The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-01
GROWTH OF CITY
 SHOWN BY LAWS
lContinusd from Page One. ]

 entire scity at least once a month, in- crease the police force to meet unex- pected emergencies, and take whatever other steps might be necessary for the protection of public life and property.
 So important was this official to the general welfare of the community as a whole, in fact, that special sec tion of the city code required his continuous presence in the city, forbid ding him from absenting himself for more than 24 hours at any one time with the permission of the board of aldermen. With an adequate sense of the demands of his of flee, however, the same section made provision for unexpected absences for prolonged periods by permitting him to file with the city clerk written mo- tice of his intended absence and ap- pointment of a mayor pro tenn, when ever it should be impracticable to ob- tain official permission to be away.
 City Marshal Busy
 One of the most important function aries of that time was the city mar shal, who was required to attend all meetings of the board of aldermen and maintain order, attend all courts for the same purpose, exercise supervision over the entire police force; of which he was. the head, patrol the streets of the city at all reasonable hours, have charge of the prison and' all prisoners confined therein, collect all fines, and finally make a complete monthly report to the board of alder men. Another of his most important duties was that of responding to fire alarms, seeing to it that the city fire bell was rung, and taking charge of the fire-fighting apparatus. As a special symbol of his office, he was required to wear a large star over his left breast while on duty.
 City policemen were required to per form general police duties under the direction of the marshall and in ad- dition several that seem quite unneces- sary in this modern age. One such duty was that of striking the city bell, located near the center of the com munity where it could be heard all over town, every hour to inform the citizens what time it was between 9 o'clock at night and dawn, Several countries of Europe still have the town crier as an institution but town clocks have put an end to his period of usefulness in most parts of the United States.
 The problem of trash removal and street cleaning was not as serious in 1882 as it is at present, once a week being considered often enough for the city trash wagon to make it's rounds. Section 292 of the city code stated that "the owner or occupant of every house, store, stable, or other tenement, or any lot, yard or enclosure, shall on Friday of each week, or before the hour of 10 a. m. on Saturday, col feet or deposit in front of his premises all trash that may have accumulated therein; and any person failing to do so shall be liable to fine not exceed ing $20. The city carts shall be sent around on Saturday of each week, or oftener if necessary, to remove all filth, trash, etc., deposited on the streets" The section provided for a fine of $1O for failure of the street superintendent to perform his duty.
 Laws Stringent
 Other sections forbade selling of giv- ing away of whisky to minors, the use of city streets as a stamping ground for hogs and cattle and the building there on of camp fires urged proper in stallation of stoves to reduce the fire hazard, and asserted the city's right to prevent loud or boisterous languages in the city market, or use of it or any part thereof as resting place for those who might wish to lie down and sleep.
 All locomotives were required to. con- fine their speed to eight miles an hour while going forward and four miles an hour while backing, within the city limits, the penalty for violation of this provision being set at one dollar to $10O. In a pre-automobile age, six miles an hour was considered a suf- ficiently rapid speed, and those who who exceeded it were object to fine. Kite-flying was looked upon as a minor misdemeanor and those having weakness for it were required to ob- tain special permission from the mayor or run the risk of q fine varying be- tween one dollar and $100. A similar fine was provided as punishment for advocates of free-love or other prac- tices in opposition to regular marriages.