The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-27
.lsbama,. .rna,srlz1 rrlf.ra.

s Alabama's material welfare.
 Tn discussing the candidacy Of B. H. Conner, whom Captain Forbes reKaras as an extremist, he said:
 f.Mr Conner says in effect that if elected Railroad Commissioner. he is going to use all his efforts to take away from the railroads s2,soo.ooo . rear. He fails ako say that this would cut half in two the amount the railroads derive from all che business of the Alabama part of their railroads with which to pay interest on their bonded debt and dividends to their stockholders Such a loss would not only wipe out dividends to stockholders. but would not leaveAenough to pay interest on bonds. would stop All betterments. stop railroad building. and would throw Into bankruptcy every railroad in Ala hama that could not make up these tre- mendous losses on lines outside of the sIate. It is unfair. and sjnjust to the tasiroads and to tine people to elect c man , as conirnissfoner wfiok pledges him. self fc such a course.
 Conner further makes the impress s,on ssn tnat the railroads of Alabama have ynarged N,e09,600 too much "a year for twenty years. making sss.Oooooo. which. sza wa,n d. intersst. l he figures now amounts to swveO'eVo He Falls 10 say that if the Ala oama< raiiroadB had had their reyenuae reduced by s2.soo.0oe year for twenty sea,s, sney could not have paid a cent .i ,n tnat tnne 9s ediyidends 10 stockholders, nor m iNprcvenents. and probably not 'one-tenth of the interest on their honda ana would lonessinne have become hone- tessly bankrupt. unable to maintain fhpir roads in safe condition, and would have given the State q reputation for insol- vency and financial depression that could never be effaceds .ss, eIIT -
 ,"Alabarna is proud of her raiiroads ana all her business institutions. We do not wnnt to elect a proclaimed extremist. with personal grievance. and thereby take a, tremendous retrograde sfep and be pitched Into commercial chaos. bank ruptcy and run, to gratify the spleen of . rank partisan. All loyal citizens of the State want to see her great railroad sys- tems kept up to the highest standard of excellence. We don't want any inferior third-rate, decrepit receivershfp failroads in Alabama. These we would ffevftahiy haveiif Mir. Comer's radical views should prevail. Alabama, would get a ,name for rank radicalism. Capital would not seek investment here. We would not recover from the 'sblack .eye'' which Mir. Comer's election would give us, in twenty years. i ''Mr. Conner says the fniiiction Of these heavy losses will so greatly increase the tonnage as to increase the prosperity of the railroads. It is easy for Mfr. Conner to advocate such a claim, for 1t will be railroad property and not his property which will suffer from 1t.
 '''As matter of fact, Mir. Corners state- ment Is altogether incorrect. The rail- roads could not possibly recoup any sub stantial part of their heavy losses by in- creased tonnage because the tonnage would not be materially increased. Man. ifestly if such reductions would increase the railroad profits. the reduction would have been made long ago as a purely hrNGf xtv.. FA, suggestion from MT. Conner.
 T claim that the railroads of Alabama have right to ask the people of Ala bama not to select for the responsible and judicial office of Railroad Commis. sioner a man who has large interests in. consistent with the fair discharge of the grave duties of the place, who is mani festly prejudiced against the railroads. and who is pledged to a radical course which would be disastrous to the rail- roads and ruinous to the entire citizen ship of the State."-1t.