The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-02
HOTEL LOBBIE,S
AIabamn nnd Preparedness

Alabama and Preparedness
 Alabama is going to make an extreme
 ly satisfactory showing in the matter of
 industrial preparedness" said Theodore
 Swann, one of the members of the board
 of directors for this state of the naval
 consulting board of the United States.
 The Alabama directors have been
 working on the reports for this state
 for sometime, and we have listed count less industries and plants which could
 render most efficient service to the gov- ernment in time of war. While Alabama
 has never engaged to any extent in the manufacture of munitions and other
 things needed in case of national crisis 1 until recently, we have the facilities in
 this state which would prove invaluable
 in time of need.
 We have already made a partial report
 to the naval consulting board and we are
 still gathering the data and making up
 the lists for further reports. A vast amount of work is required to collect
 this information accurately, but it should
 prove to be of great assistance to our
 country in case of a serious war;
 In addition to MT. Swann, the other
 members of the board of directors of the naval consulting board for Alabama are
 Frank H. Crockard, Maj. J. $. Sewell, 1 pr. B. B. Ross and Priestly Toulmin
 Regrets Newspaper Change 'I regret to see that Frank Munsey
 has purchased the New York Sum- said
 O. G. Thurlow, designing. engineer of the Alabama Power company, yesterday
 ''The Sun had a distinct style and tone
 which is certain to be lost when 1t be-
 comes part of the Munsey organization
 While I have not always agreed with
 the editorial and other policies of the Sun. have always considered it great newspaper There is more or less simi- larity between all the Munsey newspa- pers and the Sun will probably be made to conform with the others owned by that ! publisher"
 Birmingham's Self-Examinatfon Birmingham is going through a period of self-examnation now which will prob ably result in much good to the com | munity," said w. D. Nesbit yesterday. While the process may not be altogether pleasant to us, it will tend to show us | our faults, and will reveal many condi- tions we had never before realized as existing here In fact, I think the rest of the country has long realized what was the matter with Birmingham while we were more or less ignorant of the troubles we had.
 q think MT Babb was right in his statement that Birmingham has never made a really intelligent and concerted h had many more or less spasmodic cam paigns, most of which. consisted prin- cipaIly of the first enthusiastic meeting, but we have never really made an or ganized effort to get these plants. After this period of self-examination is over I believe we will all be in better con- dition to organize for greater work in behalf of the city and the district" Bears on His Hands President of the City Commission George B. Ward was in attendance at one of the executive sessions at the city hall yes- terday morning when Secretary Clarence c. Lloyd butted in with the news that he had 16 bears on his hands. "Where did you get them?" said MT. Ward.
 'They are downstairs in an express wagon" replied Secretary Lloyd, real live bears, all boxed up and consigned 1 in your care"
 | ''I don't want any bears,'' was the brusque reply.
 Neither do l." stoutly from the secre- tary.
 Why don't you send them to the Avon- dale Zoo?" asked Mr. Ward. T never thought of that" was the re- ply, as Secretary Lloyd backed away, Correcting the Viewpoint "Time is worth money, but the farmer who is willing to jog along 10 hours over bad road and never cooperate with officials who are endeavoring to put through a good road-a road with the maintenance built in twill bring him to the same point in less time and with greater ease. is somewhat like the negro who was feeding corn in the shuck to his hog when an efficiency engineer drove up," said J. L. Ashworth | of Ohio
 "'Mose, do you know that # you shucked that corn. shelled it and then boiled it litt1e your hog could eat | it in whole lot less time? | "'Maybe so; but boss said Nose, with a spreading smile, kin ye tell me 1 how much time is wurth to hog?' | "Nothing to the hog. of course, but 1 isn't 1t worth something to you TO get | it to market sooner"
 "The smile of doubt spread into one | of discernment. Nose saw. 1 "The farmer who learns that he can 1 turn time wasted on a bad road into cash in bank by marketing his products | over a concrete road. is the farmer | whose viewpoint has been corrected by ! experience and observation"
 Delicate Construction of Watch
 Not one person in a thousand" said
 Reid Lawson. the well known ieweler, appreciates the delicate mechanical construction of his watch. No one
 would expect to get service out of such
 a big, sturdy piece of machinery as an automobile, with as little attention as he is willing to give his watch.
 "Yet, after all. a watch is a me-
 chanical device. True enough, 1t Is of
 fine construction. and does marvellous things, when one thinks about it, but
 it is still a piece of machinery, and,