The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-14
GREAT INTEREST
 IN CITY POLITICS Little Things Are Reckoned
 Great Just Now COOPER JONES PICKERING Gossip of the Adermanic Races-Wil- Hams Qualities in the Sixth-can-
 didates Pay Assessments.
 Local Political Gossip.
COOPER JONES PICKERING

After all, it seems that someone is
 going to stir up a little interest In
 this campaign for city offices in Bir-
 mingham. The little things are begin
 ming to count for a good deal, since nothing big will happen. So this little
 talk Is being magnified until already
 it is the big talk of the town. For instance, in the fight for pres!- dent of the City Council the two al- dermen who are running have always heen close friends on the board, and have seldom in the past had any dis agreements. But a friend of B. H.
 Cooper walks Into a barber shop and
 asks: "Is this a union shop?" Certainly 1t is,' was the reply. "Then where is the union label on that button?" asked the industrious
 friend. and behold Harry Jones" ap- pears in red on a button without the
 union label. Oh. W zt an awful
 chargel
 MT. Jones now has in his pocket aa affidavit from the printer to the effect
 that the button was made in union
 shop, and the label left off by mistake.
 that only few of these were made and the second order bears the re- quired stamp.
 That Prohibition Question.
 Then cannes MT. Jones' friends with the assertion that Cooper tried to havo passed an ordinance which would pro-
 hibit any man from keeping liquor in
 his own home. The assertion seems to have spread broadcast, but MT. Cooper l declares that no such ordinance was in- ] troduced, and further that on the face
 of 1t beyond doubt the provision
 would be contrary to the state law
 which sets out plainly that a man shall have the right to keep liquor in his
 own house.
 And there is that old street tax ques- tion. From the camp of Cooper
 marches the banner, Always for the
 people and against the street tax" From the tents of Jones Is heard the reply, T wanted it for an emergency. but when George Ward found a way. I gave the idea up entirely" But 10, the Cooper army filings back the challenge,
 You introduced the street tax twice
 after George had borrowed the money
 Another little thing that seems to count a whole lot Is the manner in which the prohibition question came up between Drennen and OBrien at the
 meeting Sunday. The candidates were called on for their positions on the question, and Captain O'Brien's was
 fk:.
 enforcer.
 Wier-Bodeker Scrap. And so the street corner gossip con- tinues Wier is making a big scrap
 on the issue that the old commission discharged the peoples choice but to this replies Chief Bodeker, T did not fire him; l was offered a vacant posi- tion and like any other man l tool: I it." And he proceeds on the issue that
 he has made the best chief, pointing .o his record his 12 men patrolling the
 residence sections, and his handling
 the reunion crowds without any pick : pockets.
 The aldermen are fighting it out n
 their own wards. simon Klotz is op-
 posed by J. M. Bradley in the Second ward. Whether the veteran life insuT-
 ance man can be busted by his new op- ponent Is a question. Many have tried, but few have come out alive. D. R. Copeland is opposed by T. J. Bick- l ley in the Third ward, and the fight Is raging for the office with odds hard to ind. R. II. Kerr is being mentioned for
 Egglestons place if he resigns, Dr. R. | E. Watts and John Copeland are very | friendly when they meet on the street,
 but they are turning up all the old trash i in the back alleys of their ward, the Nor 1 wood Fourth, looking for the coveted votes.
 Adermanic Races. Graham Perdue, for young lawyer, is
 giving pr. w. R. Gum tight race for
 the honors of the Fifth ward. Perdue has
 been making many friends, while, of course Dr. Gum already had them. The committee yesterday allowed John T. Williams to qualify, although he had failed to do so Saturday night. Maben i Hobson, the man who could have walked l in unopposed was gallant enough to ask the committee to allow his opponent a | place on the ticket If the people don | want me, l don't want the office, he sad ''I am perfectly willing to submit | to their choice While 1t is true that since | Saturday my friends and supporters have ceased their efforts, thinking he had with | drawn. still l am willing to endure this | hardship in order to win by fair vote | of the people"
 shows signs of that same ginger which nearly won for him at the last primary | If A. W. Nelson turns the trick he will have to do some hustling. but his hench- men say he is doing 1t.
 The last three wards are enjoying a