The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-24
FUR FLIES
 IN GADSDEN Each Speaker Shows
 Warmth. ONLY ONE MORE DEBATE Smith and Conner Will Meet
 Here Tonight.
 ------->@-- Latter Makes Warm Assault Upon the Present Personnel of the Railroad commission-sm Also Makes Hot Speech.
nu wiII T sheehan.

! Gadsden. Feb 2s.-tstaff Correspond ence)- spurred on by crowd which h' believed to be friendly to his candidacy l B. B. Conner made tonight the most heat ed speech so far in his series of joint dis cussions with John V. Smith. Mir. Cornel threw more bitterness in his attack upoI the personnel of the Alabama Railroad Commission than he had yet done.
 Holding his clenched fist high above hi head. Mir. Conner passionately exclaimed l''You won your first fight for an elective commission; now the issue is before vol clear and distinct: Shall the railroad control the State, or the State control thu railroads and all else in Alabama There will be only one more joint dis cussion, the one at Montgomery. Th' candidates agreed on this today. Tht appointments at Mobile and Greenvilis have been cancelled. Under the orsgina agreement. the candidates were to have met at Mobile Friday night and also al Greenyille, but they got together todaJ and decided that the Montgomery engage ment should be the last of the campaign The speak at the Montgomery Court House. 5
 Both Mir Conner and Mir. smith said the joint discussions had served thell purpose, and no good could coms to eith' CT candidate by their continuance. Mir Smith win 30 to Greenville Saturday and may speak there on that day. Mir. Coniel will make his own plans later.
 Conditions in Gadsden.
 Conditions as to the race for the pres. ident of the Railroad Commission, were peculiar in Gadsden. Mir. Conner looked upon the city as a stronghold of his. He sprung sensational fight in the annual meeting of the State Commercial and In. dustriai Association In this city two years ago. Some of his allies in that fight wers merchants of Gadsden and they have given him aid and comfort in his present campaign. they were on hand in his behalf
 Tonight in his speech Mr. Conner was interrupted by Charles F. Smith, who wanted to help him out with special in- stances of high freight rates, Mir. Smith had had some trouble with the Southern, and he insisted on telling the crowd how 1t happened. Colonel R. B. Kyle, from a prominent seat, prompted MT. Conner with several suggestions.
 There were many ardent Smith men In the crowd and they made their presence known in no uncertain way. His good points met with immediate applause. Mir. Smith was especially aggressive tonight He not only attacked Mir. Conner for issu- ing unfair circulars. but he charged that the erroneous statements in these circu- 1ars were never modified until Mir. Conner was challenged to a joint discussion, and knew he would have to make them good on the stump. The speaking was in the county court house and q big crowd was in attendance.
 Captain Elliott Chairman.
 The meeting tonight was informally be- gun by Charles P. Smith. who called the crowd to order for the purpose of nomi- mating Captain James M. Elliott as Chair man. Captain Elliott is largely interested in North Alabama enterprises. being one of the best known capitalists of the State. His introductions of the two sDsakers were brief and to the point.
 MT. Smith opened in speech one hour in length. Mir, Smith plunging. Into his address, held up the first circular.
 Emphatically Mir. Smith asserted that the circular went unmodiied until Mir. Conner was challenged to a joint discus sion, and he knew that lge would have to make good the charges the circular con tained. In the meanwhile. Mir. Conner had sent out broadcast over the State l5o,0oC of these circulars with their misstate- ments and errors. Mir. Conner had made no attempt to correct or modify the plain statement in the circular that the Ala. UdHlA EdtCS dIG oV RSE CGhN AtVL NAAat are the Georgia rates, and not until he had been challenged to a joint debate said Mir. Smith, did Mir. Conner say he did not intend to say that thing, nor did he send out his additional circular in which he says the average Alabama rate is 10 per cent higher than the Georgia rate.
 Unfair, Says Smith.
 And in pursuing the course he did. in sending out broadcast over the State this statement" said MT. Smith. 'Adr. Conner was unfair to me, he was unfair to my associates of the Railroad Commission and he was unfair to you. the people of Ala bama."
 Mir. Smith in a strong argument, pre- sented new contention, that the rates on the actual necessities from the great distributing points like St. Louis and Louisville to points in Alabama were low CT than the rates to points of similar distance in Georgia. He gave an array of figures to back this contention. Mir. Conner is a candidate with a grievance against the railroads, said MT. Smith. In a twelve hours speech before the rail road commission, he gave us a series oi his personal grievances against the rail roads, and he tells us that every mer- chant and shipper in the State has a grievance against the railroads. VIII iL to be fair to the State, to the people. tc the railroads, to elect as president of the Railroad Commission, a man who starts his campaign with an announced grievance against the railroads.
 'I want you to know" said MT. Smith slowly and earnestly. that the reductions made in freight rates in Alabama by the Alabama commission during my terms amount to more than $S0OO0 annually. have made those reductions whenever the law and the evidence justified. Such ha' been my policy and such will continue tC be my policy If I am elected."'
 Conner Has Changed.
 Mir. Smith declared that MT. Conner had materially changed his position since ht had been challenged. MT. Smith charged that after altering his views. the Blr mlngham candidate was trying to get or his platform, and against this MT. Smitf protested. MT. Smith read quotations from the stenographic reports of MT Corners speech to prove that MT. Comel had successiveIy attacked the populists