The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-27

historiographer and the man or woman who finds pleasure in dipping into records of the past.
 The Birmingham directory, pub lished in 1888 by R. l.. Polk 6 Co. pub fishers of the current directory, was a most creditable production" for those days and is particularly interesting now when compared with the directory for 1918.
 It included Bessemer, as well as the suburbs of Birmingham. It en- braced 333 pages of names, with 30 names to the page. With the adver- tisements, the total number of pages was 594.
 The 1918 directory is for Birming- ham and it's immediate environs alone, and has grown to bulky size, embrac- ing 1267 pages of names, with 62 names to a page; including advertise ments, 1745 pages.
 The population of Birmingham and suburbs in 1888, as shown by the di- |rectory, taking three as the multi Iplier, was 1,673; that of Bessemer, 2466. Directory statisticians, in con- putting the present population of Bir- mingham on the basis of names, in order to be exceptionally conservative, took two and three-quarters as the multiplier, and this indicated that 215.895 inhabitants were found here approximately 21O,OG0 within the city limits; growth phenomenal in deed.
 It is an interesting fact that the only business concerns advertising in the 1888 directory found in the new di- rectory are the First National bank ano J. Blach & Sons.
 Birmingham was only IA years old when the 1888 directory was "gotten out" and the preface and the in- troductory article bristled with the districts magic progress. There was roseate prophecy, of course, but as disclosed by the facts of today the prophecy was not half .roseate enough.
 "The horse car lines," says the in troduction, "under control of the Bir- mingham union, form a perfect net work of roads, running as they do in almost all directions and converging at the corner of Twentieth street and Second avenue, where a transfer agent is stationed. By this means q passenger may travel from one end of the city to the ether, paying sim ply single fare. In 1883 there was not a single railway in the city. At present the grand street railway sys- tme embraces 70 miles, running from the center to the various suburbs
 That was doing pretty we'll for the Birmingham of early days, but whav strides have been made since then! Birmingham's street car system now has total mileage of 154 and frac- ton.
 With the lights before him, the op- timist of 1918 feels justified in fore casting population of million or more for 30 years hence.
 :. # 4.
 Regarding Music In
 the Public Schools mH NDER P. CLAYTON, Z United States commissioner of education, is not only exceptionally we'll equipped for educational work in general, but, according to Musical America, he is a stanch advocate of sound musical training in the public schools.
 He is thoroughly alive to the inn portance of music in Americas educa- tional system, and his interest in this subject naturally commends him to musicians throughout the country. Some years ago at a dinner given by music teachers in Philadelphia, MT. Claxton made a speech in which he "declared his conviction that after the three rudiments, reading, writing and arithmetic, had been acquired, he knew no force which made more for healthy, self reliant, useful citi- zens than music"
 Since that time he has not only