The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-18

system Is paying for itself and will not
 cost the people one cent. For the year beginning August l, 1906. and ending Au-
 gust 1, 1907, the receipts were S37,. 149 .25
 a daily average of Sl0l.77 64-73.
 As an adjunct to and to make the l street railway profitable, and for the i amusement and diversion of the people,
 the city expended over $40,0OO in the ac- l quisition of park, fair and amusement 1 grounds two miles above the city on the 1 Ouachta river. There are over 130 acres
 in the tract and it Is an ideally beautiful
 site. There race track, baseball dia- mond grand stand and summer theatre | have been provided and they serve ad- 1 mirably all the purposes for which they were created Property in that neigh
 borhood especially has enhanced enor-
 mously in value and the city can any day dispose of its holdings at a handsome
 profit. Property above the park and ter minus of the car line recently sold at a
 figure indicating that the city's pos sessions there are now worth over d hundred thousand dollars.
 Another unfair prejudiced and untruth-
 ful criticism is more ways than one is the following statement of MT. Norman
 Walker in his article published in the Columbia. s. C., State and the Birming- ham Age-Herald.-
 "The new city budget of Monroe calls for total expenditure of sl92Ss0, or eight times what it was ten years ago. This is a very heavy expenditure for southern town of 75O0 to 5000 population.
 half of them negroes, and with a tax
 valuation today of s3,7165 555. It is $25.05 per capita for all, men, women and chl- dren, if the population is 7500 and S24.11
 if t is 5000. As the negroes pay few taxes, the white heads of families have to pay from S200 to $250 each for the Dlea sure of DaIDicina1 nwnprchip revenue amounts to 5.3 per cent on the as- sessed valuation of the town. and it is supplemented by a recent bond issue of $l55,O00
 4t is to be wondered at that with all the splendid public improvements con structed and under way Monroe's budget calls for a total expenditure of Sl92, ESQ., or eight times what it was ten years ago when Monroe was d village without any improvements scarcely? These improve ments have been and are being made and must be provided for in the budget. An untruth in tn statement is that half the population of Monroe are negroes. The proportion that race bears in re- lation to the white is about one-fourth. MT. Walkers other statistics in this re- gard, therefore, falls to the ground. The further statement that the tax burden has recently been supplemented by bond issue of eco is also untrue, as heretofore explained.
 But maybe MT. Walker is not to he blamed so much for his inaccuracies, as he takes his dope from the Monroe Star the leading paper in the town and the exponent of popular sentiment The Star and its friends have been in opposition to Mayor Forsythe and his administration the past two elections and in each Mayor 1 Forsythe and his policies, Including mu- nicipal ownership have been endorsed .,,,Il N..1 tAtsff fng , Exponents of popular sentiment are usu- i ally found with the majority. Accord 1 ing to this exponent of popular entiment Monroe Is a pest hole, plague spot,
 when in fact and as the record shows, 1t Is one of the healthest towns in the coun- i try, practically immune from pestilential l diseases. Yellow fever, in its worst days,
 never invaded it while depopulatlng sis l ter towns both near and far.
 Much is said about the salaries of the
 mayor and other officials. but no mention
 Is made of the fact that as result of | the ownership and operation of all these
 public utilities they have more duties
 and responsibilities than officials of other
 cities. Monroe is passing through the
 constructive period, and Shreveport, with
 which comparison Is made, may be said i to have arrived" Monroe owns all
 her utilities and Shreveport has practi-
 cally given hers away. It is true that 1 Mayor Forsythe gets a salary of s40OO 1 per annum, but 1t is also true that
 competent superintendent of street rail-
 way system like Monroe's under private
 ownership would get more. The people
 of Monroe consider that he has saved ] them thousands upon thousands of dol l lars, that he has modernized their city, i and that he is worth 1t and more. They 1 know he has sacrificed a practice os physician worth s10,O0O year to earn It! 1 They are content then why should oth-
 CTS, especially outsiders bother?
 , In addition to his regular duties IS
 mayor and general superintendent of the street railway system, he Is general su- perintendent of the waterworks and
 light plants, the other public utilities,
 and chief of police, all of his time and
 attention being required by these mani fold duties and responsibilities.
 But the conclusions of MT. Walkers s
 statement is perhaps the most unwar- ranted. It Is another case of going away
 from home to get the news. He says What 1t (municipal ownership has led
 to politically is seen in the appearance of 1 socialists in the field for the first time.
 and the nomination of socialist candi- dates for the school board and police jury pledged to the still further exten- sion of the doctrine of municipal owner i ship-and the socialists are now counting l upon electing candidates in town where they were never heard of before.
 Tt is scarcely to be wondered at un-
 der these circumstances, that the Monroe
 Star echoing public sentiment, should l have broken out in Remuneration of mu-
 nicipal ownership as the panacea pre- j, scribed for all the ills that affect the
 entire world, but like other sovereigns
 cures for innumerable complaints it has ] proved intellectual here. In fact 1t Is questionable whether the bitter dose of l this nauseous nostrum, as it is forced l down the throats of our citizens and l taxpayers is not worse than any disease tha could possibly develop.
 This is the result of four years or less trial of municipal ownership, for the
 municipal street rallway has been oper- , ated only two years. What ten years l will show remains to be seen, If munich ! pal ownership continues that long which 1 is improbable. as it promises to be the | leading issue in the next town election
 and the people will have chance to pass l on IL finally and forever.
 l Nobody except this writer who has never bene in Monroe and knows nothing 1 about conditions here politically or other | wise of his own knowledge and who l draws upon his imagination for facts, | ever heard of q socialist in Monroe, much l less that party had put up candidates | for office pledged to the still further 1 extension of the doctrine of municipal | ownership" The election to which he 1 refers took place four months ago and :; inc democratic ticket headed by May | or Forsythe on platform of municipal l ownersbip and the retention of all pub