The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-13

rectors of the Young Womens Chris
 tian association will be held this after
 noon at o'clock at the home. "
 tude of current details? If mistake oi 1 S121 ,0o0 occurs in one item, might there l not be others? That Is, a mistake un- | less the commissioners are going into the bond business by financing public in- provements, and if that is the case they should have said so. But this would bring about other complications since there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of public improvement bonds out, about which nothing is said in the financial statement
 "The commissioners have and de- serve the perfect confidence of all so far as their unfiinching integrity goes But are they infallible? Judge Lane was an able jurist, but the supreme court has reversed him, and he himself has recon sidered and changed judicial opinions once firmly held. And I dare say many acts of his while mayor of the village Of Birmingham 20 years ago, would be very different did he have to act again with his present lights, Able and astute law yer that he is, many a court and many a Jury have declared MT Weatherly's s position bad on the questions then at is- sue Nor can MT. EXum claim that in his busy business life he has not often picked up propositions too hot to handle and de fleets in his judgment proved.
 '"There is no principle involved in this bond issue, only cold business proposi- tion, in which every taxpayer is inter- ested.
 "If 1t is a good thing for the city to have In the banks $l,500, coo. paying inter- est on it. a sum to pay all expenses for | a year, would 1t not be better to have enough for two years2 Why one year | rather than two?
 Have the commissioners been frank and fair with the people?
 Have they really tried to figure out
 any other way to handle the proposi-
 ton?
 .'If they can borrow money at 3& per
 cent why pay per cent?
 would it not save the city thou sands of dollars annually to make short
 terr. loans for have the operating ex-
 penses for an average of three months
 than to pay interest on that sum for full year?
 Has the commission any other bond
 issue in the background, as intimated
 by pr. Parker in his interview Sun
 day?
 TT the s121 900 in notes for public 1 Improvements is a deficit, what of the | Improvement bonds outstanding? | "If a citizen, because of former con- nection with the city administration should be pilloried for asking questions about a mortgage the city wants him to nut on his property, should not MT. | Lane, MT. Exum, Mir Frank Smith and | pr. Parker, all tsrred with the same stick, be estopped from urging the peo- ple to make up their deficiencies if de- | liciencies there have been? Just consider that these questions are asked by Bill Jones' the blacksmith, who never held or wanted office, who has d wife and six children, who owns l a little home, and who seeks light by which to put his mark on the mortgage 1 July 8.
 ] T see in The Age-Herald Monday a confession from the commission that | it's first statement was & little foggy. | This is encouraging. The fiscal year of Birmingham ends June 30.-.uo y-do the commissioners, for bond purposes, practically change this to December l? i Isn't it fact that practically all the citys revenue is collectible in Decem- | Der and January? If the commissioners had pushed their arbitrary fiscal year | up two months more to February 1. | would there have been any deficit? Are
 the commissioners not trying to figure
 a2 months expenses against 12 months | revenue?
 Be fair and frank, gentlemen. If
 you are right the people will be with you. If you are wrong you should be shown the error of your way. l My attention has just been called to the statement of MT. Eustis in one of the afternoon papers. The astonishing l thing about his statement Is the fact 1 that he does not know that the city last year did make and In the future will continue to make assessments on l the same valuations as the state and l county.
 l
 men. I am still on the fence. M. II. MDOWELIA'