The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-03


 dividuals interested in the welfare of the negro race.
 The officers and members of the Ma tional Negro Democratic league general committee will meet in Chicago Thurs day, at which time a proclamation will be issued to the colored voters of the coun- try. A place and date for holding the na- tional convention of the party will be named.
  limits the suburbs of Edgewood, Brook wood, Battle Hill Cooks District and other thickly populated outlying sections. The advertisement was published and the bill was drawn The people of those sections as a rule, with the exception of some large property owners who nat urally don't want to pay city taxes, were willing and everything looked like smooth sailing.
 Then the snag. Somehow, In some way. a rabbits foot appears to have been rubbed on the members of the Fulton county delegation in the legislature, and on the subject of extension of the city s limits they are as silent almost as the grave.
 There is no doubt about the fact that the vast majority of the people of At lanta want to spread out. Especially are they anxious to do 1t since similar steps have been taken by Birmingham Memphis and other pushing and pro- gressive southern cities. All that has been held up to the opponents of the movement, but they are unmoved. They are few in number but apparently pow erful in influence. Anyhow extension of Atlanta's limits Is not making much headway, and the latest report is that it will possibly fail as a result of op- position from the county's delegation in the legislature.
 Recently they held a hearing of the interests involved, and the opposition | came principally from a number of law | yers who were employed to represent certain large property interests which | do not want to come in and pay city i, taxes. They are getting city benefits 1 now without the necessity of paying the | taxes. so why should they? Atlanta could easily add several mill | lions of property and some 15,000 to 10000 1 in population by taking In adjoining thickly populated areas but it looks very i much now as if they will not be counted ] in the coming census.
 The 5000 depositors of the Neal bank. which failed here last December are growing weary of the waiting for results which do not seem to come l When the bank failed and was placed in the hands of the Central Bank and | Trust corporation as receiver President i Asa G. Candler of that institution gave 1 out a number of optimistic interviews, in l which he urged the depositors of the l defunct bank not to get uneasy; that the receivers had looked into the situation and he was satisfied the institution would l ultimately pay dollar for dollar | That was In January Three months later the depositors whom the bank owed nearly s1,5OO0OO, were paid a divi- dend of 20 per cent, and to this good day that is all they have received There is some talk of another 20 per cent divi- dend the latter part of August, and when t, It comes these depositors will have wait ed so long that it will be just like get l ting money from home
 The depositors have long since ceased to expect anything like dollar for dol- lar and those who look for total of l oO per cent are among the most optimis- | tic. Conservative estimate puts the amount the depositors will ultimately get at about 50 per cent; perhaps a little l more
 Investments in Cuban lands and Ala pama iron pyrites mines, in which the onlclals of the bank were personally ih- terested, were responsible, in great meas ure Tor the banks failure. There are indictments pending against the officials or the bank, but considerable doubt is expressed as to their ever being brought to final trial