The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-27
ATTACKS THE PLAN
 "AS SELFISH RULE"
B. F. Moore Writes Letter
 Against New County
CITIZENS GETTING ACTIVE
Thirty Thousand Letters Will Be Sent Out Today Urging Voters of the State to Stand Against
 Splitting County.

A phiillipic against selfish rule' and
 against the domination of a tyrannical
 majority over the victims of a helpless
 minority" is the latest attack upon the
 new county amendment. B. F. Moore of
 the Moore & Handley Hardware Co.,,
 briefly sets out a summary of the facts
 which in his opinion should prevent any
 citizen of Alabama from voting for the
 Ragsdale amendment.
 Only one week more remains to fight,
 and the citizens of the affected territory
 are getting busy. The Commercial club
 of Birmingham will mail out 5000 letters
 today to influential citizens of each coun-
 ty. The committees of Walker and Bibb
 counties are actively at work appealing
 to the people of the state with circulars
 and letters. Although the fight only be- gan a week ago it has already assumed
 such big proportions that the passage
 of the amendment is matter of very grave doubt. B. F. Moore has written
 the following letter:
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 L. The new county amendment is not
 needed and should be opposed. There is
 ample provision in the present constitu- ton for forming new countless and one
 in which all parties directly interested
 can have a hearing and get fair treat
 ment. Our constitution gives to the leg
 islature the power to create new coun- ties. This power has been lodged in the | legislature ever since Alabama has been
 d state and each constitutional conven- vention has kept it there, and there it should remain No more patriotic set of
 men, and none with greater ability, ever
 sat in convention in Alabama than those who framed our present constitution. l After studying the constitutions of the different states and most carefully con- sidering where this creative power should be placed, they, in their wisdom, re- i affirmed the past experience of Alabamas S entire history and placed it in the legis- l lature. The formation of new county l is a matter of concern to all the people l of the whole state, and not merely to the ] people within the limits of the new coun- 1 ty. All new counties will have their rep l resentatives in the legislature, who will l take part in making laws to govern the people of the whole state, and thus it is l of vital concern that so important q 1 power as the creation of new counties
 should be under the control of the legis- i lature, which is a body representing all | the people of the state. If this amend I ment is carried it takes this high power 1 away from the legislature and the peo- | ple of Alabama and gives 1t to the few people living within the confines of the new county, regardless of the rights of
 far greater number of people who are concerned and who may be most serious 1 ly injured. That is not all. Those who object to being transferred from their present counties into a new county will l be utterly helpless. Some town, anxious ] to be countryside and 1t may be off | on the edge of the proposed new county, l and having a population large enough to
 out-vote the thinly settled country dis. 1 tricts, will in their ruthless might drag ] these unwilling citizens into this new county, regardless of their wishes or their 1 welfare. Do you call this home rule? On l the contrary, it is the domination of a 1 tyrannical majority over the victims of | a helpless minority. But if the question | of a new county is referred to the legis- l lature which is the present constitutional
 method, then all parties can be heard l and the rights of the humblest citizen l can be protected, even though he lives 1 in thinly settled part of the country and far removed from any town ambitious I to be a countryside
 Many people think this question is one 1 concerning Jefferson county alone, which 1 is a great mistake. Several counties in l the state will be affected at once, and ovef 1 half the counties in the state have areas large enough to be affected if this amend | ment carries All parts of Alabama are 1 increasing in population and wealth, and l if today there is no town large enough to start a new county, in very few years l there will be one. The lines will be 1 drawn, and those outside will be utterly | helpless, as they will have no vote what 1 ever, and those inside in opposition will | be forced to transfer their citizenship l from their old home county to the new, with increased taxes and burdens, in or- 1 der to provide public buildings for the l new county and to take care of the in- | creased officeholders. This amendment | is most iDsidious proposition for chang l ing the constitution of Alabama, and if l carried the people of the state will lose l all control over the formation of new 1 counties. I cannot believe that the peo- | pie of Alabama are willing to part with | these rights. which are essential for the protection of the minority from the | tyranny of the majority. Don't let I prejudice control your vote, and in trying | to encourage self-rule be sure you do not establish selfish-rue.
 Our present constitution wisely pro- vides a hearing before the legislature to l the fun'blest citizen of the state before | his rights can be taken away from him, | and you should consider well before vot- | ing for an amendment which would rob | him of these rights. If this amendment 1 is carried, you can blame yourself for | not voting against it. when, by selfish
 majority. you are dragged from your old | county into a new, for you will be help l less and no legislature to appeal to and protect your rights as the constitution now provides.
 Every citizen of Alabama should de- l liberately consider his action before vot- ing to change the constitution of the state | in SO radical a way, and which may be of most serious consequences to himself am not opposing the formation of new counties where they are need, but | do oppose this revolutionary method of l their formation in this change of the con stitution, which takes away from the great tcdy of the citizens concerned any voice in the matter, and rides rough- shod over the minority without any con- siceration of their rights Respectfully, B. F. MOORE.