The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-01
OPPOSE
 PETTUS COUNTY Big Mass Meeting Is Held At
 Tuscaloosa PETITION THE LEGISLATURE Memorial Is Drafted Asking the Law making Body Not To Arbitrarily Cut county-Many Reasons
 Are. Advanced.
PETITION THE LEGISLATURE

Tuscaloosa, July 31.-(Special)-A big
 mass meeting of tho best citizens of the
 county was held here this morning to
 take action in opposing the passage of the
 Fettus county law at Montgomery. The
 meeting was presided over by Mayor
 Faulk. Representatives Rice and May
 field and Senator Moody were present and
 made talks on, the matter.
 Their reports indicated that the bill
 would probably not pass, but urged that
 the real sentiment of this county be made
 known to the legislature. It was stated
 that 1t was not. we'll known that q
 large majority of the people to be affected
 had voted against this when it was sub
 mitted in the form of an amendment to
 the constitution few months ago.
 It was further stated that certain am- bitions on the part of other sections of
 the state were influential with other rep
 resentatives, and that some were for 1t simply from general opposition to the strength of Jefferson county. After still other discussion, memorial was read end passed unanimously to be presented to the legislature protesting against this slaughter of Tuscaloosa county.
 On motion a committee was also ap- pointed to get an accurate poll of the sentiment of the people in the affected territory and present the figures to the legislature for their information. Tn numerous speeches it was shown that ab- solutely no need existed for the for1na- tion of this county, and that is was the inspiration of over-ambitious citizens of Bessemer-that such a county as pro- posed would be the richest county in the United States in mines and other wise-that the convenience, the good and the wishes of others should not be sac rificed for the furthering of these greedy ambitions.
 The memorial passed was as follows: The Memorial.
 To the Legislature of the State of Ala bama:
 The citizens of Tuscaloosa county, as- seanbled in mass meeting at Tuscaloosa July S1, 1909, to take action upon the bill pending before you for the formation of Pettus county, unanimously protest against its passage
 The large territory which it is proposed to take from us has been a part of Tuscaloosa county from It's organization, which dates back to the admission of Ala bama into the union. For many years the poorest. 1t has come through opening of It's mines of coal and iron to be the richest portion of our domain. For many years a wilderness, accessible only by dif- | ficult roads, it is now connected with l the county seat by two lines of railroad and by the best of our system of im- l proved highways which now joins at l the county line with that of Jefferson county. It is soon to be brought nearer l still by the building of the interurban | trolley line projected from Tuscaloosa l to Birmingham, while the assured open- | ing of navigation of the Warrior river in its native course through our county, | must make that stream along whose l banks are to be placed the iron furnaces
 and steel mills of our greater future a l yet stronger and closer bond of county unity than all others.
 Honorable History.
 1 Communities are knit together. not | merely by roads and rivers, the arteries | of trade and commerce. Tuscaloosa | county has had a long and honorable history. It's people are happy in harmony and unity of spirit. Counties take char acter as do states. The love of county is a tie as real and may become an in- f1uence not less deep than the love of state The traditions that center and the spirit that grows up about an historic county seat like Tuscaloosa are forces potent for good that can not be built up within the walls of a new courthouse The people of Tuscaloosa county are one people-they love their county-thev do
 not want to be divided. This was shown
 by the overwhelming vote cast at the
 last general election against the so-called
 Bessemer amendment to the constitution
 in all parts of the county, in the beats
 sought to be detached as well as in the
 others. And as Tuscaloosa voted. so did
 Jefferson and Shelby and Bibb and Wal
 ker-all the counties then involved or di-
 rectly affected by the Bessemer proposj-
 ton. and in which 1t was at all gen
 orally discussed and understood This
 result was attained after more than ten
 years of agitation and political scheming
 and trading on the part of the citizens of
 Bessemer. by whom alone as we are in-
 formed, the movement was originated and
 Is now maintained
 We submit the case for Bessemer has
 not been made out and cannot be. There
 is no real advantage even for Bessemer
 itself in becoming the capital of A new
 county. It Is new town-built to or
 der-an incident to the location adjacent
 to It's site of mines and furnaces It is
 an industrial suburb of Birmingham from
 which 1t is distant hardly ten miles and
 with which 1t Is connected hv many
 lines of railroad steam and tro1lv Al
 ready between Bessemer and Rirnoing-
 ham there Is a close almost continuous
 succession of manufacturing plants and
 employees tenements. The town already
 form one industrial comn,,,nitv No
 county line should be run between tbep,