The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-12
FIRST FISH SALE BY CITY PROVES 50 SUCCESSFUL II
 WILL BE REPEATED
Estimated 5000 Persons Made Purchases Tester day-Sale Will Be Con-
 tinued In Birmingham
 and Ensley Today
By GORDON MCKINLEY


 Birmingham became a sev- enth heaven for epicures yes terday when housewives of the Magic City loaded up market baskets with fresh haddock, cod, herring, whiting and all the sorts of fish the Bay State Fish Company of Boston, Mass. sold from the refrigerator ex- press car on Fourth avenue at Seventeenth street.
 It looked like every nationality on earth was represented, that every de- gree of prosperity or the lack of it had it's exponent, and that nearly every household in Birmingham had mem Der brandishing 8 basket and waiting a chance to get sea food.
 Representatives of the households of at least five citizens who are known to have no financial worries were seen present, the great struggling middle class was we'll represented, and many there were who came and counted nickels and pennies in little piles rom soiled handkerchiefs, and breathed prayer of thanks that they could gel wholesome food. for the little ones at home at a cost that poor people can pay.
 D. E. Mckinley, city purchasing agent who put through the deal for the fish, and several appreciative com missioners were there.
 At S:30 o'clock yesterday morning the doors of the car were opened, the white people on one side and the colored on the other.
 LONG AVENUES FORMED
 To the many overseas men from Bir- mingham who stood about, the lines suggested the long and pitiful queues
 that had been the bread lines in stricken Europe during the war pc riod. for like the folk across the sea, Birmingham had it's every class repre- sented.
 There was an amusing feature to the sale as there usually is in any great gathering where hundreds of people collect Whether they can read the pa pers or not, no attempt is made to state, but cats were IneIt. 1dtS toHiC dhN with erect tails wiped their bodies about the ankles of utter strangers Cats sat on the distant fence posts, still as Indians, noses high shifting the de- icious fragrance of fresh fish Cats sat blinking in the doorways and or 1 the window sills of distant buildings biding their time and praying for night not Knowing that railway expresl | car is hard to enter
 DOORS NOT LARGE ENOUGH 1 There was but one drawback to the sale, and that later was remedied. The car had but two doors, one on either side. and the citizens in single file found it irksome waiting while fish for each purchaser was weighed on the sus- pended scales. the change of money at l tended to and the burdened purchaser made his or her way out through the 1 crowd. Those in line would smile pain 1 fully from a place fifty persons from ! the door as some buxom housewife, with l laden basket trapsed along the lne with finny delicacies displayed in ar l open basket.
 1 The smoked haddies were the most popular Nearly every one bought one or more of them. They looked good l enough to eat as they were in theii 1 golden tan perfection, and toothsomt depth and firmness.
 l But try as Richard Campbell and his assistans would to make speed. the 1 long lines of purchasers grew and con l tinued to grow. All morning the salt continued until the bending and stoop- l ing men in the car doorways were fam with fatigue, but still the orderly anc persistent crowd held aloft baskets ane papers for the fish that were being sole at retail cheaper than they can b' bought at wholesale along many points | of the gulf coast.
 | MT. Campbell, manager of the sale and a representative of the fish com pany, says that Birmingham bough more steadily and enthusiastically tnai any of the larger cities north Of Ala bama, where fish sales have been pu 1 on He has sold cars in Cincinnati Columbus. Frankfort and dozens ol other points. but Birmingham has then l afl beaten for sheed delight in the nov
 city of the thing and appreciation ol the wares