The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-29
Visitor Says He Was More
Impressed by Lack of 1t
Than by Marvellous
Growth
ENTERTAINMENT OF
NATIONAL MEETING
AN IMPOSSIBILITY
Usual Method in Modern City Build
ing Is to Construct Auditorium
First - More Conventions
Would Mean Much-Cites
Experiences
ny RALPH r.. SILVER

ny RALPH r. SILVER
That he was more impressed with Biz
,,invham,s lack of an auditorium than
with her stupendous growth was the start
ling statement made yesterday by Nor
man H. Johnson of Richmond, general
counsel of the National Retail Merchants
association and editor OF the Merchants
journal and Commerce. who has been in
the city as the principal speaker at the
Alabama Merchants convention just con-
cluded.
Mr.. Johnson is one of the best informed
and most widely travelled men In the
country 1t has been eight years since
he was in this city. and he stated that
in spite of the fact that he had been
hearing and reading wonderful tales about
Birmingham' growth and development
that he could hardly believe his eyes
when he arrived here a few days ago
He predicts great things for the city
future-and it's not hot air with Johnson,
he knows whereof he speaks.
Two Points Emphasized
The great merchants convention just
concluded has emphasized many things,
but two more than any others stand so
much in the front and are so prominent
that they are like lighthouses on bar
rem coast. They are:
l. Birmingham has been recognized as
the commercial and wholesale center of
the state.
,. Birmfnghams biggest need is an
auditorium.
he atul u
elected president of the Alabama Mer-
chants association, which was organized
at East Lake park Wednesday night
stated Yesterday that the new organiza-
tion wished to unanimously indorse the
auditorium movement in Birmingham and
would do everything within the power
of the new association to aid in morally
and materially. The clumsy and unsat-
isfaetory results of the attempts to speak
in the big skating rink at East Lake
Wednesday night we're evident to every
one in the. hail. The speakers could not
be heard except within a very narrow
circle about them, and the fault WASH t
with their voices. Speeches that other
wise would have been remembered by
hundreds of men and would no doubt
have materially changed certain business
methods and conditions in the mercan-
tile life of Alabama, merely made slight
impression on account of the difficulty
of hearing and the uncomforta bleness
of the audience.
Value of Convention
From a reliable source it was learned
yesterday that there We're considerable
more official delegates to the Birmingham
convention than there were at the At
lanta merchants convention some few
weeks ago. Atlanta advertised her CON
Yention all over the south and attempted
to draw delegates from every southern
state
Birmingham did not pretend to go out
side of Alabama this first time and had
Il much bigger convention. The value of
such a convention to the town went
home" with a ring u everybody who has
been keeping in touch with the conven-
ton.
With the delegates who came yesterday
it is estimated there were no less than
800 ont of town merchants in attendance.
Making this $50 merchants who. were here
for two davs, and many of them brought
friends or members of their families with
them. and estimating that each of the
$50 delegates spend at least $40 a day
for two days, that is outside of his busi-
neas dealings with the wholesale houses,
which amounted to thousands and thou
sands of dollars, and the total of the
money brought to Birmingham and dis
tributcd among the bankers. the clothiers,
the hotels, the theatres, the drug stores
and every form of business, reaches
sl7,0oH
Have Caught the Spirit
And that's conservative estimate; the
chances are that the total figure will
amount to considerable more than $1,000.
How long would II take to pay for an
auditorium at that rate?
But to stop calculating there would be
folly. and unfair. The merchants. those
$50 live Alabamians who are for Ala
hama for Alabamans." have spent two
days or more in Birmingham and have
been royalty entertained; they have had
a good time; they have made many new
friends here: they have seen it demon
strated that more visits to Birmingham
means dollars and cents in their pockets
in the way of buying their stocks; and
more than all else they have caught the
alabama for Alabamians' spirit, they
have taken an interest in Birmingham
and they are proud of the city.
They feel an interest here they have
never felt before
They have realized that the interests of
themselves and the city are one and the
same and that when one prospers so does
the other. That strangeness and foreign
feeling that has heretofore been enter
tanned for Birmingham is gone, that petty
jealousy is gone with it; no longer are
they envious of the fame and name OF
Birmingham. They have felt an interest
In the town and her people; they have
been made to feel that they are part
of the town; they have accepted her as
their own and they are proud of her.
That means that those merchants are
going to come back. They are not only
going to come back, but they are going
to bring somebody else along. They are
going to talk Birmingham. And that
means in turn more conventions, more
private business visits. and more money
coming into the town-not money out OF
the merchants pockets, but money which
heretofore he has been taken somewhere
else. Instead of the one convention there
will be dozens when there is an audi
torium.
The least of them will bring in no less
than the $1,000 And in between the con-
ventions the new friends that the town
has made will keep coming in on pri-
vate visits and more money comes with
them.
Auditorium the Basis
5 And back of the whole thing is an
auditorium which at most will not cost