The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-22
To the Democrats of Alabama:

Il
| When the people of this State expressed
a desire to have a railroad commission
| elected by direct vote of the people,
| and have it given such powers as would
l enable 1t to prevent extortion and unjust
discrimination by common carriers on
1 shipments within the State. the Louis
| vile and Nashville Railroad Company,
| through its special herald and general
attorney, warned them by proclamation
! to desist from asserting this well known
and long established right, and to dtsperse
| and cease agitating that issue, on pain
| of being met on the political firing line
I by the embattled hosts of it's employees,
armed with all the weapons recognized
| as fair in political contention" under
| the immediate command of its attorney
| aforesaid. To over-awe and frighten the
1 people into submission they were threat
ened with the combined power and
| wealth of all the railroads in the State.
4 In reading this riot act to them, they
| were given to understand that their po-
1 ltical humiliation would be made COM
i plete IL they did not Immediately and
Internationally submit to the political
domination of this railroad company.
!. Many treated this illumination as an idle
4 boast, as they could not conceive how
| the sovereign people of a great State
could be thus threatened and challenged
| by a creature whose existence and habi-
| tation in the State was only made posi-
| HE by their grace
A DeAusion Dispelled. 3
This optimistic view was strengthened
by language used in a later and some
what er<arged edict issued by the same
road proclaimed by the same herald 1t
appeayed on pages six and eight of The
BirIn!ngham Age-Herald of the Sd instant
| IN which it was said that mo greater
M
barna than to force the railroads into
politics; that 1t would be little less than
crime" This pleasant delusion, however
has been dispelled by the stirring events
l of the last few days. Railroad political
clubs are being formed railroad political
headquarters have been opened in this
| city. and the flag of this railroad, with
the coat-of-arms of J. Pierpont Morgan
| emblazoned upon 1t, has been unfurled
in our midst and defiantly fiounced in the
] face of the people. This firing line"
| with which they were warned, has indeed
been formed. The defiant threat of the
| political destruction of the people Is be-
| ing put into execution: the crime of put
| ting the railroads of Alabama into poll
| tics has been committed. The issue as to
| whether the railroads or the people shall
control the political destiny of the State
| has been squarely made and sharply
| FIRST by threatening, then by bringing on
| the fight. And for what cause are the
! people forced into this unnatural and I'M
necessary war? For naught save that
they asked the poor privilege of submit
| ting their cause to Democratic primary.
| Was It a Crimep
| Was this a crime? Did it furnish suffi-
| cient cause to justify this railroad In
breathing out its threatenings. and orga
| nizing and hurting its employees against
them? Was it an excuse for its using its
| immense corporate wealth, drawn from
the people by Its unjust freight rates, in
attempting to debauch and corrupt the
| politics of Alabama? Can II be charged
to the people who made modest request
| of the Democratic electorate to give them
a real tribunal before which they could
submit their grievances, when for twenty
years their appeals have not even dis
turbed, much less aroused from their
| deathiike slumber, these appointed COM
| missioners, whose official positions have
become as current in the payment of gu
bernatorial debts the coin of the
realm? Or. Is 1t this railroad company
that has departed entirely from the pur-
poses Of its creation. that of operating
railroads, and plunging headlong into
politics, attempting to wrench from the
people their right to administer the gov
eminent of the State?
Railroads Defiant.
i What have the people done to anger this
lion, and cause him to spring into their
political pathway and dispute with them
their right to pass? 1t may be that their
long Indifference to his encroachments.
| upon their prerogatives. their long sleep
under the stupefying effects of his pois-
/ onous breath has so emboldened him as
to make him resent the least manifesto
ton of returning political consciousness
and life? Or. it may be that he has fed
and fattened so long with impunity upon
! the sweat of the farmer, the toll of the
merchant and the sacrifice of the mana
facturer. that he has grown imperious in
his bearing and is impatient when they
! ask for tribunal to stand between his
| eVer-increasing greed and their earnings
a commission Of their direct choice, en-
| powered to check the demands of his in
satiable appetite?
Railroads in Politics.
| Captain Falkner says that 1t would be
| little less than crime to force the rail-
| roads of Alabama into politics. He ought
to know. He has had them in for years.
! When were they out? He and his rail-
| road were prominently in politics in Ala
| bama fighting the national Democratic
| ticket In 1896. Who forced them in then?
| What did they do to so impress upon his
| mind the idea that II was such griev-
/ Gus wrong to the people and such crime
for them to be in politics? Possibly when
| this truthful but damaging statement es-
| capped his lips he was contemplating the
| anarchy and boodshed in Kentucky,
/ when 6oebel, the Democratic Governor
| elect, was assassinated, and when an
| archy rar rampant all over the State.
| for all of which Mr.. Watterson, in The
| Courier journal, said the Louisville and
| Nashville Railroad Company, co-operat-
| ing with the Republican party. was re-
| sponsible. Kentucky. the commonwealth
| that give birth and life to this railroad
company reeIing and bleeding at the
| hands of her unnatural offspring! Poor
| Kentucky, poor Alabama poor Ire
| land" When we contemplate this dark
est chapter in the political history of our
| country we are prepared to admit that
Colonel Falkner was correct when he
said it was little less than crime to force
railroads into politics in Alabama.
Headquarters Opened.
With railroad political headquarters
opened in this city, railroad political clubs
organized employees of this railroad COM
pany walking the streets trying to teach
our citizens the science of government
by rehearsing the threadbare political
dogmas of this corporation our people
are forcibly impressed with the fact that
the scene of the political activity of the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Com
many has heen transferred from Ken