The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-11
LETTERS TO EDITOR
pr. Dozier Replies to Weatherly

Dr. Dozler Replies to Weatherly To the Editor of The Age-Herald;
 Please pardon me for again appealing to you for space in your paper for the exploitation of my views concerning A public matter, but after reading in your columns in Sundays issue the plaintive appeal of Commissioner weatherlv i'm ploring the good ladies Of Birmingham to come to the aid of the city as garbage collectors and scavengers, In an effort to prevent epdemics and keep our streets, alleys, back yards and commons clean and sanitary, I am SO filled with indignation and disgust that I must speak out or explode. The very idea of such an appeal coming from that august source nlls my very nav with shame and chagrn
 My God! Where and when before was ever such a suggestion made that the good women of city should voluntarily and without reward, constitute them selves into bands of garbagemongers and back alley scavengers, and perform the dirty work heretofore done by criminals and convicts?
 The thought should be enough to make bnzzard droop his head in shame. Oh what patriotic. publlc-spirited appeal But let us also note that Mir Weatherlv is not only acutely clever in his wise and timely suggestion, but let us also consider his further most liberal and magnanimous proposition-that after the ladies shall have collected all the trash and garbage and destroyed as much of same as they can, that he will then graciously arrange to have 8 trash wagon come twice a week and carry away whatever is left, provided the household CTS will chip in' voluntarily and pay the teamster for his work Now isn't that a magnificent exhibition and ont burst of liberality and kndnessl Why. | l shouldn't be surprised after this If I should hear of his giving some poor man the itch provided the man would in turn | pay him for the pleasure of scratching.
 Yes, Of course, Mir. Weatherly will ex- | pect to see our mothers wives, sisters | and daughters, hastily casting off their white skirts and dainty lingerie. and donning their lovely forms in blue over alls and grasplng in their tender hands the rough handles of rake and hoe and shoVei and in immense numbers rushing | out to attack the inviting job And perhaps too, he may imagine that he VIII nave us poor, overtaxed assessment robbed men rushing up with voluntary to pay the teamsters Nav be he will We poor fools haven't mueh sense, and after thus contributing nav be we will also constitute ourselves into organized squads of policemen to protect our homes now unguarded and also do | duty as fremen in case of fire for in | these departments of the city's protec- | ton there is need for such action since | the reductions already made by our | commissioners in these departments. calls Tor help, which MT. Weatherly should | have included in his appeal.
 But enough of this. Let me now come down to "hardpan and brass tacls." l was one of the ardent advocates of for fr.s, s,f..,r rl. = had cause to be dissatisfied with the inefficient loose and wasteful actions or the old aldermanic board but with the light of experience and the cold hard facts before me. I will candidly state that the city has not been bet tered by the change we made
 It would have been impossible under the old aldermanic system to have put over that infamous conspiracy of the telephone deal nor would the lately made contract with the waterworks company have been foisted upon us for there were always at least a sui ficient number of capable, honest and watchful men in every council board to forestall any such gigantic outrages being committed
 But it Is needless to revert to the past and I will try to confine my re- marks now to the present
 Birmingham is no longer a strag- EilnB Nllldge, put great coSmOpOl- itan city, owning now more than ten millions of dollars in tangible and real assets, but with the exception of the small and badly managed electric and water plant at North Birmingham, not one of the city's holdings Is earning and turning one dollar in money into the city treasury. And right here I want to say with emphasis that if it wasn't for the "gentleman's agree nent' now existing between com missioner and the Birmingham Rail- way, Light and Power company that the little plant at North Birmingham would be saving to the city more than S2500 a year--a sum quite sufficient to help the ladies out in paying the ex- penses of removing the garbage, which they are expected as scavengers to col feet and dispose of.
 And I will also remark that the $15 a week paid out to persons to labor an hour or two on Saturday afternoons teaching our children how to play might be better applied to pay the trash wagons.
 Then there is the big, colossal ooto-' pus, "the Bell Telephone company