The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-23
HEATED DEBATE BEFORE
 MAGIC CITY AUDIENCE
Smith Accuses Conner of UnfairneSS in His Statements, and Latter Replies He Will
 Stand by His Circulars.

I Did you know." continued Mr. Conner, that Alabama pays annually $2soo.0ol more In local freight rates than Georsia doesf Think of this excessive sunni Its too much. gentlemen, entirely too much. z Stands by the Figures. | Mir. Conner declared the figures in his circulars could not be denied. He chal- lenged Mir. Smith to disprove them. s'He can't disprove them," said Mfr. Conner. none of them is incorrect. stand ready to prove them and if they are true. we stand vindicated before the people of the State.''
 He laughed at the idea that the rail- roads in Alabama were not paying divi- dends on their property.
 'sVice President !. M. Culp, of the | Southern, made that statement" said Mir. Conner. "and immediately asked him what his road was capitalized at. He didn't answer that question, but I'll tell you. His road Is capitalized at ss1.000 a mile. Think of thati It probably cost B. 900 or $7,o00 mile, and here 1t is capital ized at s61.00o. No wonder big dividends are not made. Why it would be just like my friend Mir. Castles here investing 900 in a business and after capitaliz- | ing 1t at S500,O00 go whining around be- | cause 1t didn't pay him big dividend" !" I Mr. Conner grew facetious over state ment made by MT. Smith in his Decatur speech in which he said the railroad com mission had ex mari muto reduced cer- tain freight rates in Alabama as soon lature.
 Mir. Conner found humor in this as- sertion that few rates had been reduced ex mari motu. T want you to catch those words" said Mir. Conner, ''ex mari muto, of their own motion. The idea of their reducing freight rates ex mari motu. They reduced few rates. but they didn't do 1t ex mari muto. They didn't do 1t of their own yoli- had made our fight and won t. They didn't do 1t until the people had arisen in their might and made their wishes known"
 Smith and Primary.
 Are you opposed to primary" asked MT. Conner. facing his opponent.
 "I'll answer you in my time," replied Mir. Smith.
 You promised to do 1t at Decatur," said Mir. Conner. ''but you didn't" Mfr. Conner analysed the makeup of the present Railroad Commission, saying that 1t was made up of two railroad attorneys and the father of two railroad attorneys And that Is the jury we had Co try our case before ct Montgomery" said Mir. Conner. Gould you have picked moro prejudiced jury? Would any lawyer in Alabama consent 10 try case before A I jury SO pre3udicea 2s
 Beginning bis reply to SEr. Conner Mir Smith said the position of Aar. Conner in the early part of the campaign as shown by his speeches ana his newspaper pubil- cations was quite different to the position outlined in the speech the crowd had just heard.
 '.And right here," saad lkr. Smith, 1T | want to draw your attention to the as- sertion of Mir. Conner that politicians i form the only class of cheap freight in | Alabama as they are hauled free. This may have something to do with the great change that has come over Mir Conner because he Is rapidly becoming the great est politician in Alabama.'
 This first thrust at Mr. Conner, was met with . responsive burst of applause from the audience.
 Smiths Analysis of Circulars. 1 Mir. Smith analysed fully the circulars cent out by Mir. Conner. He declared
 that one of the circulars bore on it's face the unqualified assertion that freight rates in Georgia were 30 per cent. lower | than in Alabama. The second circular plainly intimated almost to the extent of a promise that MT. Conner would 1 establish the Georgia rates in Alabama.
 And if he attempts to fix the rates in Alabama as these circulars say he will, he will be flying in the teeth of the law, which he has sworn to uphold. The law states in explicit terms that the rates shall not be fixed at figure which shall give less than a fair return on the prop erty and appurtenances of the railroad It is the law of the State, the rule by which all law-abiding citizens are gov erned.
 Tt is we'll known that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had the largest earnings upon it's capital stock of any railroad in Alabama last year. Now the Louisville and Nashville Is capitalized at s35,0O0 a mile. and at that capitalization the road earned on it's domestic business only two per cent Suppose you cut down It's capitalization to its assessed value. and am sure Mfr. Conner himself, would not want it cut lower, It's earnings would be less than { per cent. If the capitalixa- tion of the Southern Railroad was cut from $61 900 per mile to its assessed val. ue. its earnings would Dc less than per cent. If Mir. Conner should be fortunate enough to be elected president of the commission, he will come face to face with these conditions, and the law as we have come face to face with them"
 Proud of the Honor.
 MT. Smith sal dthat in view of the fact that MT. Conner had alluded to his cleo tion as president of the National Asso- ciation of Railroad Commissioners. ha would say that he was proud of that honor and he was proud of the fact that this representative body of intelligent Americans had agreed at his invitation to hold their next annual meeting in the ctty of Montgomery.
 In reply to a question of Mr. Conner. MT Smith declared he had introduced m this Association and the Association had passed resolution memoralizing Con- ress to give the inter state committee the power of fixing freight rates.
 want to tell you" exclaimed Mr. Smith earnestly. that the Alabama rates on flour and all grain products from St. Louis to the Alabama consumer are cheaper than these of Georgia. The rate from St. Louis to Birmingham Is O4 cents and the rate on the same class of freight from St. Louis to Atlanta is 62 cents. With local rates added in Georgia from Atlanta and with local rates added in Alabama from Birmingham, the Ala bama consumer is given better rate"
 Reduction of Rates.
 MT. Smith asserted emphatically that the railroad rates in Alabama had been reduced by the Commission of its own motion, and not because any fight made | by Mir. Conner or his associates. He I pointed out that the reduction of rates I lad been inugurated in March, while Mir. l Conner and his associates did not appear | before the commission until May.
 Mir. Smith bitterly denied that he had l opposed the giving additional powers to I the railroad commission. When Mir. |