The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-10
fdommunicated') MR. vAKDtvER TO MIR. coMER.
Hotel Bellecaire. ,. March Eth. 1904.

l MSs NANDRVEh 1V "A' -" | Hotel Bellecaire. I naw work March Sth, 1904.
 Mir B. B. cdmer, Birmingham Ala Dear Sir Tours of the 4th. addressed | to me at Montgomery has been ior"aEu- ed to me heih.
 1 rememhsrfvery distinctly your ca4iing 1 at my soffias and also remember wna.
 was eaid ly each of us at that ume' l
 had written you previously, however. Tn reply 10 a litter from you. that T was not at all we'll, and did not want to take | any interest in the campaign or pri- i mary."I ms5 not have used the exact quotation dove, but that Is pracucahy what l write you. l did nor, m tnat letter, try B mislead you. and am sure
 did not. ls is evidenced in your reply
 to my iettsr. wherein you said "a very l cold letter from an old friend. You
 will also Hlnember. when you called at my office. the day of the evening on which you spoke in Montgomery. you asked me -why could not support you" frankly and promptly said: Bragg. you are tc, extreme in your views, and
 l am afrad of you" You must pardon
 me for hefe repeating our conversation, but you fdrce me to do so, as your let ter might be construed by some, that
 had promised you Not to take any in-
 terest In the campaign or primary" l
 must protest against the correctness of
 this statement.
 You seein to desire that we shall in-
 dulge in a little retrospection. and. in
 some instances. to me. ancient history.
 First, you say. You will remember your fight with the Louisville and Nash vile Railroad some years ago. in which
 you indnced the jobbers of Alabama and the Southeast to boycott the Louisville and Nashville Railroad" Yes, will never forget the fight I made. as the chairman of the Freight Traffic Com mittee ot fhe Southern Wholesale Gro- cers' Association, at that time. I divert ed business from the railroad, but never in the spirit of a boycott. I also deny. most emphatically, that ever advocated. at any time, place or occasion, that the adjustment of a differential should be made by using ''the present local rate for the carload rate, and that all less than car lot rates should be advanced four cents per hundred pounds as you state. I never did, on any occasion, sug- gest how 1t should be done. I was asked by the railroads "how I proposed to ar rive at the adjustment My reply was 1t is your business to work that out. Every local association which was a
 
 remember this was our policy. never knew what differential the railroaXs would make. until they agreed on same and mo- tifed me. Therefore, I am not guilty, as charged by you of ''consenting that the citizens of Alabama should pc taxed by the railroads one million dollars year additional to the present high rate, in order that I might get a dlfEerential of fou4, cents per hundred pounds on the car refe. Neither is such a disposition in keeping with my past history.
 Yoa say you will remember that I op- posSo the extra -four cents per hundred poFnds' etc., etct" No. do not, If you ever took any active interest In the mat ter l never knew of 1t. I hope I have iN4de myself Uieo@ s.-s ssaI yVua Questions.
 Now, want to- ask few questions, and hope you will bel as candid in your reply. Why didn't you answer the questions r raised in my communication, of which you complain, instead of jumping on me felt it my duty to a large numbes of friends throughout the State, who had written and talked to me about the situation in regard to the presidency of the Railroad Commission. The people of our State are tired of personal mat ters, and assure you, are serious about this great question. If It is unwise and unsafe to elect a man who Is prejudiced in favor of the railroads. is 1t not equal- ly unwise and unsafe to elect a man who Is prejudiced against the railroads, and who admits before hand that he has al- ready preJudged, and has already formed without hearing the evidence and statement of the facts in each case?
 If you had a case in court, and a juror should appear at the box and you knew that he had made up his mind against you, the evidence of which was his pub- lic statements, would you allow him to serve or not? If not, why not?
 If understand you correctly, you say all railroad rates are too high, and should be reduced from 70 to 30 per cent. You will remember that I told you, when in my office. that I felt you were unfair in not taking into consideration the inter- state, or through rates. when making | comparisons of local rates as between points in Alabama and points in Georgia | Now, 1T you should be elected president of the Alabama Railroad Comm ission. and should you carry out your policy of | reductions in local rates, l and reduce the rate on flour out of Bir- say to Alexander City, Good | water and Dadeville IS cents per barrel, | and the railroads should advance the through rates 15 cents per barrel from the west to Birmingham, as they did in | Georgia, to offset the loss sustained by 1 in local rates. could Birming- | ham compete with Columbus, Ga. |? Could | you. as president of the Alabama Rail- | oad Commission. do one thing, under such l to help Birmingham? You, | as good business man. must admit your | utter helplcssness7 Then. if this be true. | your policy would absolutely ruin every | distributing point in Alabama. If you | bring about such condition as this, by | causing the railroads to advance their | through rates to all distributing points, | how could you. in any way. beneft the farmer, the merchant or the consumer. by your policy? If this policy will not. if adopted destroy all distributing points. without benefit to the consumer, please explain why?
 Feeling that probably some of my broth- CT Joobers throughout the State might make very great mistake in advocat- Ing extreme measures, I felt it my dutv to sound note of warning before if was too late. Yours truly.