The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-09
SEPARATE COUNTY ONLY SOLUTION OF
 C|TY'S DIFFICULTY
Shapiro Believes That Work Should Begin at Once to
 Assure Its Con- summation

Representative Isadore Shapiro believes
 Birmingham should begin right to work for separate county so that the dele
 gation will be unit in asking it of the
 next legislature. The remarks were
 prompted by the outcome of the McDon- aid injunction suit He said:
 ''The decision in the injunction suit is
 hard blow but I am wondering whether 1 the blow is hard enough to knock the people into municipal sensibility. For several years we have applied
 various remedies for Birmingham's ills 1 three commissioners, then five commis-
 sioners, and our old physician, who is called in quite frequently-bond issues. But we have seen that these remedies remove only temporary sores. Our mu- | ricipal sickness has become chronic. There is something vitally the matter, funda- mentally, with our organism.
 | Even had the three bond issues been | negotiated and the money applied to the proposed purposes, within a few years | more bond issues would have become necessary Bond issues make good um- brella, but a bad roof.
 We have got to get down to funda- mentals in this town There is only one real remedy, and that is a separate coun- ty for Birmingham. We may paddle along i'll a canoe made of bond issues, but such canoe will not withstand the viciss- tudes of all sorts of weather found in the sea of municipal government During the last legislative session, 1 introduced two bills-one providing for home rule for Birmingham, and the other making Birmingham a separate county. The home rule bill included the latter. Had 1t been enacted into law, we might now see daylight Under this bill, which proposed an amendment to the constitu- tion, the people of Birmingham would have had the right, after the amendment had been adopted, to vote upon the ques tion of whether they should constitute themselves into a separate county. If voted Cpon favorably, they would have had the right to adopt any form of gov ernment they saw fit, repeal amend it at will. This bill gave Birmingham absolute home rule. It is an absurdity of the rankest sort for the city of Bir- mingham to wait four years before get ting the simplest sort of relief And then, why, in the name of common sense, should we be required to call upon the legislature to grant such relief? Whenever the Jefferson delegation is unanimous on a local measure, the legislature passes it as a matter of course and of form. So why should not these local questions be dealt with locally?
 The county tax rate is $1 and the citys 70 cents. The unequal distribution of our taxes has been repeatedly shown. Bir- mingham is required to pay alimony to the rest of the county, getting few bene- fits. If Birmingham were separate county, its tax rate would amount to $170 instead of 70 centsv In addition to this $1 increase, the cost of administering one of the governments would be eliminated as there would be no necessity for the existence of separate city and county governments Numerous duplicatory of fices could be supplanted by fewer ones more harmonious, efficient system could take the place of a discordant, in- efficient one. Again, there would be no necessity for such abhorrent things as li- cense and privilege taxes. I never did be- lieve in this sort of taxation. The in- crease of it would result to the ultimate da mage of the people.
 We may not come to a separate county now, but we will later-it is inevitable. But why not do the right thing right now? Darned sox may be temporary economy, but they must in time be replaced by new ones.
 'This has been the experience of most cities-Denver, Los Angeles. Chicago, Rich mond, and many others of the most pro- gressive cities now comprise whole coun- ties. There are five counties In the city of New York.
 The new county idea was not taken seriously when I proposed it at the last session It is a radical measure, and radical measures are resorted to only in desperate cases. An individual will suf- fer great deal before he submits to an operation, and it would seem that Bir- mingham is in a like position. But it is now time to apply the knife, and carve Birmingham into a separate county
 ''The only objection presented against Birmingham county is the sentimental one that Imperial Jefferson is great" county, and should not be split up The beauty of Jefferson's bigness has brought Birmingham nothing. We are after ef- fciency in government not size. We need results not boasts.
 "The next legislature meets in 1919 The people should begin now to formulate a rock bottom plan for Birmingham's res cue. I maintain that the most sensible and fundamental scheme is to make Bir- mingham separate county with abso- lute home rule. Who has anything bet ter to offer?"