The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1890-06-19
SENATOR KERR'S DEFENSE.
He Tells Why He Voted Against
the Railroad Commission.

c.. in the forenoon and at Clear
Run, y. G., in the afternoon, de-
Tending his record in the last
Legislature. He made the same
speech at both places. to about
fifty or sixty people, which in
was as follows:
\ great question, the Railroad
Commission, is beginning to az
itate the people, and it is for you
to say whele it will end. | vo-
ted against j. and am willing to
stand here and give my reasons.
Some say that the Railroads
paid me money to vote and work
against 8. Railroad COmmiss on.
All | have to say to this is "evil
to him who evil thinks" You
can put me on oath if you wish
to, and | will state that | was
not bribed.
They say that | was instructed
to vote for a. Railroad Commits
sion. | was not. | dare any
man from Franklin to Mingo to
say that he ever wrote to me
asking me to support the Com
mission bill. The Alliance says
that they sent ,.,e up petition
with 300 names asking me to
support the bill. All / have to
say to that is that I never re =
ceived such a petition, and |
don't believe there was ever any
such petition. If there is any
man in this audience who ever
signed such petition let him
speak out. At one time when |
was home during the session of
the Legislature, I stopped at In
gold and there Il dozen men,
whom | asked If they wanted a
Commission, said no. | asked
man who went to Raleigh during
the session Of the Legislature if
he wanted me to vote for a Com
mission, he said ND. The 7th
article of the platform on which
you nominated men in 1888, de-
clared against creating any new
Offices, and your county by a ma
jority OF 45 voted against put
ting two more judges on the
Supreme Court bench. But they
say that I am a Railroad attpr-
ney and therefore am with the
Railroads and in sympathy with
what is for their interest. The
Railroads are bound to have at
torneys. In 1874 the LegisIa-
ture passed an Act that you
could sue a corporation by serv-
ing summons upon any agent or
official. So yon see that the
Railroads are bound to have at
torneys, and | just happened to
be the man they selected for
Sampson county. Suppose a
horse was killed between War
saw and Clinton and notice was
served on the agent at the latter
place that the case for damages
would be tried at 4 o'clock the
same evening. The agent would
telegraph to Wilmington for
counsel, the authorities at Will
mington would telegraph to
some lawyer at Clinton, say Mr..
Stewart, to appear for them, and
he was to telegraph back that
he was on the other side; then
they might telegraph to Mr..
Faison and he too would tele-
graph that he was On the other
side; what would they do They
must have a man to attend to
their interest, so they make an
ARA angement with some man in
every section to be their attor-
ney. They need such a man, so
it is fair and just that they have
attorneys.
There is a. cry now for the
farmer to have men who are
friends to represent them in the
halls of legislation. Let US see
about that. [ was raised on a
farm, have lived on farm, and
married a farmers daughter, so
| am about as deep in the mire
as you are in the mud. | con-
troll LOO acres of land and have
five plows running. So I am the
farmers friend, and whatever 1
do for his interest is also for my
interest. But because I am a
farmer is no reason why | should
vote for a law that would injure
the State.
There are three classes of men:
1st. The emotional man. This
class of men can go to d church
on Sunday, hear a sermon and a
few hymns, shout ard hurrah,
but before Wednesday they lose
the last dad-blamed bit of their
religion.
End. There is the preiudiced
man. He shuts his eyes like
a snake at certain times of the
year and is blind. He can't see
the truth if it is thrust before his
eyes.
3rd. There is the reasonable
man, and he is the kind [ wish
to talk to. I believe you are
reasonable men, so ] will pro
ceed to give my reasons for vot-
ing against this measure.
First let M ask you a ques
tion. Can a commission regu-
late passenger and freight rates