The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-02
'NO CONFIDENCE
 IN LEGISLATURE
Arlie Barber's Chief Reason for Opposing the Anti
 Fee Amendment

Arlie Barber. the only man in Jeffer- son county who has thus far publicly declared himself against the anti-fee amendment which will be voted upon next Tuesday, yesterday submitted the following;
 ~To the Voters of Alabama-ln order that there may be no misunderstandins of the real issue involved in the pro posed so-ealled anti-fee amendment and because I am the only one in the county. so far as I know, to come out in the public press against the proposed amendment, I desire most earnestly again to call the attention of the voters to the amendment itself II Is as fol lows:
 e.The legislature of Alabama may hereafter, from time to time, by gen eral or local laws. fix. regulate and alter the costs. charges of courts, fees commissions, allowances or salaries te be charged or received by any county officer of Jefferson county, including the method and basis of their compen- sation'
 Tn the first place we were told by Mir Percy and MT. Altman, who have now so ardently espoused tSe cause oi the people against the present eonsti- tuition. during the prohibition amend ment campaign that The constitution is too sacred an instrument to alter recklessly and that il was dangerous 10 lay violent hands oh this precious document handed down to us, etc Whence this great change of heart Was the fundamental law any more precious then than now, or have these gentlemen seen their mistake?
 T contended then, and now contend that the constitution, as weak an in strument as it is, is the only fort of the law left to the people. That II should be amended only when the pro posed amendment Is plain and straight forward in it's verbiage and manifestly for the benefit of the people. l con tend that the so-called anti-fee amend ment does not and may not, and l be- lieve will not abolish the fees in lief ferson county Does 1t say so? Does 1t say anything like it? No. It simply turns the whole matter over to the legislature, which body has time and again overridden the expressed wishes and will of the people. It paves the way for the most dangerous political plots and trades in connection wits the emoluments of public office in this county. It places our courts, our sherin and all other county officers absolutely in the control of legislature domi- mated by senatorial courtesy
 Tt gives the professional politician almost unlimited power to punish those who hold or expect to hold office in this county. who run counter to his will and to reward those who enter into his plots to plunder our county. l am as much opposed to the evils Of the fee system as anyone. | am also op- posed to the evils of the salary sys- tenn Who is there in our city who does not feel that the $21,000 salaries we are paying our three city commis- sioners is all out of proportion 10 the service we obtain. We had fair sam pie of the Iniquity of this salary sys- tenn this week when professional gam lblers caught red handed, were fined s1O apiece by our commissioner of public safety while our acting recorder sit ting on the same bench metes out a s100 fine to man who had not taken out a city license for fortune telling.
 Who do the fees hurt? Who pays them? Is it not the guilty? If the in- nocent are arrested the fault Is not with the system but with the man .who holds office and uses it to oppress.
 The professional office holder and politician were treated to a rather se- we're jolt when the people of this coun- tY turned down the proposition to float bonds to build new courthouse. Why did they do this? Because they have come to look with suspicion upon those who hold public office and propose to give them no more concessions of pow CT over the people
 This is a day when the people are looking for more and more power to take upon themselves through the referendum and recall and are unWil- ling to delegate any more power than
 Is absolutely necessary to the ruling office holding class. It Is my pre- diction therefore, as well as my earnest desire that this most dangerous amend ment be defeated. Respectfully, "ARI,IE BARBER. |"