Enter Mr. Chamberlain.
The present position of Birmingham and its improved
appearance in these later years are largely attributed
to the work and influence of Mr. Chamberlain.
To him, certainly, the credit is largely due.
At the same time it is only fair to say that he was
not the first man who had discovered that Birmingham,
some thirty years ago, was, compared with what it
should be, in many respects lagging behind. Other
persons had been impressed with the idea that the
town, in a municipal, sanitary, and social sense,
was not advancing at a pace commensurate with its
commercial and material progress.
To go just a little farther back for a moment, it
must be recorded that Birmingham, in a political sense,
made a great step forward when it elected Mr. Bright
as one of its members of Parliament in the year 1857.
This served to focus the eyes of the country on the
midland capital, and from this date the town became
a new centre of political activity. The great
meetings addressed by Mr. Bright were not regarded
as mere provincial gatherings, but they attracted
the attention of the whole nation. The proceedings
were no longer chronicled merely by the local press,
but the London daily newspapers sent representatives
to furnish special reports of our new member’s
speeches. Indeed, the interest and excitement
at these political gatherings was often feverish in
its intensity, and for many years Mr. Bright’s
visits to Birmingham were red-letter days in the history
of the town.
Mr. Bright, however, not being a resident in Birmingham,
took no part in its local and municipal affairs, and
the man was wanting who would come forward and energetically
take town matters in hand. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain
was the man, and the time was ripe for him. He
was known to be smart, able, and energetic, and also
to be imbued with decidedly progressive ideas.
Further, he was justly credited with having a lofty
conception of the real importance and dignity of municipal
life and the value of municipal institutions.
In the year 1869 Mr. Chamberlain was elected a member
of the Birmingham Town Council, and he began to make
things spin and hum at a pace which literally soon
reached a pretty high rate. His example, and possibly
his persuasion, induced several of his friends and
associates to become candidates for Town Council membership,
and in a very short time he had a strong and influential
following, made up of men of energy, substance, and
good social position, who soon began to overpower and
make things more lively perhaps than pleasant for
the anti-progressives in the Corporation. In
Israelitish story we are told that a new king arose
who knew not Joseph, but in Birmingham a new municipal
kingdom arose that knew Joseph and trusted him.
The changes that soon began to take place were enough
to take away the breath of some of the nice, complacent,
arm-chair, “Woodman” members of the Town
Council. If the preceding rulers of the Corporation
had been a trifle too parsimonious in the matter of
expenditure, Mr. Chamberlain and his party soon began
to make amends for any trifling mistakes or past errors
in the way of economy. In a very few years the
town had a debt, I don’t say of which it might
be proud, but of which it very soon felt the weight.
