The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-03
MIR. COMER CHALLENGES
 MR. SMITH TO JOINT DEBATE

great inequality and this had been estab- ,isnsd before the ,o C9issSm 3bs @
 The Commission had, however. he said of its own volition, decreased the rates | on hay, grain and syrup. more" said Mr. Conner. If he cannot do any more what does he want with the office? don't know" , Fight for Lower Rates.
 He went into the details of the fight which, he said. had been made for lower freight rates. It was begun, he said, du- ring the office of Governor Jones when there were about forty Populists and Re publicans in the Legislature. A good bill was introduced and referred to the conn mittee which he said was favorable to 1t.
 But some man took that committee off in Q private car," said MT. Conner, "and when they came back our bill was dead. The morning after tiseir return from the trip on the private car some members of the committee appeared in the lobby and said that the bill was too drastic. Did you ever hear that word drastic before? It has familiar sound, nasn't 1t? And did you ever realize what an import mt part private cars play in Alabama pol
 The fight was continued in the Constitutional Convention. he said, The President of the Constitutional Con A bill was introduced establishing the Texas law. This bill he said was refer red to the Committee on Corporations of which General Harrison q railroad lawyer was chairman He said there was long delay before report was ever secured from. the committee. What purported to be the Georgia law, he said. was ern-' bodied in the organic law of the State. the Georgia law. It is not the Georgia law It Is widely different and the man who made the change in 1t is guilty of a great fraud and deception" Levying Tariff. Mir. Conner declared that the railroad trusts were levying an enormous tartff. on, business in Alabama. Tariff, he de- fined as the levying of a per centage on business. He spoke sarcastically of the wrote platforms, illuminating against trusts and high tariff when they them selves were either railroad attorneys or representing railroad intere$ts and in that representing the greatest of trusts and | the highest of tariffs. Do platforms mean anything?" he ask ed. Do they stand for nothing? Are we babies? We are denounced today for trying to organize the people of Alabama | into one compact mass to resist the in- roads of the greatest of trusts" He praised the work of The Advertiser
 in its efforts to stamp out the free pass
 If The Advertiser had mover done any
 thing else," he said. Tt should have a | monument reared to its memory for its | aDpUttOn or the free pass.
 He declared that if he was elected President of the Commission he would do his utmost to have the next Legtsla- | ture pass the Texas law. He stood for l the Texas law because he believed it was | right.
 The speaker of the last House he said was railroad lawyer. Mir. Conner de- l clared further that practically every Ala bama Congressman had left his duties in
 Washington to come to Montgomery and help elect that man Speaker of the House. There were not many men in the House who were opposed to an elective Railroad
 nearly all the men in the House who ! were opposed to an elective Commission
 were on the committee to which the bill was referred.
 History of a Bill. The only way he bill was gotten from l the cmomittee, he said. was by th1 action | of the whole House. After the House had passed 1t. he said, the bill was sent over
 to the Senate. In the Senate the commit and not by the President of the Senate The committee to which the bill was tc
 be referred was opposed to 1t, but Lieu
 tenant-Governor Cunningham allowed the
 senate to vote as to which committee It should be sent to and the Senate ordered that 1t should go to the Committee or Education. The bill was favorably report.
 ed and on the following day was tri- unphantly passed.
 MT. Conner said that while the fight on the bill was in progress before the Legfs- lature. he was approached by the repre- sentatives of the railroads and asked If he and his friends would not cons mt to an elective commission. which would be without power He replied, 'No, I'll go
 before the people"
 would not consent to a commission with power but which would be appoint, e and not elective. He said that he replied, NO. Ell 80 before the people,"
 hp aP 10 islature in extenSing the terms of twO members of the commission. It was a thoughtless act. ne said. The Leg slature had done what 1t wouldn't allow the Gov efnor to do.
 q want to say here'' said MT. Conner, that if the Legislature had not commit ted that act, l woulc not now be can didate for place on the commission. would have been satisfied with the vic tory and you could have selected three other men for the places on the commits sion"
 The Railroad Commissioners. he said, were their strongest opponents. While the fight was going on in the Constitu- tional Convention for lower rates. he said President Smith was taking in the Pan American Exposition Sn a private car. He declared further that while the fight was on before the committee in the Leg islatnre' the entire commission was tour ''Iolanthe." The commissioners of other States he declared, had refused courte- sies of that sort.
 Mir Conner said that President Smith had referred the whole matter or lower rates to the Interstate Commerce Com missior
 ''In other worlds" said MT Conner. che put the matter away from him as far as possible ''
 He declared that Mir Smith had not asked the Alabama Congressmen to sup port a bill giving the Interstate Com merce Commission more power and he pledEed himself to use his influence with Alabama Congressman. if he was elected. 70 give their support to such a bill.
 With the new Constitution. the puri- fled ballot and the primary. you have done away with machine politicians, and thank God for it. Ana now. If the poii- ticians won't heed the signs of the times and the voice of the people. We will get a new set of politicians"
 Mir, Conner attempted no flights of ora tbtOry. Te was applauded several times and several times he aroused a burst of
 laughter.
 NEW NATIONAL RANK