The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-21

CT Of any considerable size in every
 instance competitive bids should be obtained From testimony submitted it has not been a universal custom of thIs or previous boards to always get competitive bids on every contract and
 they are not compelled by law 70 ao so. but We recommend that this ba done in all instances of this kind in the future.
 If there is faetionalism existing in the board of revenue will state that we well know the proclivity If every board or similar body composed of several members to divide into fac-
 tIons, but we feel that the interest CT the public service is injured by fall ure of the board of revenue to work in harmony as a whole or at least the
 entire board be freely consulted and that time and opportunity be given for consideration and investigation of the important matters that constantly s--ise.
 The people of the county elected five members on the board of revenue with equal authority and the law was framed fixing five members Of tie board instead of a less number in
 order that tho public affairs might have the benefit of the combined judg ment of five men.
 Further regarding the Coiumbiana road we desire to say that part of the road from the crest of Shades noun
 tain to Bains bridge is splendid1y y
 built, as beautiful specimen of road building as we have ever seen and well worthy of being a portion of the state or Jackson highway.
 We most earnestly recommend thas this road be promptly completed on to Birmingham in the same splendid way as the remainder of the road to ba
 Coroner
 We believe that the punishment of crime in this county suffers on account
 of the inadequate provision of the law for the office of coroner. In county like Jefferson, where there is so much crime requiring investigation by the coroner not only is the coroner's salary entirely inadequate to the importance of
 the office and the worK to be per formed, but that the coroner should be
 provided with fund for employing cleri-
 cal help, and paying expenses connected with the performance of his duty. Bonds
 The public generally is familiar. through newspaper accounts, with what is usually termed the directory swim dle," and with the fact that four crim- inals were arrested and put in jail for the offense. Evidence was produced before this body to prove that these were among the most notorious crim- inals ever operating in the south The criminal records of some of them were
 we'll known in other parts of the country. Under habeas corpus pro ceedings the bonds of these parties
 were materially reduced by the pre-
 siding judges. Bonds were made by three of these parties after they had been reduced and they are now at lib- erty. It is we'll known by criminal
 experts that it is the practice of crim-
 inals of this class to make a cash bond,
 or it's equivalent, and never stand trial. We recommend that in the future the judges of the city and circuit courts
 do not reduce bonds fixed by judges of the criminal courts. In the due ad- ministration of criminal justice we be- lieve that the criminal court should be allowed to exercise it's rights and pow CTS without interference from civil courts.
 It is also generally known that the fourth member of this gang of thieves is now at liberty on forged bond. It appears that the sheriff exercised
 even more than ordinary caution n ap- proving these bonds, but we recom- mend in the future that when dealing with criminals of such well es- tablished reputation for shrewGness that extraordinary precaution be exer- cised in approving their bonds.
 Automobiles and Taxicabs
 Regardless of the fact that the matter
 of automobile speeding and careless driv- ing is constantly under discussion In the
 newspapers and by deliberative bodies such as this, conditions are not ma terially improved, and we feel that at
 tention should again be called to reclS- less driving and speeding of automobiles and our mushroom transportation facili:
 ties, commonly called 'iitneys." Scarcely
 a day passes without an account of au-
 tomobile accidents and we feel that only i- most careful legal reglla tiOn and strict