The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-28
UNITED COUNTY CAN
 WELD INFLUENCE Can Find Much Better Market
 for Bonds INTEREST IN SEWERAGE MT. Harding Thinks 8essemer Should Join Hands With Birmingham In Solving Great Water Prob
 lem of the District.
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:

To the Editor of The Herald:
 The adoption of the proposed new coun- ties amendment will mean the division of Jefferson county in the interest of some of the citizens of Bessemer, who, for va rious reasons, desire their town to be county seat. It has not been shown in the discussion of this amendment that there Is any general sentiment in the state in favor of smaller counties, nor does the amendment provide for any counties of less than 600 square miles in area, so if the genius of the age" demands small counties like Georgia has, as is claimed by some of the new county advocates, the amendment is badly behind the times. As matter of fact, we live in an age or big things-of concentration rather than division Communities are brought into closer and quicker contact by railroads, street car lines, good dirt roads, by the telegraph and telephone and by the rural free delivery, so that the argument in favor of smaller counties is constantly growing weaker. Jefferson county is com pact and homogeneous; its people have interests in common, and its transporta- tion facilities are not surpassed in the south The county seat can be reached from the most remote precinct in live hours and the time is constantly being shortened.
 Nature has been lavish in her gifts to the territory embraced in Jefferson coun- ty in everything except an abundant water supply-one sufficient for the needs of all the furnaces and steel mills that should be located. in the county on sites convenient to Birmingham, to Ensley and to Bessemer.
 This lack of large water courses made the drainage of these cities a serious ques- tion. It was recognized that the county was the agency through which this prob lem should be solved, and we have now made a good beginning in proper sewer age.
 The county was able four years ago to float s500,0O0 of AZ per cent sanitary bonds at par, and our present county sewer is the result. It is an open secret that there can be but little additional development in the manufacture of iron and steel in this county until a more abundant and eco- nomcal supply of water can be had. Here again, as In the case of sanitation, the county is the best agency through which to secure prompt results.
 Los Angeles is expending $21,000,0O0 in bringing in water from mountain streams 200 miles away, and New York and others of our older cities are realizing too late, or at a high cost, the necessity of secur- ing additional water supplies.
 Jefferson county, by acting now, can bring into its manufacturing districts for few million dollars an abundance of cheap water. A delay of 10 years would vastly increase the expense and would meanwhile retard our development.
 When municipal bonds are offered for sale, five questions have to be answered before any negotiations are entertainedi l. What Is the population?
 ?. What is the assessed valuations? B. What is present bonded and floating indebtedness?
 4. What are annual revenues and ex- penditures?
 5. Has default ever been made in pay ment of interest or principal? The rate of interest at which a bond issue can be floated depends upon the an swer to these questions; and four of | them cannot be answered as satisfactorily by Jefferson county divided in twain as by
 the present imperial county. I assert l most confidently, after having had some | experience in selling state. county and | city bond issues, that neither the new
 county nor Jefferson county curtailed can 1 sell DOnQS aI as lDW d Tdte OI lHlcTtSt as | can Jefferson county with its present area | and wealth.
 | With the Ragsdale amendment defeated l and with Jefferson county united in a 1 great movement for abundant and cheap water for manufacturing purposes, its
 bonds issued for that purpose bearing 4 l per cent interest could be sold at par.
 This great question of water for manu- 1 featuring and sanitation cannot be han | ded as quickly nor as cheaply by two | counties as by one.
 | Let Bessemer have her independent l court, with jurisdiction in adjacent beats; | let her have record office, or whatever l else she wishes in reason, but do not di- | vide the county. Let us stick together | and in 20 years have county with 1,000 1 inhabitants half of them in Birmingham and Ensley, and good 100000 in Besse- | mer, the cities so closely linked as to be | practically one, the seat of the sub | treasury and the commercial, financial
 and industrial metropolis of the south, re-
 inforced by a county ranking in mining | and manufacturing with the greatest in | the world. w. P. G. HARDING. Birmingham, October 27, 1908. |