of this city.
As to Mr.. Miller, however, those who
| objected based their protests on his
youth. his alleged inexperience, his al
legged failures in connection with schemes
in Birmingham, and his inability as a
civil engineer. 1t was maintained that
landscape architect here should also be
an engineer with sufficient ability to treat
| with the grade crossing and viaduct ques-
| tions that must be solved sooner or later.
Is Tremendous Undertaking
| Il would not reflect upon Mr. Miller
personally, and the young man so far as
he has progressed" said Col Tom
/ Smith. However, this civic plan for
| Birmingham is tremendous undertaking.
The city should on that account employ
the very best talent that can be found
THE inability of Mr. Miller to deal with
the grade crossing problems that are
here; his lack of experiences as a city
builder, and his youth all lead me to
think that he is not the man for this
gigantic task. This employment or pro-
posed employment of Mr.. Miller has
caused a split in the park commission and
will cause a split in the city generally,
70 10 10 G,,o Xxr1 fr,lr hat 4l,x
civic plan is good scheme. but the abil-
ity that it requires to execute the plan
! is more than 1 think Mr. Miller can
give"
Fred M. Jackson Talks
| Fred NJ. Jackson, who always mani
| tests an interest in civic improvements,
said that he did not know any of the park
| experts that had been considered. He
said. however. that from inquiries he had
made and from information that had
| been received, he was of the opinion that
Mr.. Miller was not the man for the work.
| He plead for harmony among all the
citizenship of Birmingham, and said that
from indications If Mr.. Miller were given
a contract it would split the financial
and other interests wide open in Bir-
mingham. That harmony, ability,
finances and cooperation were the pre-
| scrption needed was the general trend OF
Mr.. Jacksons observations.
Sessions Says Big Man Needed
Mr.. Sessions said that he was an in
surance man, and that experts Of his
company that visit % cities all over the
country believed and expressed the opin-
ion that Birmingham was destined to be
a great big city. lie added that engi-
neering skill, executive ability and wide
| experience were required of any man
I,,ff,a f1 rt,lrz
scheme in Birmingham
Beatty Opposes Miller
Our company employed Mr.. Miller"
said Mr. Beatty, general manager of the
| birmingham Realty company, s'but found
his plans entirely impractical We ig-
nored every recommendation that he Of
| fered, but paid him his fee. He does not
| POSSESS the requisite engineering skill and
| general experience to handle a proposition
of the magnitude that the city contem-
plates. The work Mr.. Miller has executed
| here cost great deal and | hear nu-
merous complaints about it,
Weatherly Makes Statement
When the criticisms of Mr.. Miller had
| been stated in full Commissioner James
Weatherly tituar head of the park com
mission, made statement He related
| the hard shedding that was necessary to
| set John l.. Kaul on the board as we'll as
| some other members He related that for,
, a while the minority and majority of the
| park commission could not get together
on any man for the work. He recounted
that the two recommendation, one for
Miller and one for Kestler, the latter
from the majority, had remained on his
desk for three months
Finally in the interest of harmony he
requested an audience with Frank W..
Smith and Hugh Martin of the majority
and sought one with ex-Commissioner
N. b. Stack, but the latter was in Florida
Finally he caused the two members OF
the majority in the city to join Mr.. Ka,i
and Mr.. Jemison in recommending Mr.
Miller. Mr.. Weatherly said he made
brief statement of this negotiation to
the commissioners whereupon the COM
mission voted to affirm the action of the
rark commission for the employment OF
Mr.. Miller That action was yesterday
rescinded.
~ am certainly glad of one thing.
said Mr.. Weatherly. "and that is this
kmeeting developed the unanimous opinion
| that the civic plan should be adopted and
carried out not to exceed the initial ex-
penditure Of $4,000
In view. however of this opposition to
the employment of Mr.. Miller. / want to
make this motion that all action in con-
nection with the employment of Mr.. Miller
be rescinded aud that this commission
start over again the proposition of en-
| poying of the civic expert am ready
| and willing to vote for any competent
| man, but wipe the slate clean.
! The motion Of Mr.. Weatherly was car
rled.