The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-13

they could have done so and can do so | yet, and if the citizens in that area be- l lieve 1t advantageous to them they can
 accomplish it, notwithstanding the opposi-
 ton of the Commercial club of Birming- 1 ham and all the remainder of Jefferson
 county. Raps at the Fee Official.
 1 AHow can any citizen of Birmingham l who is not county official pald py fee, or the merchant, or the artisan
 suffer whether a man living in Bessemer
 pays his taxes there or pays them here,
 whether he attend court there or whether
 he attnd here? The argument that Blr-
 mingham or Jefferson county would oe
 injured and shorn of it's prestige and dis
 posed of it's wealth is fallacy. Under the law, the new county, 1T such were formed, would be required to assume
 such a proportion of the debts of the older counties as the proportion of tax able values taken over might bear to those left behind On the other hand the ! new county cannot take its proportion or
 the assets of the older counties, so that
 while 1t would own, roughly speaking, | one-fourth of the main sewer, which Is 1 not a revenue producing asset, 1t would
 not have any share in the Jefferson coun- ty court house or the. county farm, poor house. cemetery, pest house, etc., although if would have assumed its full share or the bonds outstanding against thepl and any other assets of the county.
 "It is a fallacy to assert the taxes or
 Jefferson county citizens can be raised IF new county is created. Where would
 be the additional items of taxes accruing against Jefferson? The new county would be required to take care of the bridges
 roads, schools, public health and the ad-
 ministration of justice within It's own
 borders, and thus relieve Jefferson coun- ty from the duty ef spending the taxes on those objects collected for and 10 pc disbursed in that end of the county. It
 is A fallacy to assert, which was done last Saturday in the Commercial club
 that this would be a prelude to cutting I'D the state into innumerable little couh- ties There is no such proposition pe1ore
 the people of the state, and the interests of the counties are so well guaroeo py the legislature that no county may pc
 reduced beyond 600 square miles, and that m new county line come within seven
 miles of d county site. Under these con
 ditions it has been computed that no more than five new counties might pc
 made in all Alabama. "If this new county is formed 1t Will solve for number of years the dlffi- | culty which has been confronting all county officials Our courthouse and jail
 
 the county for perhaps six or seven
 or ten years at farthest, after this amendment has been carried and the new
 county created I expect to see Jefferson so large that it will then need additional
 facilities.
 .,rhe trading of the Bessemer people is done with Birmingham merchants. Are the merchants going to antagonize all of their customers at that end of the coun-
 ty for the sake of promoting the con- yenience of a few Birmingham lawyers who dislike the extra trouble of going
 to Bessemer and attend court there?
 Bessemer Will Do Its Part.
 "The plea is made that the great manufacturins industries of the dis trict look for great new water scheme and that this can be best carried out by Jefferson county as it stands today. This is a fallacy. If five or six mill lion dollars are to be spent in bringing water into this district from the War rior river it would first come to Ems l lev, midway between Birmingham and Bessemer The mineral deposits of Bes- semer are vastly greater and richer than those of Birmingham and Bessemer is as yitaly interested as Birmingham to oD- tain any such water supply and will CO., operate with Birmingham in such an undertaking in the fullest measure 1t would maniIeSliN De dil CdSy PiOPOSieiCii to float the bonds if they were secured on the credit of the two counties in- stead of only one, especially as the new county would include taxable values out of Tuscaloosa and Walker which could not be made available at present by Jeff ferson county alone.
 "In 1S776 the fathers of our country de- clared that it was time to set up house.
 Keeping for themselves without paying
 tribute to England any longer. Every
 American is proud of the result. In 1861
 the southern states attempted simi-
 lar movement, but with a different re-
 suit I have yet to meet a southern man
 who is ashamed of the action of his
 fathers in his effort at secession. The
 same principle and right to secede from
 a large county, one which has become so
 large as to become unwieldy, is asserted
 by Bessemer and that locality. I shall
 vote to sustain them because I believe
 1t is right that they should have the
 decision left in their hands at the elec-
 tion My property interests in Birming-
 ham are eight-fold greater than they are
 in Bessemer but I have no fear that
 my interests in this city will be in-
 jured one dollar. but that Greater Bir-
 mngham will go on to the achievement
 of glorious prosperity that cannot be
 xxffI <.,1xr 1,o