The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1890-06-19

not stop right here and read it be-
fore r,ading VI hat We have 10 ray.
Well, now you have read it, what
do you think Of il? He claims 10
have desired the attention Of rca-
-onablc men, but if ever there was
an appeal to the prcjudice8 aud emo
tiOns Of men, he hls made it il this
speech. Now, my reader, if you
are reasonable man, one that il
posted and thinks for yourself, you
see IN that speech more statements
called facts, that are NOT FACTS than
you have cvCr before seen in speech
Of the same length. TO answer all
his statement. would take as much
space ~ his speech occupies, for
nearly everything that lie said is It
mistatcmCnt and can bcrcfutcd. So
we will simply take up and rcfute
what he seems to consider his strong
points, in this issue. But we agree
with him in something's, for instance
when he said that railroads were
bound TO have attorneys to look af-
ter their interests. That probably
is so, but that very fact disqualifics
II railroad attorney for taking charge
of the peoples interests. Now if he
Is true to his corporation, he cannot
be true to the people, if he is true to
the people he true to the corpora
tons. 4 man cannot serve two
masters, God and mammon.
lie says that he will never vote
for q commission. We believe this,
that is, as long as he remains a rail-
road attorney, because they pay him
better than the people do, but where
the rub comes is that his value to
the railroad as an attorney, and
therefore his pay from them, de-
ponds upon the people placing him
i'll a position to be of value to the
corporations. But when he says that
he never received any instructions
from the Alliance 10 vote for a con-
mission, we do not believe him
There was such a petition and we
signed it as President of the County
Alliance, certifying that it was
unanimously passed by body rep
rcsentIng 500 citizens Ofthe county.
l instructed the County Secretary to
forward copies of the petition to
Raleigh for Mcssrs. Kerr, Stevens
and Murphy. | was in Raleigh soon
after the petitions were sent. Mes
SIS. Stevens and Murphy had gotten
their copies, fer saw them, and it
is reasonably 1rtain that Mr.. Kerr
got his copy. The fact that such Il
resolution was passed was published
officially III TIE CAUCASIAN, and
the paper went to Mr.. Kerr while
in Raleigh, But if he had never
see the petition nor the paper he
knew that such l resolution had been
passed, and we challenge him t.
deny il. In fact he admitted that
hr knew it, in discussion in tho
Senate with Mr.,Willis r. Williams
of Pitt.
Mr.. Kerr says that from 1890 tC
1865 that the word railroad was no
in the Constitution, and that iE hi,
speech against the Commission il
the Senate that he made the won
derful discovery, and that Judge
Strong and Col. Fuller thanked hin
for the information. They thanked
HIM for the information indeed
The idea is absurd. If they die
thank him, it was to ridicule him
How could the word railroad be il
the Constitution when there was MOI
railroad in the world in 1890
Now he says that on account of tina
fact commission cannot regulat,
regulate the railrO IDS built befor,
1868. With the best lawyers, ju
rists and Legislators in the State
who are not Railroad attorneys, t.
back me, / say that this i
not so. If the old Constitution CAV,
no power to the Leg islature to regu
late railroads, then it gave that bod,
no power to legislate them into OK
istence, and their charters are null
and void. The power to legislat,
carries with it the power to review
such legislation and regulate the re-
suits of such legislation. Judge Coo
ley is high authority, and this i
what he lays down in his ''Constitu
tional Limitations"
Mr.. Kerr says, 81 stand here an,
dare any one to contridict me whel
/ say that the Commission is dom.
damage in Georgia." Now we thinl
that the people of Georgia know
more about their affairs than MI
Kerr does. We suppose that tn
Atlanta Constitution is good author
ity, at any rate Mr.. Kerr said in hi
speech that it was, and here is wha
it said about the Commission il
GeOr ria:
''rhe Georgia railroad commission was OIL
uaniZeu I'm 1877. and since that time the m.
teral interests of the State have been deye
Oped to greater extent than ever befor,
and in q railway development Georgia ha
led the South. 1t is not necessary to clail
that the commission is responsible for tn
wonderful material development of Georoi;
or for the large additions to the railroad mil,
age Of the State, but the facts show that tn
railroad policy of Georgia has not in an
sense been an obstacle to the developmer
of the State in any direction. On the otht
l.a..I /. Ln. l