The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-09
SOME OF THE THINGS CIVIC CHAMBER HAS DONE FOR ATLANTA Walter G. Cooper, Secretary of That Organization,
 Talks of Work ELIMINATED THE
 SURFACE CLOSETS Pushed Three Million Dollar Bond Is- sue and Put Mains in Front of Every House-Reduced Mor-
 tality p Per Cent

Among others representing Atlanta at the For Birmingham dinner of the Bir- mingham Chamber of Commerce at the last night was Walter G. Cooper, secretary of the Atlanta Cham Der of Commerce, a former newspaper maH, and considered one of the most eff ficient secretaries of any civic organiza- ti'sn in the country.
 MT. Cooper has an attractive person. aiity, and Is very eonsiderate of the feelings of others. So much so, in fact that when approached by a reporter of The Age Herald, who asked him to emu merate some of the practical things the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce had done Tor that city. he put the question aside.
 This is Birmingham's night" said Mir Cooper. Tt is not seemly for one to sound the herald of the greatness of Troy, when he is a visitor in Rome l would do as the Romans, except that I would keep silent while so doing" or words to that general effect.
 However. the reporter was persistent, and Mir Cooper began to talk about At lanta's auditorium, and grew enthusiastic over the proposition.
 About Atlanta's Auditorium
 "Fhe most effective work the Atlanta chamber Las done has been in co-opera- ton with the city and county author- tues said he as prelude. "The cham oer promoted the building of the audi torium which was eventually paid for by the city in eight annual installnents. It would have been out of the question to build 1t by bond issue, so the Cham Der or Commerce organized the Audito- rum Armory company, with stock and bonds aggre gating S250 600. We placed the bonds and stock and so got the building erected The city then bought the prop erty from the Auditorium Armory com pany, paying for 1t in instalIments The property has since heen maintained by the city, and is one of tho chief assets of Atlanta.
 The auditorium was the direct cause Of grand opera in Atlanta, and this has been a great and much needed develop ment for our city. It is one of the big things our people have done to lift At lanta above the brick and mortar stage.
 Several hundred thousand people at tend conventions and other gatherings in this auditorium every year. In it we lave had exhibitions by the Seventh united States cavalry, horse shows, poul- try shows and great variety of ex- hibits. It's seating capacity is 750o in the larger hall, and about 900 in Taft hall. The building also accommodates the Fifth regiment of the National Guard, a troop of cavalry and a battery of artil- lory.
 However, I think the greatest achieve ment of the Atlanta Chamber of Com- merce has been to place a mortgage of $SOoo,OO0 upon the city by bond issue. With this we have secured $1, ,OOO, 900 worth nF Ayr tne,er 4- I. placing luain in front of almost every house, and largely increased the filter capacity; about $1,250,000 of this money went into the sewage disposal plants; an- other S600.O00 went in the schools. replac- ing wood buildings with brick, and s100,- 900 went into the new Grady hospital. leaving $500O0 to use as first payment on the new crematory. These investments enabled the city to get rid of nearly all the H,O00 surface closets then in exist ence, and the sewage disposal plants have greatly encouraged the extension of lateral sewers. These improvements. with some sanitary ordinances enacted by the council, have reduced the mortal tty of Atlanta 25 per cent since 1908, and has resulted in the saving of more than 1000 lives a year to Atlanta.
 Owns Own Building
 Since then the Chamber of Com- merce has bought and improved its own building. which is about the size of the Birmingham Chamber of Com merce building, and we have housed in this 12 commercial and civic organ izations, which are working harmoni- ously together for the upbuilding of our city and state.
 This year the most constructive work of the Chamber of Commerce is the organization of the Southeastern Fair association for the building of permanet plant and it's permanent op- eration. We secured appropriations of $75,000 from the city and like amount from the county. and raised by pop ular subscription $75, ,000 additional for the capital stock of the association. The money furnished by the city and county Is mainly invested in perma- nent concrete buildings.
 Before planning these buildings we sent a committee to Syracuse, Toronto, and Columbus, O., to inspect the great plants of those fairs, taking with us an architect and landscape engineer. As a result, we think we have i'm proved a little on anything we saw. for we took the best features of all and combined them in our permanent 
 MT Cooper then told that the fair was the outgrowth of the yearly en- offered to the Boys Corn clubs and the Girls Canning clubs of Georgia in Atlanta each year He said that the boys were invited to Atlanta and were entertained in the best homes of the city.
 In this connection he told of an tn- cident of one of the entertainments. when Col. w. L. Peel entertained four of the boys in his home. After the vis- itors had tired of picture shows, one big husky fellow said:
 q done been to all them places. the grand op'ry?'
 Colonel Peel looked over his spec tacles. sized up the situation and went to the teelphone and ordered box at one of the theatres, at which an opera company was giving light opera.
 They all went to the theatre. The big fellow who proposed 1t was tired and footsore. He had been used to walking over plowed ground and the continual tramping over the hard city throughout the day had worn on his nerves.
 BarefoOted at the Opera
 As MT. Cooper told it. the boy spoke once again after all had been com fortably seated in the box.
 My shoes hurt my feet.'' he com plained.
 Colonel Peel Is nothing if not sym pathetic" said MT. Cooper. Therefore. when the boy told him that he did the only thing his sympathetic nature would permit.
 "'Take off your shoes he told the boy. And the big fellow did So, luxur- iously spreading his stockinged feet across the box rail. In a few moments he was fast asleep and continued so until the performance had ended.
 "This fellow was gentleman enough. however, to write Colonel Peel a very nice letter after he returned home