The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-03
Over 200 Men From All Sec tiOns at Chamber of
 Commerce
NOT FIGHT FOR THE
 CITY COMMISSION
Fight for Birmingham, Declares Mir. Bowie--TwO Classes of People Who Oppose Issue, Misinformed and
 Those Fighting Commission

1nls- IS not uSnt Tor the city commission 1t is not a fight against the city commission; it is fight for Birmingham declared Campaign Man ager Sydney J. Bowie at the meeting of the bond issue campaign committee and other citizens at the Chamber Of Commerce auditorium yesterday aft ernoon at 4 o'clock.
 "The voters of Birmingham are to decide" he shouted, ''whether or not this town is to be run after the plans made by our forefathers in 1875 when 1t was little more than village with 5000 population or whether we are to run it after our own plans and re-
 quirements here in 1915, when it is an enormous, metropolitan city
 The meeting was attended by fully 200 men from all sections of the city. Speeches were made by Sydney d.
 Bowie, Culpepper Exum, J. B. Woods
 James Bowron, John W. Sibley, c. R. Harsh and others.
 '"rhere are two kinds of people who
 are opposed to the bond issue began
 MT Bowie They are the politician, the man who is opposed for political
 and personal reasons: and the man who has been misled. who honestly be-
 lieves the issue should be voted down.
 Some Still Unreconciled
 ; There are some men who have
 never become reconciled to the pres
 ent form of government. They have not
 yet taken as final the eight to one vote
 of this city for commission govern l mo 1rt.
 I believe is their last and final stand
 in an effort to overthrow it. In their efforts to dscredit commission gov ernment or the members of the pres
 ent commission they would discredi,
 their city in order to hurt their DO
 litical opponents they would hurt their
 town. As long as they are with us 1 they will be kicking, for I do not be- l lieve they will ever accept our pres | ent government. But the great ma l jority of our people disagree with them 1 and they will plainly say so April I2 l This seems to me to be the last de
 termined stand Of the political oppon-
 ents of commission government. After | 1t is over we can say peace to their | ashes.
 The other class of opponents are the l men who have been misled by misin- | formation intentional or through er- TOTS on the part of their information sources. They are the men for whom 1 this campaign in behalf of the bond 1 issue is being conducted. They are l prompted by honest desire to do the | right thing and I believe that there l is not one of them who after a few minutes conversation with a man or the other side who knows the facts
 in the case but who will see his mis- | take and vote for the bond issue.
 "The purpose of this meeting and I others which we propose to hold is to find out what it is that is troubling | the minds of men on this question and | set them right. In this mornings Age | Herald pr. Martin of Avondale. a for | mer alderman and one of the men who | have never accepted the verdict of the
 voters of Birmingham in behalf ot l commission government, makes a state
 ment that is. replete with misinforma- ton. misstatements and insinuation. I | nave no attack to make on Dr. Martin | personally. He is one of my friends | and I esteem him highly, but I do at tack his position on this matter and the arguments he advances, for he has no arguments"
 Refers to Dr. Copeland
 Another example of the tactics en- | ployed by the opponents of the bond issue | is the statement of Dr. Copeland that the I bond issue if adopted will raise the taxes of the city mills The statement is l ridiculous on the face of it. Any lnan who Is at all conversant with the facts | knows that the bond issue has nothing to | do with the tax rate, that it will not in- 1 crease the debt of the city one penny ! as tie debt already exists and the bond 1 issue will only transfer it into the form of municipal bonds drawing per cent in- l terest instead of bank notes which it is | at present, and which draw 6 per cent interest. This statement showsSDr. Cope | land to be utterly uninformed as to the bond issue and renders his whole series of attacks worthless.
 "The bond issue will simply place upon | posterity part of the obligation for the 1 improvements that we are now making | and which posterity will enjoy as well as 1 we. As you who are here know, the funds of the city are divided into two parts, a sinking fund and a general fund mills going to each fund. The sinking fund is to be used only to pay interest
 and the bonded indebtedness of the city
 I believe that before the 30 years expire | which is to be the life of the bouds, tha, this sinking fund will have accumulated l enough to pay off the entire bonded in debtedness of the city-completely wipe
 it out"
 Mr. Bowie told of addressing the Retail
 Furniture Dealers association, and ever,