The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-14

Doe vs Octopus are excused unlll toihor- row morning o'clock Gentlemen, please be prompt in your attendance The next day we find Attorney A. did not hnlsh his case in the fourth division, or else we find the court has taken up and IS try ing some other case About the tnlra or fourth day all witnesses in the case of John Doe vs Octopus are discharged. By the next term of court plaintiff has lost some of his witnesses or they refuse to at tend and he is afraid to have an attach ment issued compelling them to do so for fear his memory might fail him on some important point. Result: he settles his case for a small sum. Defendant agrees to pay costs in cases where 1t can be made out of plaintiff; if not, the people lose. So you see how it goes.
 Now when court convenes at the small county seat, say at Centreville, Blob county, although it takes two days to get there. Attorneys A. and C., if interested, will be on hand or have local attorney 10 represent them, and they want their case tried right now. No more trips to Centreville for witnesses or attorneys II they can help it. Cases are even heard at night in order that justice might not be, delayed.
 Object Is To Injure Bessemer.
 AS pIOOI pOSltlNt lldt tic club of Birmingham is being used, not for the commercial interests of Jefferson county, I refer you to the latter clause of their address, Walker county citizens who prefer to go to Jasper could readily be forced to go to Bessemer. For these and other reasons we respectfully urge that the new constitutional amendment should be defeated
 You can see from this that the main object is to keep from going to Bessemer themselves and to prevent others from doing so, if possible. Gentlemen, you have righls and are right in asking that you be allowed to govern for yourselves, and am very thankful to be able to state that there are many good citizens in Bir- mingham and the upper end of the county that respect your rights and are proud of the fight that you are making. You have attracted the attention of the state and will receive support from the good citi- zens who can be counted upon to vote for question that has right and justice on it's side. As an evidence of this, take the press of Birmingham. The News in- dorses it editorially and the editor of The Age-Herald told me personally that his paper was open for a fair discussion of the cause, and belonged as much to Bes- semer as it did to Birmingham. They have all shown their willingness to be fair, and when our new county is established we personally propose to take a full page ad in each paper to let the world know what we are fighting for, and l hope you wfl all do the same
 James Trotter Talks.
 After the applause that followed the speech of MT. Badham had subsided Capt James Trotter made strong speech showing some of the benefits to be derived by the-forming of a new county. Ut is not my intention to dis cuss the issue that is before you, for the papers have handled the matter pro and con, and you are all aware of what we are fighting for. The whole thing hinges on the question, wh ether men are made for counties or counties for men. There is not a particle of uoult in the mind of any fairminded citizen tfat the formation of new coun- ties is intended for the convenience of I.e citizens at large. 1t is not ques- tion of a large area, but when a suf- ficient area, a sufficient amount of taxable property, and a sufficient num- Der of citizens comprise territory, that will justify it's forming a county, ac- cording to the provisions of the con stitution, for the convenience of the people residing in that territory, if they want 1t, the new county should be theirs.
 "The selfish motives of few Bir- mingham people sh ould not be counte- nanced by the voters in deciding this matter in this instance.
 We have the necessary area, the