The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-03
For Presidency of Rail
 road Commission.

-oN >SS ~..SoSSSS &.s
 County and Addresses Audi
 ence of 100 Voters.
 B. B. Conner of Birmingham in his second speech in his campaign for Presi- dent of the Railroad ComInlssion at Nc. Donald's Theatre last night announced his willingness to meet President John V: Smith of the Commission in a series Of
 He said that Captain Frank s. White was authorized to meet any friend of MT. Smith and arrange series of joint meet ings. n s-t.s ep<"
 Mr Conner spoke for an hour and half to a crowd of about 100 Montgomery voters. MT. Corners first speech was delivered at Selma. He speaks without notes and in a conversational tone except for occasional moments of deep earnest ness when his voice Is highly pitched and almost shrill. He shows that he is un- accustomed to public speaking, but he makes himself clear and has way of sending his points home to hearers.
 Legislature Caused Candidacy.
 Mir. Conner declared he would not have become a candidate for President of the Railroad Commission if the Legislature had not done the thoughtiess act of ex- tending the terms of two members of the Commission. He stands for the Texas railroad law and pledged himself to try to have the next Alabama Legislature adopt that law.
 He attacked the record of President Smith, saying that the claim for a second term was bosh and he would not discuss it.
 He declared too that the strongest op- ponents that the men who were struggling | for lower freight rates had to fight were the members of the Railroad Commission. | great portion of Mir. Corners speech was devoted to the review of the fight for l lower freight rates He gave some in- | of the fight in the last legislature, | Mir. Conner declared that the people of Alabama did not realize how great a part private cars played in Alabama politics. The freight rates in Alabama" said MT. Conner, "are high in every class of freight except one class-the politicians. The railroads haul them for nothing and furnish private cars to do it." Mir. Conner began his address a few l minutes after 8 o'clock, the hour sched- | uled for the speaking. There were at that time between 75 and 30 persons in the | theatre. all of them seated in the parquet. | During Mir. Corners address the crowd in- | creased until it numbered above 100 pcc- pie.
 MT. Conner had the speakers table ! moved from dhe stage in front of the or l chestra railing. He stood in front of the l railing on the parquet floor during the delivery of his address. Introduced by MT. Hall. Mir. Conner was introduced by Represen- tattve Thomas J. Hall of Montgomery county. MT. Conner. he said had do ic more than any other man to carry on the l fight for low freight rates. MT. Hall sad that the friends of an elective Railroad Commission had induced Mir. Conner to become a candidate to carry out the idea of an elective commission.
 Mir. Conner was greeted by faint bur st | of applause. His beginning was uncons:i- tutional. He picked up from the table a long newspaper clipping.
 This Is clipping from an afternoon newspaper published in Montgomery. 1t asks Will MT. Conner force President John V. Smith on the stump? Will he face the muster I will. 1 am willing to enter into arrangements for joint debate. Any friend of Mir. Smith authorized to do so, can communicate with Captain Frank s. White of Birmingham who will act for me-.
 Mir. Conner declared that he had been called stirrer up of strife, a discord breeder and an anarchist. It was too bad he said, that he had to prove a good character Tn Montgomery. His early li:e, Southeast Alabama. He began buying goods he said. in Montgomery in 1872 and he gave list of the merchants wI:h whom he traded. He said there were members of those houses who would teS- tify that he had dealt honestly and had met his contracts promptly. He told oe his removal to Anniston. and later to Bir- mingham. He read complimentaIy notice of himself taken from special edition of the Birmingham News.
 Docs that read like I'm an anarchist?' he asked ,-...
 He criticised the Alabama Car Service Association declaring 1t was q trust or ganized not to facilitate business, but to make money. He declared it was a trust which could close up a merchants business by declining to fur nish him with cars. rr
 Talks of Commissioners.
 He said that he didn't have much to say about the present commission. Associate Commissioner Sanders he said was 0 railroad attorney
 MT. Sanders Is fine fellow" said Mir. Conner, but no matter how good or how pure he may be, he is a railroad lawyer and should not be on the commission" :"
 Later on in his address he characterized the present commission as consisting of two railroad attorneys" This statement was greeted with laughter from the crowd.
 MT. Smith says that he is running running on his record as a public official. His record is public property. have got right to differ with him and to say so if l do differ with him."
 The freight rates of Alabama he de- clared. were one sided, onerous and costly. By every right. he said. a business man should be on the Commission to repre- sent the business interests of the State.
 He declared that the greatest of all trusts was the railroad trust and that the business interests of the State were practically turned over to a monopoly to charge what it pleased in the way of freight rates. He said that the freight rates in Alabama were so per cent higher than those of Georgia and North Carolina
 That means" he said that a dollar of Georgia and Carolina money is worth
 IoNNa hoIf nR 1ako The freight rates on the Central of Georgia are increased so much when that road crosses Alabama and goes into Georgia that dollar of Georgia money is worth as much as a dollar and seventy five cents of Alabama money"
 Laws of Other States,
 He said that the low freight rates in Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas did not come as voluntarily offer ing from the railroad people.
 "They were won," said MT. Conner, "by the same sort of fight that we are making and the men that made the fight we are making were called the names that they are calling us. Did those railroad rates break down the railroads and stop rall- road building in those States? No they are building more railroads now than we are"
 Mir. Conner praised highly the railroad law passed by the Populist and Repubil- can Legislature of North Carolina, calling it "an admirable law"
 He reviewed the fight for low freight rates in Georgia. He declared that the prediction made that the low rates would break down the commerce of the State