The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-09-18
BESSEMER NEWS

| Bessemer, September 17-(SpeciaL)
The city council refused to grant a raise
to scent car fare on the TOMBSTONE pipe
shop line at their meeting Tuesday even
ing, after a discussion lasting more than
an hour. Lee C. Bradley, receiver of
! the Birmingham Railway. Light and
Power company, was present and ex-
planned in detail the position of the COM
pany in asking for a uniform raise on all
lines operated by them, and patiently
answered all questions asked by the al
dermen relative to the proposed raise
| Mr. Bradley stated that he had not
, anticipated a refusal of the council to
grant the Scent fare, but in the event
| that the resolution presented by the
company to the council was not adopted.
the raise would go into effect in accord
ance with the decision OF the public serv-
ice commission.
| When the vote was taken every mem
Der of the board present voted against
| the resolution except Alderman Jesse
| Edwards. 1t was declared at the meeting
that the raise to is cents on the Biz
mingham- Bessemer lines was unjust, and
| although the council had no jurisdiction
over those lines, the fact that 1S-cent
| fare was IN effect on those lines was a
factor in Influencing the final vote.
The request for the 100000 bond issue
| for the improvement of city schools. to
be submitted to the voters of the city,
presented several weeks ago by the
board of education, was again deferred
| by the finance committee, to whom the
petition had been referred. Members of
| the board of education were present at
the meeting and urged an early decision
by the committee on the bond ISSUE as
l . H. 4 =
the crowded conditions in all of the
schools, and the necessity of taking i'm
mediate steps to relieve the congestion.
| NJ. j. Brooks, president of the board
| of education, made an earnest plea for
the city to assist the board in handling
the situation. He was followed by Su-
perintendent L. l.. Vann, who, with the
| responsibility of directing the educa-
] tional problem of the city, presented
facts that had been compiled during the
| two days of the present school term.
and urged some means of relief.
| Professor Vann stated that on the Sec
ond day of the school term there were
$50 pupils in the Bessemer High school
that had been erected to accommodate
only 500 In many rooms there were
from 60 to 70 pupils. which made it a
physical impossibility for each pupil to
have adequate attention. The grammar
schools are even more crowded, accord
| ing to the superintendent statement,
and he gave as an illustration the Jones'
boro school, where in one of the first
grades there were A children and in the
other so, while a second grade teacher
| in that school was struggling with St
pupils in her room. At the Roberts
school. one first grade teacher had A
children in a basement room that the
architect had declared unfit to be used,
while the other first grade teacher had
rs in her room.
Similar conditions exist in many
other grades throughout the whole school
system, and Professor Vann pleaded with
the council to come to the assistance OF
the board of education and the teachers
in arranging for the money with which
to make additions to the school build
ings. Mr.. Vann especially urged the al
dermen to visit the schools and observe
the conditions existing there. Many
talks were made by the aldermen and
Mayor Jones. with the result that the