The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-12-03
ALDERMAN KLOTZ RISES
ON PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

! would have done to any other agent in
/ the city
| The transaction had been fully closed
and there was no possibility for 1t to have
been Influenced in any way By the receipt
of the check. Believing, upon Mr.. Fulen-
widers assurance that they had only eN-
| tended to me the courtesy that it was
their custom to extend To others. and
knowing that the transaction could not
have been Influenced in any way thereby,
l accepted the check. / was then, and
| am now. conscious Of breaking no moral
law whatever 1 have been advised that
] violated no law, state or municipal.
To call the acceptance of this check
under these circumstances a bribe is an
insult TO the intelligence of any human
being with the remotest knowledge of the
facts. II may have been an indiscretion,
but we are all human and liable to err,
and 1t is enough that we should be pun
ished for our crimes without being de-
stroyed for our mistakes.
1t was shown by the uneontradieteS evil
dence thai il was the inHariable custom
of the Birmingham Realty company 10
refuse to give a commission to pur-
chaser in any event. The reason for this
ib obvious. If they gave the commits
sion to one purchaser they would have to
give it to all. and this would amount to
a reduction of 21s per cent of the list
price of all their property The city OF
Birmingham could not, therefore, be in
jured thereby.
The only person of whom II could be
said, if of any one. that he had con
cealed financial interest in the matter,
was George B. Ward, the mayor Mr..
Ward at the time of the transaction, as
he himself admits. had l7s shares Of stock
in the Birmingham Realty company,
worth upon the market at the time some
thing like $4,000. Under the city charter
it was his duty to have disclosed his in
teTest as a stakeholder in the Birming
ham Realty company and to have passed
his vote. Section 90 of the city charter is
as follows: BE it further enacted That
no member of the Board of Mayor and
Aldermen shall be entitled TO vote on
any question in which he or his EN-
ployer hate a special financial interest at
the time of voting, or was SO interested at
the time of his election. lie did not
comply with this section He not only
reported the proposition favorably but he
affirmatiVely voted for it, and then, as the
city's agent, carried the transaction to
completion. | violated no law of the city
he did. He had a concealed financial in
terest-I did not. 1t is upon his COM
plant that | am brought before the bar OF
public opinion and held up to the scorn
'of the people among whom l have lived
for the best part of my life,
AS for me, l do not intend to charge,
directly or indirectly that Mayor Ward
was actuated by a corrupt motive. The
question of whether or not he should be
disgraced and driven from public life de-
ponds upon whether or not in his case
there was a corrupt motive. Upon this
question his past life in the community ID
admissible in evidence to aid and guide
an intelligent public opinion. If it can
be shown that his actions was due merely
to an inadvertence, it can be shown that
he conducted himself in good faith toward
the city and its interests. it would not be
proper that he should be publicly stlg-
matized and disgraced for what, under
those circumstances, would be mere
mistake.
But If this be true is not my own past
life In this community entitled to be Of
fered in evidence to aid a conscientious
public opinion in determining whether or
not l have transgressed a moral law, and
in determining whether or not l have
been actnated by a corrupt intend?
Even the Birmingham News itself was
forced to state the following; Simon
TIlotz has enjoyed a reputation for intel
ligence and integrity beyond the average
man."
The positions of honor and trust | have
held in this community, upon which there
has never been the suggestion OF blemish
nor the intent of wrong-doing, are GER
tainly facts of the highest value in this
crisis.
If George Ward had only one share ~
stock In the Birmingham Realty company
instead of 1888, and If it had only been
worth 81 instead of $4,000, he could not
have sat upon a jury. nor acted as a
Judge in any cause in which the Birmins-
ham Realty company was party. If his
mistake or forgetfulness, if 1t was such.
i'm failing to disclose his interest and pass
his vote. is to he excused in this com
munity upon the ground that no harm
was done the city of Birmingham, aud
that bad faith has not been proven, what
right has he and the Birmingham News
to destroy me when | had no interest at
the time the vote was cast and the trans
action closed and when my hands were
as clean as the hands Of amy man in the
community