The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-09-03
To Thine Own Self Be True"
By A. LATADY

LATADY
 they sell and consume; but still there
 is neither profit nor prosperity to the
 city and the city merchant wears a
 lean and hungry look. This, briefly,
 ia the "obvious" to which I referred
 at inc outset; but should not Birming-
 ham take joy in the day Of her olsll-
 lusionrnent; and should she not pre-
 pare to submit to the conviction that
 these iron furnaces and these steer
 mills are not sufficient, and that
 through her Authorizations she has
 been untrue to herself?
 These same industries are here for pur-
 noses of their own material prosperity,
 nor Is there anywhere statute that
 they are the appointed guardians or the
 prosperity of the city of Blrmlngham. | These things now stand written athWart
 inc skies in Promethean letters and are
 Droclained to us in stentorian tones. Most +rue is if on the other hand that the city
 Is not the appointed guardian of the pros- l perity of these industries, and 1t were well, if the city has been laborlng un- der any such false impression, that she | be disabused thereof; and through the | gloom which overhangs the city like a
 pail let her give thanks that her eyes , are being opened to the true light by | which her footsteps shall be guided here | after Every sufficient citizen of the city
 has had it suggested to him at one time ] or at another: What would become or l the city were the iron industries shut down?' and like children who slink away | from each other when the sudden appear | ance of a ghost Is suggested, interrogator | and interrogated would wrap about them | the cloaks of their gloomy mlsglYlngs | were such thing to happen, and drop l the subject. But the day of enlighten- ment and disillusion has dawned; and | this ghost-suggestion has been ropped Of It's terrors; Birmingham has learned that the fear of i'll is greater than the i'll we fear; and she will henceforth re- volve her wheel of fortune on the poles of truth for in this day of unprecedented prosperity of her iron industries, entirely unprotected, far worse has come to pass than was ever dreamed of as the conse- uuence of the shutting down of these in dustries.
 With the clang and whir and whizz and roar of prosperity of these same indus tries dnning in their ears, thousands of our citizens have folded their tents, and, like the Arabs, have silently stolen away, and there be others who are being smoked out'' in this suffocating atmos phere of prosperity. And ye shall know the truth, saith Scripture, ''and the truth shall make you free" Most certainly the protection" idea is receiving what in parlance of the streets is known as a 'Jolt" in this district at the present writ ing, and if we but stay a moment to consider may we not come to an appre- citation of the blight the prevalence of this idea has brought upon us?
 We have not been faithful in small things and unless we repent we shall not be appointed governors over greater things We have joyed in the accumula- ton of aggregations of capital to the development of "the industry as an ab- stract idea, to the utter extnguishmentl of the individual The individual as an entity within himself Is not to be thought of, and until a sufficient period of re- demption shall have intervened through which the individual may be redeveloped, 1 we cannot but look for just such anom- 1 alous conditions as confront the very cen- ter of the aindustry as an abstract idea" Birmingham, at the present time:
 Water water, everywhere,
 Nor any drop to drink"
 And Is not the prevailing unrest of the present day attributable to this suppress 1 sion of the entity? Is there a ray of hope in the breast of any workman that | at any time during his future existence he shall be able to develop for his own use and purposes the capabilities that | are in him? Can the carriage maker for instance, ever hope to be within himself a complete carriage maker, with an es- 1 tablishment of his own, and with appren- tices under him who are following in his | footsteps, each one nurturing in his breast | the hopes and ambitions that sustained | him in the development of himself as a ! complete carriage maker; or shall he | never learn more than to turn a hub | or to shape fellow, or to shrink a | tire, or to paint vehicle, or to trim i one? These latter about mark the limits of the possibilities before him; he may become well developed, well fed, expert | part Of an entity as a carriage maker: but that he shall ever become a complete carriage maker within himself he has not | the least idea, to say nothing of enter taining such hope All the wealth and | the power and the ability of the indus try as an abstract idea" would bounce | upon him and rend him to pieces did he | dare the attempt. Some are restless and | dissatisfied under clear comprehensive understanding of the situation, and others chafe under the restraints of limitations or which they are conscious, but which | they are unable to analyze but 1t is all ! one. The individual has been sacrificed upon the altar of the idea the indus trious have been swallowed up by the industry" in so far as which latter IS | concerned the doctrine of ''protection" being magnificent but to the utter SUD- | pression of any higher ambition in the individual than full belly and a full dlnner pail fand through the irony of iate' Birmingham is confronted with the greatest known prosperity of the indus | try attended by most distressing cnndi- tons to the individual.