The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-20
AT TACK WILL BE MADE ON KING BILL Quo Warranto Will Test
 Strength of Measure ALDERMEN RETAIN SEATS City Attorney Believes Quickest solu- Iution of Whole Matter Will Be In
 Getting Opinion on constltu-
 tionaIity of King Bill.

i As means of solving the tangle into which municipal affairs have got them selves as a result of the supreme court decision declaring the annexation cleo tions of East Birmingham, Avondale and Mountain Terrace unconstitutional steps are being taken with the idea of assailing the King Greater Birming- ham bill.
 If the King bill is declared uncon- stitutional, then the annexation cleo tions, it is pointed out, were legal un- der the provision of the recently adopted municipal code bill. R. H. Thach. city attorney in con versation yesterday with Mayor Ward. Harry Jones, president of the City 1 Council, and others. stated: T believe that this matter can be ! more expeditiously determined by as- sailing through the circuit court the King Greater Birmingham bill.
 Any citizen who guarantees the court costs can instigate quo warranto proceedings against Aldermen Causey and Mcdonald. Steps should be taken at once looking to the procuring of such action.
 "The aldermen, in defending their positions, will test the King bill. If this document Is found to possess flaws, then the annexation of the territory which they represent was constitution aL Of course, If the King bill can stand the test of the supreme court, then they lose their seats.
 
 ceedings, the tangle can be more ex- peditiously solved than in any other manner. I beleive that we could get final decision from the supreme court within the space Of a month"; VIII Retain Their Seats. l Mayor Ward and MT. Jones were out spoken in their favor of this move ment. There is no doubt but that such proceedings will be instituted in a very short while. Aldermen Mcdonald and Causey, representatives of the | Eleventh ward, are willing to defend their seats by attacking the constitu- tionality of the King bill, and last night issued the following statement: Since the decision of the supreme court of Alabama relative to the East Birmingham annexation to Birming- ham proper a great number of citizens have inquired of us what we shall do.
 We are advised by a lawyer who has looked into our matter very care fully that our office of aldermen rep resenting the Eleventh ward, is in no wise affected by the recent decision of the supreme court.
 1 Our lawyer, John c. Forney, ad- vises us that we hold our office as al- dermen of the Eleventh ward as legal aldermen. MT. Forney bases this on the fact that the King bill creating Greater Birmingham Is undoubtedly of no force or effect as law.
 We shall continue to perform our ] duty as aldermen as if no supreme i court decision had been made.
 We feel that since the suburban mu- nicipalities have created bonded indebt- edness and made improvements in their respective towns, possibly with the ex- l pectation of coming into Birmingham, 1 the opportunity now arises to test the l Greater Birmingham King bill and that it should be tested. No one who wishes to see this King bill tested should hesi- ] tate to question our authority to sit as aldermen or as members of the City Coun- cil of Birmingham, and we would invite a test of our right.
 ITO be plain, the election which the East Birmingham territory held for the 1 purpose of coming immediately into Bir- mington was legal, for the reason that though East Birmingham voted under the l King bill several months previous, the election under which we came in mmedi- ately was, under the law, the only elec- 1 ton which is valid, that has been held in the East Birmingham territory. "We are sure that East Birmingham is , as much a part of Birmingham as the 1 South Highlands We would not be so l positive had 1t not been made plain to 1 us Saturday by MT. Forney that the King l bill is indeed a nullity, and that if the people of Jones valley wish to see Great 1 CT Birmingham they will have to create 1 Greater Birmingham by coming In under l other laws now in force and not under 1 the King bill.
 we consider our position so clearly | correct that we now submit that it Is to l the best interest of all the newly acquired 1 territory of Birmingham that the King bill should be fully and completely tested ! upon its own merits, without any further 1 delay. Until it is analysed and inter- 1 preted by the supreme court of Alabama | in full and complete way, we shall att | tempt to exercise our rights as members 1 of the City Council of Birmingham from Hoe Il firm air1c yhar