The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-10
KING, SPARROW AND. ALTMAN IN FAVOR. .0F THE BOND ISSUE
King Tells Why Wage Earn CTS Should Vote for Issue. Sparrow Surprised at
 Opposition

| mingham Trades Council; John ". Alt
 man, prominent attorney. and John | Sparrow, president of the Ad club yes- terday issued formal statements in fla vor of the s1.25o,oeo bond issue to be voted on by the people of Birmingham Monday.
 Mir. King, who is one of the well
 known labor leaders of the city, writes as follows:
 Many good and sufficient reasons why all the people of Birmingham
 should vote the bond issue on April
 l2 have been advanced but according
 to my point of view there are several or these reasons that apply especial
 iy to the wage workers of this com
 munity.
 T. Organized labor almost single | handed fought for and succeeded hay ing adopted the ordinance providing
 free textbooks and supplies in the first four grades of the public schools and
 the abolition of the tuition fee in the high schools. This progressive meas ure has cost and is still costing the city treasury many thousands of dol | lars and is responsible for a consid- ! erable amount of the deficit that it is
 proposed to fund by the issue of the bonds.
 "2. Owing to the financial condition
 of the city this year it was impossible | to extend the system of free textbooks l to the fifth grade as per the original plan adopted whereby the system was
 to be extended one grade each year
 until the children in all grades of the 1 schools were to be included
 "s. Owing to thousands of wage workers that have been out of em- ployment in this city for months and
 many others that have been employed only for day or two a week, it would
 be impossible for a vast majority of
 them to continue their children in
 school if the free textbooks were dis
 continued, and this is just exactly what
 the commission will be forced to do I if the bond issue fails to carry, to-
 sether with many other functions of | city government of vital importance ] to the prosperity, protection, educa- l ton. health and general happiness of 1 our people
 A. The retrenchment that will be | forced upon the commission if the bond issue fails will add many em.
 ployes now performing useful and
 necessary services for the city to the vast army of the unemployed, to whose ranks We can i'll afford to add a sim | gle recruit at such a trying time as the workers of this community are
 now passing through.
 | "o. The payment of the floating indebted
 ness at this time would place a large
 sum of money in the regular channels 1 a nj aIxr eli tl,,ta l,,,.; activity, which of course would mean the | return to work of at least portion of our | unemployed. citizens.
 1 If you don't like the manner in which l the commissioners have administered the affairs of the city, recall them or wait until election time and elect some to your | liking, but don't add to the already heavy burden now borne by the working class
 of this community by bringing about the state of affairs that would exist were
 the bond issue to fail, just for the pur- pose of getting back at the commis-
 sion.' Such action would be like wreck
 ing a passenger train to satisfy a per | sonal grudge against the engineer or some members of the train crew.
 | There are many other good and suf- hcient reasons why we should vote the bonds that could be enumerated if time and space would permit. but the ones above stated should, according to my point of view, be sufficient for the wage
 workers if no other reasons existed | Tn conclusion I wish 1t distinctly un- | derstood that the above are my own per- | sonal views, written in my own language
 and do not presume to speak officially
 for the labor organizations of which I
 am an officer"
 John Sparrow, in speaking of the bond | issue. says:
 "The paramount necessity for the bond hoe ok ,toI | strange that any vestige of opposition | should remain.
 "As an advertising man, 1t is natural | for me to think of the advertising pos-
 abilities of any situation. Birmingham will get great deal of advertising out \ of this bond election. It will be good advertising or bad depending on the re- | suit of the vote. If the bond election
 carries, the Associated Press will tell
 the people of the United States that Bir- | mingham is a progressive. courageous
 city, with united citizenship. They will
 feel safe in coming here and casting their 1 lots with us. whether they be merchants,
 manufacturers or individuals seeking the l opportunities which are to be found only
 in live communities.
 l 'On the other hand, if the bond election should fail. believe Birmingham would get a black eye which will disfigure her for years in the estimation of the world. She will be stamped as shiftless and a quitter. Indeed, 1t is difficult to exag- gerate the serious effects which will fol- low the widespread publicity given to | the fact that Birmingham failed to meas
 ure up to her responsibilities. There can
 be no question that there will be a great
 falling off of inside investments in Bir-
 mingham property, and property owners
 who oppose bonds will find that they have
 made the costly mistake when they see l their values shrinking. Manufacturers
 and merchants seeking new locations will shun us because we will have proved by | our own acts that we are dead Citizens | of the better class will not wish to re-