The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-06
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Those Trash Cans

To the Editor of The Age-Herald. i Being on the committee appointed b. the Board of Trade to protest agains the proposed advertising trash car proposition, I have been asked by any number of business men what I thought of J. F. Shelby's interview in The Age Herald
 have known John Shelby for many years; long before we came to Bir- mingham and I have watched his evo- lution with interest and pleasure Shelby is right on all subjects of pub lie interest as he sees 1t, from his stand point; and the only thing wrong in this instance is his standpoint.
 No one could especially object to the appearance of this one trash can now on exhibition; the can in itself is not so unsightly--in fact, compared with the old can there by it, makes the new one a beauty.
 As I understand it, the question in- volved is not the sample trash can and it's environments on Norton's cor ner but the city beautiful idea-sc long sung by day and dreamed of by night by our commissioner. George Ward, and a host of his followers-is about to be jeopardized and make Bir- mingham look like she had received 6 blow in the mouth from Atlanta, for instance. causing a "hair lip which only time and the skill of the DOW CTS that be" could at best patch up to make d respectable appearance.
 If Shelby would take his character istic comprehensive view of the situ- ation, let him take an aeroplane ride over the city and look down and i'm agine for a moment our great city dotted thickly with advertising trash cans, no doubt he would change his mind and offer as his only excuse for giving out that interview was that he had recently slipped up on a banana peel and that it occurred to him thai a lot of such trash cans would avoid the recurrence of such an unpleasant thing; and that for the moment he lost sight of the city beautiful iNa.
 George Ward is certainly showing an unselfish ,disposition in an effort to conserve our city's finances by laying aside his pet" scheme-the city beau tiful idea--to even consider this trash can advertising scheme. Upon second thought he shall doubtless observe that it is quite apparent that if the city wishes to go into the advertising busi- ness that OtHer 1leluS uIBnl De SOuBHl promising better returns and at tho same time not eclipse the viewing oi his long cherished city beautiful idea
 Robert Ewing's interview which ap- peared simultaneously with Hr. Shel- by's expresses the views of the large majority of business men I have heard express themselves on the subject. Yes Shelby has another think coming"
 Despite the fact we cannot have that which we so obviously deserve. one oi the regional banks, we sure don't want to disparagingly sell our "city beautiful idea for a mess of pot tage."
 There have been other suggestions made looking toward condensing side walk utilities in the business district combining lamp posts, fire alarls, trash resceptacles and perhaps ma1 boxes all into one. It is pointed out that much valuable space in the congested dis trict is now obstructed by too many devices.
 No doubt in due course this will all be worked out by an expert city beau tiful engineer. J. H. FINDER. Birmingham.