The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-21

 character. reckless and malicious l trampling Unto the dirt and mire of dirty politics all who oppose him. | "Ie mimics the Kaiser in one re- spect, but without the genius or the ] ability to play the role of the Kaiser. l He would slay ruthlessly by dropping l bombs on even the sick and wounded
 in the war hospitals in the rear of 1 the armies; he would sink with his 1 submarine torpedoes noncombatant men, women and children; he would use the bodies of his own dead to con- l vert into fertilizer: he would torture 1 the helpless: he would ravish the poor; l he would ride rough shod over the claims of humanity, disown all the lcanons of decent human intercourse l and transgress all the rules of civil | ized warfare to accomplish his un- worthy, selfish aims. And. like the
 Kaiser, he will so offend the hearts and minds of all right living people | not bound to him by the ties of sim | ister obligation that he will ultimately 1 he overwhelmingly condemned and 1 buried forever in the oblivion he so ! richly deserves.
 CONFESSED OFFICIAL FAILURE 1 George Ward. by his published statements of his reasons for not rum ming to succeed himself confessed him. | self to have been an official failure 1 after he had served four years as president of the board of commission- CTS and in other official positions more or less continuously for 25 years. In ] so doing he left himself without a
 platform or a record to stand on. | "Tater, when induced to change his mind and re-enter the race. he creates a platform not based on his own rec ord, nor on promises of betterment in 1 the future in his performance, but on 1 the inspiration given to him by those
 responsible for his comeback.
 What was that inspiration? The lanswer to that is found in the an l swer to the question. Who asked him to come back?' What were the inter l ests that inspired the voices that be- sought him? Was it not the steam railroad companies, the street railway company, the waterworlSs company, | the telephone company, the Alabama I Power company and the like public ! utility concerns and special interests | which have been forced to sit up and
 take notice ofsthe rights of the public
 for the six years or more under com mission form of government? These | interests, looking aslant at Barber 1 and Rogers, said to George: Get back 1 in the race; we will put you through | with our money, -our influence and l splendid powers of organization and our resources and our ability to han dle men. And then we expect better 1 treatment than We have received at the hands of the demagogue Weather | ly and others of his ilk.
 GO FOR HIS RECORD
 ".Go for his record. make him an issue, deride and discountenance and i discount him and everything he has | done or tried to do. We know you have never been for him at heart l that you lay down simply to let the waves pass over you. This will give l you the opportunity to go back to the | old regime when the corporations, ! which made Birmingham and kept il | going, could get anything they want | ed at the city hall, just as they do now from the legislature and in town coun- cils elsewhere in the state
 "sBut suppose he defends his rec- ord? 9 says George. Suppose he sets out before the public what he has done | and tried to do and makes form Iidable showing?'
 "eWhy,' they replied. you can dis credit his motives. attack his char
 acter, charge him with wanting of- flee and with the design of being the cityss boss; and then you can ring in the T. As and array against him the | sympathetic attraction the Jews and l the no-religious of all classes includ- | ing those who want wide-open 1 town
 "'But what about my own record?' asks George. Cut it out and shake the bushes. A word to the wise ought to be sufficient they answered.
 SUITED TO THEIR TACTICS
 Ward has pursued this policy and l who can deny that it is the very poll icy of all otheres best suited to the | tastes of those who believe that the 1 big interests must be let alone at all hazards, that they should have free rein and that the arch enemy to their l sacred rights should be slain as a l fearful example for many generations to come: of the futility of offending or fighting the corporations?
 'Ts MT Ward not now dscrediting the work Of years in improving the service and charges of the public service cor porations and for which he himself | voted? Has he not turned turtle on his own record in these matters? Does he not openly and brazeniy state to tho ipublic that the electric light bond issue is failure; that the waterworks pur- chase is failure; that the telephone suit is a failure; that the fight against the absorption of the Tidewater was folly: that the rejection of the project for furnishing by-product gas at 75 cents per 1000 was 8 sad piece of business error; that he had his doubts about al these actions of the commission and fell that they were futile and wrong but only yielded to Weatherly's supposed