The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-27
Birmingham, Ala. October 25, 1908

BlrmInSnail, <Aid, OCtOuSi 6o, ASVo'
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 I left Birmingham Thursday afternoon
 to attend the circuit court of appeals at
 Montgomery and did not return until last
 night about 10 o'clock. On my return
 found that my name had been used to
 an advertisement in effect opposing what
 is known as the new county amendment,
 and to a call for a mass meeting last
 night This use of my name was With
 ont my knowledge or consent. l am not
 opposed to the amendment; l favor 1t
 and expect to vote for it.
 The gentlemen who are making the
 fight against the amendment are all my
 personal friends and for them l have the
 very highest respect. They know very
 well that it would not be necessary to
 ask my personal consent in joining in
 any movement that had for its purpose
 the good of Birmingham and Of Jef1er-
 son county, and acting upon that assump-
 ton I am sure one of them LOOK the
 liberty of signing my name to the call.
 know necessarily from the character Of
 inc gentlemen who are conducting the
 campaign that in the use Of my name
 for the purpose indicated they proceeded
 solely upon a misunderstanding, and that
 no sort of injustice whatever was con-
 templated so far as l was concerned.
 Having been living in the county TOT
 only about two years, and finding very strong sentiment in Birmingham among
 many of it's best citizens against this
 amendment I had felt constrained to sub ordinate my own Judgment 10 that or
 others in whom had full confidence 10 the extent of taking no active part III tbe matter. and but for the use of my name in the manner indicated should have adhered to that conclusion.
 Reing under the necessity of correcting the error referred to, 1t becomes essential for me to state the reasons why Iavor and intend to vote for the new county amendment. dislike as much as anyone possipiy | could to disagree with my friends, ana 1 shrink as much as anyone can iiolli l conflict. But although l know l may pc 1 entirely wrong in the matter, and al 1 though I may be in hopeless minority so far as the city of Birmingham IS con | cerned. my self respect compeis me to | state clearly my views on the question and the reasons therefor. Tn the first place, think the honorable | gentlemen, or some of them at least, WHO | are opposing this amendment oo 'neln- selves an injustice when they piace snei1 onnosition upon purely selfish grounds do not believe they mean exactly what l so,,oa of them have said on that subject. xve are first of all citizens of Alabama. | we owe an obligation to the state mat ia necessarily superior to the obligations which we owe to any part or the state' | Tn the next place. we cannot aHord to weigh A moral principle in the same scare l with A pecuniary advantage. 1T we couio | heip ourselves financially by inflictng moral wrong upon others we would pc l ,a,,na to foreRo the financial advantage. l | assume the gentlemen who oppose the l new county amendment have 1denticaiiy the same views on this point that nave. 1 T think merely that they have Tailed To over-look this proposition in the excess of their zeal. There is ample evidence all around us and all about us 10 the | afsact that states prosperity Is en- | banced rather than retarded by navins 1 small counties and large enough num- he, to conveniently transact all the pun l uc business without inflicting hardship and injury upon any portion of the peo- ] pie. A ,,+,, av, avaraue area of 7S0 square miles l Mississippi has z5 counties with an l average area of SIS square miles; Ten l nessee has 9s counties with an aver age area of 4S5 square miles, and Geor- eia has l45 counties with an average of 4o7 square miles. It will be ob- served that the areas of the counties in Alabama is much larger than Missls- sippi on the west, Tennessee on me