The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-17
BY HUGH w. ROBERTS

Mayor of Birmingham. Judge 'oS vas the chief executive of the cl 0 S ;ood many years ago. and 1t is / o @ neral admission that he made '' off cial. Harry Jones has SC Jn the aldemanlc board for many s~ 's, and there is no man, it is believed, more fa- miliar with the details of municipal gov ernment than he. Following the death of Mayor OBrien he succeeded to the mayoralty from the position of president of the council. He served about one month and was succeeded by the then Mayor-elect Culpepper Exum. MT. Jones Is now president of the council.
 Mayor Exum was elected to the mayor. alty last fall, and in the opinion of many people, has made excellent chief offl cial of the city.
 Birmingham people in Montgomery to- day believe that the residents of the Magic City will heartily applaud the members of the delegation for deciding on the above mentioned members of the commission, and the governor for agree ing to appoint them.
 The Pacificator Enters
 Wednesday morning the five members of the Jefferson delegation who were contending that the commission should consist of five members, to be appointed
 
 It was certain at that time that they could poll about 70 votes.
 In the afternoon, however, as a result of wonderful work of a powerful lobby of strong Birmingham men, aided by an editorial In The Age-Herald of Wednesday morning, the tide turned. MT. Percy was we'll aware of the turn of the tide, and he asked unanimous consent to call up the Birmingham com mission bill. Representative Judge, too, was aware of the changing sentiment, and by objectng he precluded the pos- sibility of vote.
 Following adjournment, both sides got exceedingly busy, and 1t appeared last night that the strength was about even- ly divided
 Then Senator Morrow entered upon the scene, pouring oil upon the troubled wa ters. He caused the lion and the lamb to lie down together As a result the compromise and the passage of the bill! Conference Is Held
 Senator Morrow and Representatives Judge. Eastis, Barnard. O'Neill and Mc- Donald entered into secret confer ence shortly after 12 o'clock this morn ing.
 A compromise was suggested The compromise was-instead of five, there shall be three commissioners, and in- stead of letting the people elect them, the governor shall appoint them.
 MT. Percy yielded hls point in that the governor was given the right to appoint. The five yielded their point Tn that the number of commissioners shall be three.
 But MT. Percy and MT. Morrow would never have consented to a compromise had 1t not been known by them that the governor would appoint men on whom they could agree |
 A list was prepared of representative citizens of Jefferson county who would be acceptable to MT. Percy. The five were given the, right to select three members of the list, 1t being the un- derstanding tat Mayor Exum was to be one
 After considerable parleying. Harry Jones, present president of the City Council. and Judge A. O. Lane were agreed upon.
 Incidents of the Conference
 The difficulty in the selection of the three commissioners devolved upon the third man.. Everyone wanted Mayor Exum. Judge Lane was eminently sat- isfactory to every man concerned. There were various suggestions made as to who should be chosen the third com missioner.
 The five members of the delegation were determined that Chief Bodeker should be cared for, and they made 1t plain that they would select a man who would be friendly to the chief-for un- der the provisions of the bill the com mission will be able to reorganixe ev- cry department of the city govern ment
 Chief Bodeker was called into the conference. He expressed himself de lighted with MT. Jones' He was then agreed upon.
 pr. Gillespy. Wilson Brown and Henry B. Gray were in easy reach of the con- ference, too. and they offered sug- eestions when called upon. Jesse Stallings was another who was deeply interested in the plans.
 The Governors Attitude
 Governor O'Neal made 1t known tt the conference that he would not bind himself to appoint any three men as commissioners for Birmingham even were the entire delegation to urge him. He agreed, however, to listen to any suggestions made by united delega- tion. and to listen attentively. He sent a message to that effect to the confer enoe by Representative Long of Butler. But the governor will appoint the three beyond all question. Representa- tive Judge Is certain that he VIII oo so. Representdti'c - f-' as certain. MT. Gray announced his satisfaction Iin the embryonic commission this morn ling. II was in favor of five commits sioners." he said, but three is large enough number after all. The commis- sion will be g strong and capable Do1y' and will govern Birmingham well. ine selection was a wise one.' . Other Birmingham men In the city are equally as well pleased
 Lane Will Accept The concensus of opinion Is that Judge I.ene will accept the position on the com mission which will be rendered him. It is known that he is delighted with his position on the bench, but the argument | is made that of equal importance will 
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