The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-03
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Political Recognition of Women

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 As the mother of three children, and as woman wage -earner, I am greatly interested in the present agitation rela- tive to the new member on the board of education. Every mother should feel the keenest interest in a subject of such vital importance to the rearing of her children, and every woman in Alabama should rejoice in this first recognition of women in the history of Alabama-the law authorizing women to serve on school boards
 The commission should appoint a wom- an; that is conceded by all. That woman may be from Ensley, or she may not There are doubtless many women in Ems ley who would do great credit to the po- sition, and if the most fit woman can be found in Ensley, there is no reason why she should not be appointed. But it must be admitted that the action of the commission in decreeing that the new member must come from Ensley is rather nonunderstandable and inconsistent The commission has gone on record as being. against the election of theeboard by the people, although that method is in vogue in practically all of the large cities in the United States, and the appointiye method Is the exception, and is not approved by the best authorities. Yet, the commits sion now, in effect, decrees that the next member shall be elecetd, not by all of the people, not by the qualified electors of the city, but by "ali white persons male or female, over the age of 21,' who happen to reside in Ensley. In other words, the commission takes the position that the qualified electors of Birmingham are not fit to elect the members of the board of education at regular and fair election; but that if one happens to be white, over a. and happens to live in F.nsley, he should be given the right to express his choice in an irregular elec- ton conducted by the Ensley Commercial club. Again, the idea of commission government is to get away from ward politics; but this action of the commission Is directly against the whole spirit of commission government. As stated by MT. Isadore Shapiro in his criticism in The Age-Herald several days ago, if Ens- ley is entitled to representation by @ res- ident of Ensley on the board of educa- ton, she certainly should have such rep resentation on the city commission. Where will the next board member come from, and will the people of that district be all lowed to vote, as the people of Ensley are doing? If the board of education is to be elected by the people, by all means let us have a fair and regular election. MT. Shapiro's criticism of the commis- sion seems to be well founded, and the | reason they have not answered it is prob- ably because there was no answer which could be made. N a
 The fact that the commission is not as closely In touch with educational mat ters as 1t should be isr very apparent when it is noted that it took considerable excavation on their part to even ascer- tain whose term would be up this spring. At first, it was given out officially by the clerk of the city commission that Dr. Hogan's term would be up; it was then stated in the press that AIr Ben M. Jacobs place would be vacant: and finally, after an appealsto pr. Phillips for assistance, it was discovered that MT. Byrum' 8 term would end in April
 As one who is grateful to Mr. Sha- piro for his efforts in behalf of the woni- en of Alabama, I feel the injustice of the criticism in the letters of MT. Chis- holm and MT D. M Lewis in this morn ing Age Herald.
 Mr. Lewis states that Ensley has given every man and woman in the western d- vision of Birmingham an opportunity to vote. and that this Is more than tic lcgjsla ture.f of which Mr. Shapiro is a member has dared to do; that Ensley is first in granting to it's ffair women the franchise. Is this more than the legis-