The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-31
EetterS to tbe Gdftor

Editor The Advertiser:
 As a business man of Montgomery, as a man whose personal interest is identified with the commercial welfare of Montgomery; as, I hope, a patriotic citizen of Montgomery, 1 cannot refrain from condemning earnestly and em- phatically certain phases the present municipal campaign has assumed.
 l depTecate, sir, the ineXplicable ac- tiVity of certain business men of Mont gomery in this remarkable campaign. l am at a loss, sir, to understand why these gentlemen for whom, I assure you, I entertain the highest respect, should care to concern themselves with the extremely unpleasant details of municipal contest in Montgomery. These matters have, heretofore, been left to men whose business 1t Is to conduct such affairs and whose busi- ness 1t Is to see that men satisfactory to themselves were selected as Mayors of this city The men who have so successfully managed the governmental affairs of Montgomery, are thoroughly conversant with the details of our mu- nicipal politics and they have never l repeat, sir, with emphasis-never failed to dominate the situation.
 That they are officeholders of the city of Montgomery is not to their dis credit. The charge may be made, sir, that they are professional politicians whose chief business is not the trans action of the city's affairs so much as It IS to the maintenance or what IS col loqulally termed their political fences. If that be true, what of 1t? I repeat, sir, what of 1t?
 Is there in this any just reason why should neglect their own private af- fairs as well as the commercial wei fare of Montgomery that they may soil their hands in the contamination of local politics? Would it not be better to leave these men. these office holders, in charge of the situation now as they have been In the past?
 In our municipal politics Is there to be reversal of the whole human or der so that the amateur is to be consid- cred the peer, the superior of the pro- fessional?
 I deprecate. sir, the attacks, the yelled attacks, that have been made upon certain city officials. I deprecate that particular phase of the campaign in which~ charges are made that the city's political situation is and has been controlled by one or more city officials. l deprecate the intimation that the Government of Montgomery is an autocracy. under the domination of a bureaucracy.
 have been deeply impressed with the full ana complete answer to the charge that Montgomery Is ruled by ring The contention that ring rules Mont gomery is most ably answered by cer- tain city officials, by some city em- ployes who have taken the streets in
 
 They argue:
 First-There is no ring.
 Second-It is a good ring.
 l would, sir, that every man who has seen fit to leave his business and become perniciously active in this cam paign, would take this answer and give 1t the most careful consideration. l would, sir that the many voters of termed the common people, who, l re- gret to say are displaying Tar too great an interest in that campaign which has been inaugurated as protest against existing conditions. The CO., gency and force of the answer to the charge of ring rule as I have quoted them, are irresistible
 If it is be true and I am not disposed to deny it, that one city official or one set of city officials, have named the Mayors of Montgomery in the past quarter of a century, Is that sufhcient reason why men unaccustomed to se- lecting d Mayor should enter the field? Why not let the man or men who have been naming the Mayor continue to make the selection?
 If I should send a man to New York to buy goods for the spring trade, l would send a man who was thorough ly experienced, who knew the goods and who knew what he wanted If we have a man versed in the art of picking out a Mayor, l submit that we should let that duty devolve upon him, whose special training has been in that line. I am free to say, sir, that doubt that so satisfactory a Mayor could be chosen by a heterogeneous mass of voters as could be selected by a man who has given so much of his time and his thought to making mayoralty selec- tions in the past.
 If l may be permitted to use the eX- pression a connoisseur in Mayors is al together more desirable at this june ture than a lot of tyros. I say. this, sir, in the hope of a continuance of existing conditions. To the corporate interests of Montgomery its city gov ernment has been satisfactory-quite satisfactory. There should be no change.
 Why any men, or set of men. should concern themselves in an effort to bring about a change Is ineXplicable to me. With all due reference would suggest that these gentlemen are in- teresting themselves in matters which are of no spesial concern to any eX- cept city officials.
 Approaching fully the unpleasant ness, the heartburnlngs, the useless en- ergy, the criminations and recrimina- tions of a municipal campaign, would propose way by which all this might be obviated. l would propose, sir. that We have no city campaign. I would propose that those trained and expert connoisseurs in the selecting of Mayors continue to exercise their delicate art.
 Progress.
 Montgomery, Ala.
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