The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-03
WORKERS WILL GET PLEDGE CARDS Al
 MEETING TONIGHT
First General Meeting of University Campaign at the Chamber of Com
 merCe Tonight

At o'clock this evening in the audi
 torium of the Chamber of Commerce will
 be gathered all who are to take part in
 the campaign to secure for Birmingham
 the location of the great Methodist uni
 versity-the central committee, the dis
 trict advisory committee, the team cap
 tains and their teams and the citizens
 committee of 125 It will be a mass meet
 ing of all the workers for the purpose
 of distributing pledge cards and explain
 ing in detail the full import of the move
 ment to those who are to help in the
 building of the great institution.
 There probably will be an attendance
 of upwards of 25o and practically every
 prominent business man in Birmingham
 will be present It is the first meeting
 Of all the workers, although the dis
 trict advisory committee lunched one day
 this week with the central committee.
 The meeting tonight Is preliminary to the beginning of the real campaign Tues day morning next and there will be an- other mass meeting Monday night. Where this will be held has not yet been de- cided, but it is thought likely that it will be held in the banquet hall of the Young Mems Christian association. and that there will be a banquet. That is
 detail yet to be worked out
 At the lunch yesterday afternoon at the Tutwiler of the cenral committee
 there was a full and free discussion of the details of the campaign. It was de-
 cided to begin the campaign proper Tues ,lo a,,A tn n pi1iCl(
 order.
 Work Would Begin Immediately One of the important features of the work is that the actual work of con
 struction on the university will begin very soon after the locating commission decides upon the city in which it is to be established. The donations are to be paid in installments, if the giver so desires, and immediately after the first payment has been made plans for the building of the institution will be started. If the university is located in Birmingham it is very likely that ground will be broken before the end of 1914.
 The Methodist church will begin imme- diately after the choosing of the city of location to raise fund of between $4,VO0,- 900 and s5,0O0,000 for the university. Dr. A. J. Lamar, a member of the com mission, who made a talk before the central committee recently, declared that the church was going to raise such a fund and intimated that an amount equal to the sum raised in the city in which the university is located would be secured from the church-at-arge within the time limit of the pledge cards. Dr. Lamar said that financial agents would be sent out by the church to raise the univer- sity fund, and that the fund raised by the city which secured the university would be used as the nucleus for the | church fund. That this fund will be
 raised by the church there is not the slightest doubt, for the commission has
 said it would not establish university unless it could establish one as good as the best-and that will take something like s5,000,000.
 | Prof. J. B. Hobdy, member of the | faculty of the Alabama Polytechnic in- stitute al Auburn, was Birmingham vis- I itor yesterday, remaining in the city a | few hours and visiting the Chamber of | Commerce. Professor Hobdy said that | Auburn was with Birmingham in it's fight to secure the Methodist university. Auburn Not Jealous
 1 ''The faculty at Auburn is watching the fight between Birmingham and At lanta for the Methodist university with a great deal of interest,"" said Professor Hobdy. "and I think I can safely say that there is not a single dissenting voice
 have the great school.
 "While we feel very near to Atlanta, being on a direct railroad line with that city, at the same time have a state
 pride feeling in Birmingham, besides be- ing of the opinion that Birmingham is
 the only logical location for the uni
 versity
 There Is more work for a university
 to do in Birmingham than in Atlanta.
 The Magic City of Alabama offers the
 best field for & university and for that
 reason alone, if for none other, the uni
 versity should be located here. The out come of the fight is being watched with interest and we Auburn folk and our best wishes are with you.
 Sol Caheen a well known local mer- ! chant, yesterday issued a statement, giv- ing his views on the securing of the
 university for Birmingham. It follows: "I have always contended that every enterprise landed for Birmingham is a
 mighty good thing If it Is nothing but a factory employing but one man. but when you go to bringing a university here which attracts 1000 young men from all | over the country 1t is so good that l feel I can't very we'll express myself to do justice to the benefits we will derive l from it.
 | Tt puts Birmingham in different light. People from away off cease tp look at us, if we have a universoty. as merely a people bent only on making money. but
 look upon Birmingham as an educational center. It renders Birmingham more cos -l Kk L.