The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-29

the law this could have been done.
 foreed, therefore, to travel from court 10
 court in my efforts to annual your con tract and thus confscate your business and property, l demand that you furnish my people with water through these long, | weary years at prices which l shall name, l and unless you like whipped and cowed cur, crlnge at my feet and obey my com mands. l shall make them refuse to pay your legal bills and if you, although act l Ing on your legal rights, dare cut off their supply, 1 shall make them overwhem l you with damage suits
 I hardly think fair minded public l will either indorse or sustain the doctrine 1 of public and official confiscation and in 1 dividual reputation of legal debts. 1 can put feel that the people of Birmingham l intend to be both honest and fair. I cannot believe that they will allow d prejudice, however engendered or polti- ealiy nurtured, to blind them to the rights l of others. l am sure that a calmer view | VIII lead them to the conclusion that I after all the officials of our corpora tons | are at least partly human and that few I even of us have yet learned when smt- 1 ten on one cheek to in humility turn the l other.
 l The water contract has about six years 1 to run, and at that time it is by it's own | terms cancelled and the city has the right
 
 I no question of the city's right to construct and operate competitive plant of it's l own now or at any future date. There i IS, however, grave doubt of its ability to l sell it's bonds issued for that purpose. | Personally, 1 am convinced that it would ;, be a foolish and useless undertaking and would only result in an expensive and l valueless failure.
 Past Decisions Indicate Failure l The people are asked to pay over $100, | GOO per year now and much more each | succeeding year in order that the fight | now being made to repudiate the fran chise of the company shall be prosecuted l through to the supreme court of the l United States. It is not unreasonable to suppose that it will require five or six years litigation to even reach this tri- l bunal. On the citys part there is no cer- tainty of success then. Indeed the deci- 1 sions so far would indicate certain failure 1 Tt is hardly human to expect the com pany to voluntarily give possibly mill
 lion dollars away in the face of the fact 1 that the city is bending every effort to l destroy it's business and has served notice | that its fight is unreenting and that the | company must be declared an outlaw and 1 dealt with as such Would any of us, placed in the same position, relnquish our legal rights, sacrifice our revenue, and calmly bend our bodies to the lash? Can l We in fairness ask them to reduce our bills $lO0,0O0 each year unless we ourselves agree to stop our lawsuits and meet them as business men, with the sole interest of our citizens at heart? Are we will Ing to contribute, as we must contribute. under present conditions, perhaps a mil | lion dollars to a political campaign fund? l Six years will soon run by and the water contract will then be cancelled. In these six years, however, if the commis- sioner's present course is continued, many Of the hard-earned dollars of the poor will have been wasted on high and unneces- sary water bills. When all is over. his tory Will write-as history has and must always write-the truth. Then we shall Know that we have been politically sac riffced; we shall realize that ambitions which did not include our interest and welfare in their scope toyed with us ca1oled us dazzled, blinded, and--failed us
 T trust that you will pardon this long and perhaps useless communication. My only excuse Is that l fear the conse- quences of this unfortunate controversy Prospective investors in Birmingham
 When considering the city's Inducements reading, as they do read, in one column of our papers, daily recitals of crime and in the next column the unusual position or our city commission with reference to one of our most important utility cor lporations, might not consider this as an inviting field for either investment or en- terprise
 Tn conclusion, it might be interesting i to know, however, that I am neither a brother-in-law. a son-in-aw or a father in-iaw Of the president of the water works company. I must confess that either relation would not be objection aple to me except, perhaps the last one.'
 Rogers Gives Views
 To the Editor of The Age Herald:
 My water bill of S9.25 for my resi- aehce Is a trifle less than the one made before the deduction and is sat Isiactory and paid, and have no doubt that my experience is that of three l iourths or the water company's GUS l toner's. People following Mir Weather iys will O the wisp will have a money loss and some eXperience-that's all When Judge Grubb decided against nun he got very red in the face with assumed anger. and in his remarks was easily In contempt of court. Judge Crow decided against him and besides being blatant in his remarks about how inc supreme court would reverse Judge Icfcw he turned anarchist and advised people to not pay their water bills His scheme to work up a law suit for a fel- low attorney, possibly himself after he goes out of office, is neither enticinp nor creditable l would like to ask the water company right here if Mr. Weatherly hasn't gotten out of the shower by paying his own bill
 Again MT. Weatherly complains that Inc water company sends it's recalci- trant customers to him for relief What else could it do? Isn't he the self con- stituted Moses to lead them through the Red sea to Horeb's mount where he is to but touch the rock, as Moses did and cause it to flow water without microbe or meter? Yours truly
 GEORGE H. ROGERS. l Birmingham, July 27, 1914.