The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-11
KEEP THE POLICE OUT OF POLITICS IS CRY
 OF PERRY TURNER
Principal Plank in His Platform in Commission Race-Departmen Has Too Long Been Play thing of Politics Would Introduce Chicago System Into Birmingham Stands for Mercy in Dealing With UnfOrtunates

Out Of the maze of jostling young men the reporter wended his way until he heard 8 strident voice say Keep the police out of politics!'' It was striking sentence and it ar | rested the attention of the reporter to the extent that he sought out the speaker who proved to be Perry w. | Turner, popular young attorney, who is candidate for city commissioner. What ho?" greeted the scribe, what means this unseemly behaviour T am repeating to some of my l friends one of the most important I blanks in my platform answered the i former police inspector land it is a question which I have given deep | thought
 The young lawyer clear-eyed, a ringing, convincing voice had some | thing to say-and he was saying it ex ceedingly we'll. The scene was at his political headquarters. The room was l plainly furnished and several of the chairs were occupied by his friends and political supporters. And these were young men-vigorous youths, full l of energy-typical of the leader they 1 had chosen. The atmosphere of tho room impressed one with the idea | that Git was q young mems fight and 1 it was being fought by young men, l openly, fairly, enthusiastically, per l haps. But the furtive secrecy of the political gangster was refreshing by ] It's total absence.
 l Playthings Too Long
 For years,' said MT. Turner the 1 police, and. it might be stated, the Gx.. n .,,t.x tl,. litical tools of the city government If I am elected this system will get l knocked into a cooked hat. It doesn't
 suit me-it doesn't suit the police off, l ficers or the firemen, or their wives l and families; 1t doesn't suit anyHdy
 in particular. but selfish interests and | politicians.
 | No man can give his best service | if he is under the fear that any of 1 his actions may incur displeasure In l political henchman and be dismissed | This is the present system Police of- 1 flcers get $S0 a month. Anybody can get on, without regard to physical,
 mental or moral fitness, if he has 1 enough pull and if you lose that pull l off comes your head. It's a rotten state of affairs and if I'm elected it will re- ceive my closest attention"
 "What will you do about it? All can didates promise the police rel1ef. 1 They Ne Deell uOluS tIlot SNci SAiiSo "c- seph ran for governor of Egypt" said l the reporter, commenting enormously 1 on the Bible.
 l "The civil service will stop all po-
 litical chicanery," MT. Turner replied, with spirit "The enacting of an ordi-
 nance placing the police and fire de- 1 partments under rigid civil service
 rules will prevent myself as well as others who might desire to from mon keying with those bodies. And that will l be done if can get such an ordinance | through.
 l Lets have the Chicago system. Not such a strong educational test but
 rigid physical and moral test. We don't want clerks, but men, young, az | gressive men on the police and fire departments And we should pay them | adequate salaries It Is shameful the | meagre pay they are working Tor at l the present time And let's have the merit system for the superiors. That | is, let's make man who takes up police work feel that if he really gives 1 his time conscientiously to the city he will be rewarded with promotion. Let's also have pensions for civic employees who have become incapacitated in the service of the city. I'm strong Tor the police and fire boys"
 1 "Where are going to get the money | to make your pipe dream good?' said | the reporter
 l Equalize Taxation "EouaIize taxation" was the quick and snappy reply, "1et the burden of l taxation fall equally and fairly upon ! all and Birmingham will have revenue ! for public works and enough for ade- quate police and fire protection. It hasn't got that now, although the cit
 izens are paving for t. And asy Tor the merchants, they have my sympathy
 paying that privilege tax or license to | do business,' as it is called as am | also payingAa license to practice law l Other cities are not troubled that way and there really seems no particular reason why Birmingham is on the verge of bankruptcy. with the heavy 1 contributions of its citizens in the way 1 of taxes"
 'sWell, what's wrong?"
 ''The distribution of taxes in the naln' I We are now paying .35 in realty taxes on every $100 Only $1 of that comes 10 I the city. That is fundamentally wrong. The whole of that sum should be spent l in Birmingham and on what Birmingham
 needs.
 "In Richmond Va, that is done. It IS | a separate taxing unit from the county. It's tax rate is considerably lower than ] that of Birmingham and yet it's reve- l nue is about g.. 100000 annually. while that | of this city is approximately $S00,000 Both l cities are comparatively of the same pop ulation but Richmond is only F square miles in area, while Birmingham has b2 square miles of territory to take care of Needless to state that merchants. | doctors, lawyers and other professional men are not taxed In Richmond to do business. It also necessarily follows that there is something radically wrong with our system"
 If your figures are correct, it's a -- of a state of affairs" said the reporter.
 Birmingham Needs aeD0ctor
 You've hit 1t. exactly Birmingham is
 sick and it needs a few civic doctors to fix 1t up"
 And a great many persons are under
 the impression that Perry w. Turner is