The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-03

this committee has not been announced yet It will be composed of men who are willing to work hard and unremittingiy to achieve the end in view.
 ''It was resolved not to support any candidate for the legislature who will not pledge himself to support the measure which proposes to change the method of electinR the railroad commission and to vote for a bill which will give the com mission power to regulate local freight rates.
 '.The meeting which developed much earnestness of purpose. by those in at tendance, adjourned subject to call
 They Are In Earnest.
 "One of the gentlemen who was pres ent and who took an active part in the proceedings, said this morning:
 We are going to make vigorous campaign on this issue. Candidates for the legislature will be asked to define their position as to this Issue, and they must speak in no uncertain tones if they desire our support. We will be equipped with the sinews of war. The state movement is gathering force every day. The recent nomination of candi- date in Madison county Is victory for this issue.
 ".Our participation in the county cam paign will be confined to this one thing; but as you will see later, we are very much in earnest about it.
 After all this was done, to-wlt on July 9th inst, while in Birmingham, reporter for the Evening News called on me at the Hotel Hillman, and called my atten- tion to these two meetings which had been held by Messrs. Conner, White and others, and stated to me that they had given notice that the "business men would be on the firing line" l did not hesitate to say to the reporter that he could say to those gentlemen that 1 would meet them at the firing line, U that I accepted the gauge of battle ten dered by them.
 Nothing New In the Present Attack
 Upon Railroads.
 There Is nothing new in the conten- tion of these gentlemen As stated In my interview, 1t is "threshing over old straw" My friend MT. B. B. Conner. has kept the matter alive through the press and otherwise for number of years past. He brought the matter up before the Commercial Club of Birmingham, and a committee consisting of MT Kettg, Gen eral Shelley and himself, was appointed to consider the entire matter, and to the complaint filed by this committee state ment was made by the traffic managers of the Atlanta and West Point railroad and Western Railway of Alabama, Mo- bile and Ohio railroad company, Louis vile and Nashville railroaa company Central of Georgia railway company and Southern railway company with respect to the adjustment of local freight rates on several lines in the state of Alabama A very full and patient hearing was given to the complaints, as well as to the an- swers of the several railroads, by the Commercial Club. and decision was reached by said body to the effect that the showing made by the several rail- roads was entirely satisfactory. and that no just cause of complaint existed. The statement of the traffic managers was put in print and circulated generally among the business men of the state of Alabama.
 Same Matter Before Constitutonal
 Convention and Repudated by It.
 Afterwards, when the constitutional convention was about to convene, peti- tions were sent out from Birmingham and industriously circulated throughout the state, asking that they be signed and sent to the constitutional convention, praying that the railroad commission be made a constitutional office, with manda- tory powers to make freight rates. and that the commission might be made elec-
 
 the constitutional convention, and attor- neys representing Mir. Conner and his as- sociates argued the matter very thor oughly before a committee of the consti- tutional convention, and individual mem- bers, but the convention in its wisdom did not see 1t as MT. Conner did, and did not take the action prayed for, and now the fight is to be again renewed in the present campaign.
 Same Matter Before State Commercial
 and IndustriaI Association of Gads-
 den and RepudIated by Vote
 Two to One.
 Not content with waging this warfare before every legislature for the past + years before the constitutional conven- ton, and before the numerous local or ganizations throughout the state, Messrs. Conner. White and others made a strenu- ous effort to induce the commercial or ganizations of the state in convention as- sembled at Gadsden, on July 9th and 10th instant, to pass a resolution on this same thread bare subject. The state organiza- ton. however. repudiated the efforts of these gentlemen by vote of 26 to 13.
 Notwithstanding the fact that this fight has been waged for so many years by these gentlemen and has recently been renewed with much vigor, believing that these gentlemen, if left alone, would vio- late every pledge of the democratic par ty heretofore made. unless the attention of the people was called to their action, as a trusted agent of the Louisville and Nashville railroad company and repre- senting an investment of many million of dollars, I could not do otherwise than accept the gauge of battle rendered, and a1 al t,S Sl,a ANla fOr sl,t have done and have no apology to make therefor.
 Commissioners are Not Paid By Rail-
 roads.
 Notwithstanding this action, these gen. tlemen have had the temerity to accuse me of declaring political warfare upon the patrons of the company"-the mer- chants, manufacturers and farmers of Alabama. But this is not all-they have industriously tried to create the impress sion among the people of Alabama that the railroad commissioners were in the pay of the several railroads of the state, and this in the face of section 34S6 of the Code of Alabama, which is as follows, to wit:
 '34S6-Salaries; Clerk and his Salary; Expenses.-The president of such com mission shall receive a salary of $500 per annum, and the associate commissioners shall receive a salary of S3 GOO per annum and they may employ clerk at salary not exceeding S1,560 per annum such sal aries to be paid as the salaries of state officers are paid. All money paid out under the provisions of this chapter, in- cluding such sums as may be necessary to procure office furniture and station cry, and to pay other office expenses shall be paid on warrants drawn by the auditor on the treasurer; but such office expenses shall not exceed $500 per an