The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-18
ENTHUSIASM INCREASES

| MT. Morett found this opinion general owing to complete ignorance of the Ala ! bama marble and returned to Birming-
 ham at that time without being able to interest capital to develop it. His own enthusiasm became greater and he knew no Encouragement. He continued to pros- 1 pect alone and began to try to interest Birmingham in the fortune she had at l her door. In an address to the Chamber | of Commerce he told of the scarcity of such marble and declared the Alabama marble to be equal if not superior to the | Italian, both for building and for sculp- | ture, he predicted that the marble in- dustry would one day not far away be ! one of the richest resources of the state. Afterwards MT. Moretti tried to interest | local capital in the marble, he succeeded l in interesting small amount of capital I to prospect and strip the ground for a quarry at a point where the indications were favorable.
 Since that time MT. Moretti has been constantly occupied advancing the marble industry. at the same time he has contin- ually pursued his sculpture work with endless energy. To the Jamestown ex- position he sent large exhibition of marble and sculpture, showing the marble adapted to commercial purposes by
 means of slabs, polished and unpublished, carved architectural decorations and in art by carved fountains and out-or-door sculpture, also some finely studied sculp-
 ture in the pure white marble He has
 made several public monuments in the
 pale bluish white marble, which corres-
 ponds to the Italian gray marble, and
 many exquisite very low reliefs and
 busts, giving scope to his love of his art
 and at the same time feeling he was
 showing the loveliness of the material
 During his recent trips to Italy, MT.
 Moretti has again studied the Italian
 quarries and even before this present war
 added many more difficulties to the pro- duction and exportation here of the Italian marble he declared that the Ala
 bama marble is destined to supply our
 home market for white marble and ulti-
 mately will be shipped to Europe, where the supply is extremely limited.
 In recent conversation MT. Moretti with prominent New York architect, the latter expressed his enthuiastic opin- ion of the beauty and great commercial value of the Alabama marble and said the only difficulty lies in being unable
 to obtain sufficient quantity of it. MT. Moretti says this difficulty is easily sur mounted since we have in Alabama prac- tically unlimited deposits of marble and to continue in his words, "We have only to open quarries and, like the custodians of prison, give freedom to the beautiful material that waits under the ground like a fettered being.'
 This has been his attitude from the beginning, he has been most enthusiastic and serviceable. giving constantly and largely of his practical knowledge, glad for all to benefit, and taking great pride in the rapid fulfillment of his prophecies
 FULL OF DIFFICULTIES
 The life of a pioneer is not an easy one and Mir. Moretti has been through the struggles and disappointments that come to every pioneer. But his joyous ress and confidence in the value of the cause are untouched and he says he will be more than recompensed if during the course of his life he can have the satis- faction of seeing Alabama marble lead the worlds market commercially and give to the artists of America the oppor- tunity of reproducing their works in Ala bama marble. than which no other ma terial can lend more life and beauty to immortalize their ideas.
 In the days of Michael Angelo, Carrara was the great center of the marble pro ducing area. the marble brought the artists of the world to Carrara and they built school and museum and built up 1 a center of art and industry. Today the | white marble of Carrara is almost ex- | hausted and new nation has arisen | whose artists have yet to perpetuata | her name. A man has been found who | has shown to Alabama at her own door | ! marble lovelier than that of Carrara | Why should not Alabama draw the eyes of the artist world and be what Carrara | was to the old school?
 MT Moretti's predictions of F years ago have come into being in the Birming- ham mineral district, and he finds inn nense pleasure in being in Birmingham