The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-19
ED BRACE s
SUNDAY CHAT

Governor. Johnson has won his fight. JEFF
ferson county is to have a board Of reye-
nue.. The members of this board were ap-
pointed yesterday They are Paul II. Earle,
.chairman r. ]. Waldrop, j. B. Elliott,
Hugh McGeever and Chambers McAdory-
five very good men. At least that Is what
everybody says, and 1 presume that those
who know them know.
! know Mr. Earle He Is a good man. But
i don't believe L would take the place II L
occupied his shoes. County commissioners
| get no credit. They get lots of abuse. 1t
/ is thanllless sort of job. If the job car
ried good salary with it, it would be diff
ferent. But the salary is not worthy of
consideration The truth of the matter is,
county commissioners ought to get guar
anteed salary of not less than $500 each. l
don't believe in poorly paid men, espec-
| tally public servants. No man can give
faithful attention to public business unless
| he Is sufficiently paid No man can work
| faithfully and successfully If he must give
much of his time TO the duty OF making
ends meet at home. 1 never saw poorly
paid man who was worth anything. Public
officers especially are entitled to good sal
aries. Good salaries are productive of good
property of Jefferson county is fit to draw
more than 81 500 year for that purpose.
Some men work for glory, but from past
experiences there is not much glory in be-
ing a county commissioner of Jefferson
| county.
| hear the governor is to make his rail-
road commission appointments on Monday.
-N,A- H. L.. 90 ,,1aff ara I'm rap
whom he will appoint. 1 think he will ap-
point John W. Tomlinson as one of the
commissioners There is every reason for
this appointment and none against It.
| Tomlinson has perhaps, been the most loyal
| man to democratic principles in Alabama
He has supported every nominee of the par
| ty and every platform of the party. He is
| the kind of democrat who works on both
| the day and the night shift. He is an able
| lawyer, progressive and enterprising citi-
| zen and he has the support of everybody
| the people and the railroads. / can con-
ceive of no higher endorsement than this.
| The news of the sdetracking of the
| Greater Birmingham bill In the house at
| Montgomery comes in queer form. 1 heard
yesterday that Wilson Brown, speaker pro
| tenn, carried out the rules of the house in
putting the question. But 1t strikes me as
| queer that the Birmingham delegation did
not protest and call for an aye and no vote.
However, 1 presume that there was some
reason for the bill being sidetracked. What
ever that was, the defeat of this measure Is
unfortunate. birmingham, as everybody
knows, is a city of nearly 100000 inhabitants,
yet the city limits are SO confined that the
census only shows something like 10000 peo-
pie The biggest part of Birmingham Is out
side of the city limits, and yet the man who
drives, or walks, or rides in the street cars
| about the town can never tell when he Is
in or out of the city. 1t all looks alike to
| him. 1t is alike. Birmingham is a big
| town. Everybody here knows it. But those
| outside who look at the official reports size
it up as simple little place where a num-
| Der of railroads happen to cross.
| This reminds me of the fact that the Ala
| bama legislature has been making lots Of
| fuss and Juror, but has done very little
| good for the state 1t passed an alleged
| dispensary bill. This dispensary bill af-
| fects ten counties-ten poor, little, weak,
puny countless which did not have influence
| enough in the legislature to defend them
selves. The big counties all got out. And
yet the individual members of the legisla-
| ture each feels that he has squared him.
self with his constituents at home. Broad
| minded honesty is, however, the best poi
| icy, and there are those who will find this
out later on.
The house at Montgomery has decided to
Cd, h..
youth of Alabama. The bill adds one mill
to taxation And yet hear there will be q .
! big fight made on this bill In the senate.
| Alabama is an ignorant state, as whole.
| and as long as the state has seen fit TO
educate some of its children, it should ed
ueate all of them. / don't believe the SEN
| ate will defeat this bill There are able
| men in the Alabama senate-broad-minded,
| progressive, energetic, statesmanlike men.
| A majority of the senators could receive
political preferment from educated people;
| therefore, there should be no politics in
their vote. They should vote to educate
| the children of Alabama, and make 1t a
state as advanced in education as in nat
| ural advantages and manufacturing enter
prises.
| Economy is all right in its place, but too
4
| much economy is productive of crime and
/ degradation. Economy in this particular
1 would bring about that very end. The
i average Watchdog of the treasury is a
/ fakir, pure and simple. I believe no more
/ In him than j did of Schlatter, the divine
| healer, who slipped away from Birming-
/ ham during the still hours of the night.
! Economy can some times be construed into
! corruption.
i But the senate will pass the bill to pro-
/ vide funds for educating the children OF
Alabama and the governor will sign 1t.
j Jefferson county matters before the leg
/ islature have all been settled-or practi-
cally -sttled. The city campaign will now
/ open up in earnest. The three candidates
i for mayor will start out Monday to make
i a hurrah campaign. I predict lively
i campaign. Already there are breaches.
j Some feeling between at least two of them