The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-21
STATE SANATOR|UM FOR TUBERCULOSIS
 SITE IN BALANCE.
Cullman Protests and COun- ty Treasurer Makes Prop OsitiOn for Chambless
 Mill Property
Fly JULIA H. GILLESPIE

; Cullman, March ao-(Special.) )-The
 most vital question in Cullman today is
 that of the location of state sanatorium for tuberculosis. A few weeks ago. un-
 known to any citizen of Cullman. or Gull man county except those making the
 deal, the transfer of 460 acre sof land
 was made by George J. Beyer and George
 Imbusch to the state of Alabama for the
 sum of S13.OOo on which the state pro
 poses to build the sanatorium for con
 sumptives, many of whom are negroes.
 Dr W. H. Sanders. state health officer,
 made the selection of the land Cash was
 paid by the state except s100o which was
 reserved to bore for water, which the
 state health officer says is needed in large
 qantities for the sanatorium
 As soon IS the people of Cullman knew
 of this deal, mass meetings were called
 and the location protested against, not
 because of the nature of the sanatorium, not that the people of this county were
 unwilling to bear the necessary burden
 of such an enterprise for the good of humanity. but because the tract of land selected was adjoining the Widows and Orphans home of the Independent OrdcI of Odd Fellows of Alabama, and also ad- joining the Cullman County High school, and through this very tract runs the Eight Mile cheek, from which the city of Cullman expects shortly to get it's surplus water supply, and options are already held by the city for pipe line from this creek
 Excitement ran high in Cullman wher , the boring of the wells began and a depu- tation was sent to Montgomery to confer with the governor and the state health officer
 A proposition was made Dr. Sanders, who admitted the real undesrability of the location secured, and protested that he did not know that the city of Cullman was looking to this creek for water, which must be contaminated by the sanAs torium.
 j. D. Searcy, county treasurer of Gull
 man county, made d proposition which fl accepted by the state will relieve the situation.
 Cullman Makes Proposition The proposal was this: An even ex-
 change of the Chamblees Mill property
 for the land bought by the state. The
 Chamblees Mill property is located just
 over the Blount county line, contains 40
 acres of land, is 15 miles from Cullnlan.
 six miles from Hanceville, and the same
 from Garden City. From the latter place
 is pike road, with no hills Thirty
 acres are newly cleared and in cutiva-
 ton. There are four dwellings, on the
 place, large new barn that will house
 14 cattle or horses, a blacksmith shop, a
 store, cotton gin, new power plant
 that operates the gin and grist mill and furnishes 39 electric lights The mill grinds wheat, corn and makes graham flour as fine as can be bought. w. A. Schlosser chairman of the light and water committee of Cullman, says that
 the power of this plant can be doubled.
 It is run by water power from a tre- mendous blue spring, rivaling the Hunts ville spring. situated 176 feet above the city of Cullman, and furnishing 5000 OOJ gallons of water every four hours. The cost of the improvements alone would cost the state S10,000. while the land bought by the state is in the woods. The very great advantage to the state in the exchange is that immediate pos session could be given and the sana- tor1um could be opened at once. Mr. Searcy's title is good, and he will furnish an abstract back to 1886. There is an un- settled territory here from which no op- jections could arise and in which the
 state could find additional territory it needed.
 The 10000 Odd Fellows of Alabama who have put their money in the home here are not going to stand for the contamina- 1 tion of this sanitorium. And the people Of Cullman county will seriously object to the young man and woman seeking a higher education to fit them for citizenship having to come in contact, actual con tact, with tubercular charity patients. The last chance to undo this mistake is
 now offered, and the state has promised
 through its state health officer to inves- tigate this offer of exchange.
 MT. Searcy can plot the 46O acres near Cullman into small farms and sell them
 to people woh want to put their children
 in the high school.