The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-20

villc was my home, snort distance from Indianapolis. Perhaps it was the influ- ence of my kinsman, MT. Thomas Taggart, which directed the course of my business arrangements for I have always been a great admirer of him, not only because of his success politically and financially, but for his splendid ability as a hotel man. It was through MT. Taggart that l NLs offered position with the w. C.. kreil Cigar company in the Grand hotel i'll Indianapolis. I recall very distinctly when the word came to me I was out fishing, and it was at High Rock, a well-known place on the river near my home, when the news was brought to me. l accepted the position and stayed in the hotel business for several months. Then l WIS offered a position with Fairbanks Morse & Co. as manager of their offices in Indianapolis and I took it. l found the work interesting but very confining, working as I did, from in the morning until at night, so when MT. Taggart again sent me a message that he would like to have me help him out in the evenings at his hotel, 1 accepted, and when he offered to make it permanent I accepted again. So you see it was what you might term The Call of the Blood. That's the way the hotel business im- presses me, once you are connected with it, you can't get away; it gets your blood and you like it, and nothing else counts
 My second experience was similar to the first"
 Tn the hotel business what do you
 consider the most necessarily attributes for a man to possess?'' asked.
 "Affability and honesty" said Mir.
 Shireman. "i mean when I say that that affability and kindly feeling toward peo- pie must be honest. It cannot be acquired.
 It comes from the heart. l suppose this was impressed upon me when I was younger and served under two of the best known and most popular hotel men in this country has ever known-Billy Holt and Dave Hagner, who were in turn under Louis Reibold-who was the dean of hotel men in his day--the 'Boldt' of his time Tact and quick wit were envi- able possessions which these men had, but even so, occasions came up which
 tried them. remember at MT. Taggart's
 hotel in Indianapolis oncef large pom derous bewhiskered man arrived black
 as the ace of spades, and wanted to reg ister. Mir. Holt looked him over and sized
 him up and finally relegated him to a room on the top floor of the hotel-a closet it was, nothing more or less-no windows no ventilation just a door. Presently the man came back furiously mad and demanding to know what MT.
 
 ceeding. Mir. Taggart appeared just then and saw the man and rushing forward shook hands with him and bade him welcome Of course all of us behind the desk were struck dumb because we had thought he was a darkey-and instead he turned out to be a wealthy merchant from Ceylon-and on close inspection we found that instead of black he was green. It was very amusing situation and it tooks all the wits we had about us to straighten out things amicably." Presently MT. Shireman said:
 You know my coming to Birmingham is the realization of a dream. I have want ed for several years past to i've here at some time, but had no idea that my de- sire would ever be consummated, and here I am now reveling in my dream, which is no longer a dream, but reality. I be- lieve firmly in Birininghams s future I be- lieve from the hotel mans point of view that Birmingham offers unlimited op- portunities. I believe that within short time every hotel in this city will be run ! ming to its full capacity, in spite of the business conditions at present. I am a l full-blooded, dyed -in-t the-wool optimisi when it comes to Birmingham and Bir-