The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-12
By MAYOR W. E. PERUVIAN.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Sir-I must confess my surprise at the editorial contained in your issue of the 9th headed, Public Sentiment in Wood lawn
 Whoever wrote this has evidently been mislnformed as to the true situation m Woodlawn.
 I notice also in your issue of the Sth that you refer prominently to what you term the Woodlawn "shal1e-up,' stating that it has already caused one resigna- ton from the board.
 Fearing that people reading these ar ticles and not knowing the facts might be lead to believe that dssension exists in the Board of Aldermen upon the ques- ton of immediate annexation to Birming- ham, l have decided to give you the facts In the matter.
 Will state first that complete harmony exists among the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on this subject. We are unani- nous in our opinion, and are sure that three-fourths of the voters of Woodlawn are with us, that it is best to complete the public improvements now under way before annexation.
 Alderman Burns did resign, but his res ignation had nothong whatever to TO with the Greater Birmingham question: but was on account of his having been awarded the contract to build an addi-
 
 The facts in regard to the contract for the school building are as follows:
 On the night these bids were opened. and when it was discovered that Mr. Burns was the lowest bidder by $220, the question was immediately asked our city attorney who was present, if it would be legal to let this contract to MT. Burns, he being a member of the board. His reply was that it would not be a vio- lation of the law, we having not yet adopted the municipal code.
 Upon this advice, MT. Burns being the lowest bidder, was awarded the contract.
 In order however, to be doubly sure in the matter, MT. Burns and myself con suited member of the last legislature. who, l am informed, was member of the code committee, and his advice was the same as that given by our attor- ney.
 When this bill was filed in the chan cery court by one Henrietta Lindsay, who I am, informed, is the wife of Will liam M Lindsay asking the courts to declare the contract with Burns null and void we sought further legal advice, and while we find there exists wide differ ence of opinion among lawyers as to whether or not the new law affects Woodlawn, on account of the absolute necessity of having this school building completed in time for the opening of the schools in September it was decided not to fight the matter in the courts. but to call a special meeting of the board at once and declare the contract with MT. Burns null and void, and to instruct the architect to advertise for further bids.
 This meeting was held on last Mon- day evening, at which time MT. Burns rendered his resignation which was &C., cepted
 As to the rumor that other aldermen are contemplating resigning, will state that this is absolutely false.
 The writer of this editorial seems to be equally misinformed as to the attitude of the Woodlawn council in the matter of calling an election for the immediate annexation to Birmingham as he inti- mates that public sentiment has been aroused in Woodawn by the refusal of the council to call this election.
 Will state that there has been filed with the council only one petition requesting HIS to call this election. and this was at our last regular meeting, and the pe- tition contained only 54 names out of a voting population of nearly 800.
 MT. William M Lindsay, who present. ed the petition, was granted ample time to present and read it to the board, which he did, and same was referred to a committee for investigation with in- structions to report at our next regular meeting which takes place on next Mon- day evening, July 13
 The law requires that this petition must have the names of not less than 50 quail fled electors signed to it.
 While this committee has not yet re- ported. I am informed that in their in- vestigation they have found that sev- era1 of the signers are not voters and that several others have requested their names stricken from the petition which reduces 1t considerably below the number required by law.
 MT. Lindsay has also made the state ment recently that one of the aldermen is acting as plumbing inspector, which is not true Will state that MT. Clapp is not a member of the board nor has he been since his appointment as plumbing inspector.
 I am informed that Mir William M. Lindsay is your informant as to the mat ters above mentioned
 While I have no desire to criticise Mir. Lindsay, you will remember that he was a very active candidate in the recent cleo ton for membership on the Board of Revenue His following in Woodlawn is, therefore, matter of public record. This record shows that he received only about one vote out of every 12 cast in this election in Woodlawn this occurring in an election in which he had no local oppo- sition, in community in which he has lived about 20 years, and in all my polit- ical experience I have never seen any candidate for any office do harder and more persistent work than he did on the day of the election Yours very truly. W. F. PERUVIAN, Mayor of Woodlawn. Woodlawn., July 10, 1sOs