The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-08
DIR. DOZIER POINTS
 OUT DANGERS OF
 NEW ORDINANCE

against certain foul, libelous aspersions inspired and cast upon her by dis gruntled former attache of our city health department. Since it's publication I have received so many congratulations from my fellow citizens for what had to say in the matters that I am now, in com pliance with the expressed wishes of many prominent citizens, writing this article for your widely read and influ- ential paper, dealing again with other phases of the subject, I, therefore humbly submit the following, which I will make as brief and orderly as can in dealing with the, ,srepulsive subject
 In my former article only dealt with the libelous islanders and pecuniarv dam age to Birmingham through the ban and boycott placed upon our city through the scheming malice of one formerly connected with the sanitary department of this city who. nursing grudge and actuated by spite and revenge believe, ban and boycott, which was done under the guise of a war measure, ostensibly to protect the health and morals of en- listed soldiers, falsely pretending that this city was so morally corrupt. such Sodom of vice, so permeated with pol lution and infectious diseases of name less character as to be dangerous and unfit for soldiers to visit: a ban and boy colt which still remains although the war has ended, and orders have already been issued abandoning the cantonments at Anniston (the source of the slander) and at Montgomery.
 When that slanderous aspersion and ban was put upon ts, with the declara- ton that Birmingham must be purged of vice and ste put through a general clean ing up before that ban would be lifted. our city officials and hundreds of we'll meaning business men were actuated by the most. luadable motives to remove any just cause existing for that aspersion. and to aid in doing away with the boy colt in order that our city should have the pleasure of extending hospitalites, and also receive the patronage and finan- cial benefits that might accrue from the visitation of soldiers from the encamp- ments.
 However, I believe that our city of- fcials and business men were wholly un- informed and were purblind to the real basic cause and vengeful malice that was, most probably, the whole founda- ton of the dirty implication and hurtful boycott. At least it seems that they were misled anti> suffered themselves to Do tfiG tOOlS Olf -tio utSplCdDlc traitor or traitors by giving credence to and helping in the infamous propaganda of the libelous islander, by implication through their actions to apparently jus tify the wrong being meted out to us as g people, as if there really was cause for the infamous charge. But they should know better now, and I think, should direct their efforts to refutlng the malicious and mischievous scandal
 Yesl I think it is time now for our people to become calm, to give up and cease all that wartime ~hysteria. stage play and projecting of personality in the spotlight for gratifying of selfish pride Thousands of Birmingham best men and women have worked hard and faith fully in the discharge of every patriotic duty, and our city has acquitted her self nQbly as one of the foremost, best and most loyal and patriotic in all this broad land and country. But, I fear that there are some here now who are so fond of the spotlight of publicity that they are glad to engage in any kind of endeavor. even to the exploitation of a libelous islander of our city as a whole, and at the same time give encouragement to a. movement calculated to prove very hurtful to our schools, colleges and com mercial enterprises as well as sanction to those in authority to oppress any in dividual citizen by arrest, bodily exami- nation and indeterminate imprisonment upon mere suspicion that the individual may have rnameless disease
 To what extreme fanaticism are we drifting when msn, otherwise supposed to be sane and sober, will forgetting that we have already provided free hospitals, free clinics, almshouses. rescue homes jails, humane officer, sheriff, police, de- tectives and sanitary officials, think @it necessary and proper to meet in pub-' lie hotel. organize and constitute them selves into a committed of dark. alley ferrets to pursue, run down and drag into the limelight of public pity and the poor. friendless outcasts and fallen derelicts who may be shelter-s ing in the dark dens of our citys slums? Perhaps some men may enjoy an ex- quisite pleasure in thus bounding down and sending to prison these poor wretches or it may be that their pleasure Is chiefly the enjoyment that comes of posing in the spotlight of the public press as Chris tan soldiers seemingly engaged in clean ing up their home town. which has al- ready been sorely slandered and damned by the unwarranted exaggeration of vice conditions existing here all, no doubt. to the supreme qualification of the man or men who inspired the slan-
 
 had to endure.
 However. there is no urKindness in my heart towards that altruistic <and perhaps well-meaning hotel aggregn- tisn of moral reformers, who so 'de- light in showing their might in the great sium fight in which perhaps they are doing right. But, if there's one in that entire aggregation who would like to shine IF the great spot Iat clare that he can honestly least the first stone" and l will guarantee that the other ninety and nine of his fell low ferrets will gladly bring forth the royal diadem and crown him lord of all" liars. To speak plainly I do not doubt the genuine altruism of any one of their philanthropic committee in fact am somewhat of reformer myself, and like nearly all other re- formers, l would like to have the mak- ing and enforcement of only such laws as would compel everybody else to do rights but would let me do just as I dern please Selah
 However. this big altruistic, self appointed committee of 100 are not the only crowd of Birmingham men who have been locoed and made wild by their strenuous overwork in efforts lo win the war and banish autocracy in Europe, and n few, I fear, have been running witb such rpsaw activity so long that now, when the war is ended, they cannot work the brakes on their energies and acquired momentum and are running dangerously near the line of, ,demar rk alton that lies between genu- inc common sence and downright 
 Of course. I aIlude to our city tom missioners, body of erstwhile seen- ingly sober and sane men. But, they too however. have apparently par taken of the ''crazy weed of war