The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-29
B. B. COMER IS
 ON THE STUMP First Speech of Campaign in Selma. IF0RL0WERFREIGHT RAIES Birmingham Man Says He Is Not an Anarchist. Declares He is Candidate for the Presidency of the Rail Road Commission Through
 Sense of Duty.
FORLOwERFREIGHT RAIES
Declares He is a Candidate for tho
Advertiser Bureau, aaIrua Yon @

business and professional interests of Selma. B. B. Conner of Birmingham, can didate for the presidency of the Rail- road Commission, made a strong address tonight. urging his elections and giving strenuous reasons for such a decision by the people of Dallas county and of Alabama.
 Mir. Conner said that he stood for lower freight rate, an equitable car ser vice. and a more expeditions settlement of claims, and these points he pressed home.
 MT. Conner spoke in the Court House. He was introduced by Mayor V. B. Att kins, who was chairman of the meeting.
 His primary point was that he was candidate not for the sake of personal aggrandizement, but on account of principal.
 The past history of the State. he said. indicated that the presidency of the Railroad Commission was a place for a politician, rather than for plain btsi- ness man, and he was a candidate only because he wished to benefit the peo~ pie. The office was created to arbi- trate the differences between the people and the railroads. When business men are met with the question: What da you know of railroad rates v They can answer that they know the rates of IT, linois and Iowa thirty years ago. and that we should have the same or better rates.
 Not an Anarchist. MT. Conner said that he was. not an anarchist, but he was in favor Of q strenuous reduction of freight rates. AL luding to reductions of rates in other States, he said that the result had been building up and not an Improvisation of the country. Prosperity does not tn- crease with railroads, he said, but rati- roads with prosperity, and railroads are not eliminated by the limitation of the charges they can make. l Tonnage makes business for railroads and excessive rates decrease business. he said. The policy of Live and let Iive'' builds railroads.
 Comparing the rates of Alabama to those of Georgia and North Carolina, he said that the rates in this State are S0 per cent. higher, and he pointed to the superior conditions. existing in North Carolina, where the railroad commission really acts for the benefit of the people, | he said. MT. Conner also made strong points against practically all the railroads op- erating in Alabama. stating that their rates were much higher in Alabama than in neighboring States. | He also urged that the railroad com panies be restrained from the issuance of too much security" saying that the people in the end had to pay for this 1 form of financiering.
 1 He paid his compliments to the oppo- nents of the anti-pass law, and praised | The Advertiser for the strong stand it l took in the matter.
 q stand for the merchant and the
 farmer and the consumer" said MT. | Conner. Really. however, he said. not
 the merchant. but the farmer and the
 consumer, pay for excessive freight
 rates The merchant would not stand tt | ten minutes.
 l In speaking of a commission elective
 by the people, he said. amidst laughter.
 that President Smith and others were
 railroad lawyers, and Tunstall was the
 father of two railroad lawyers. It is shame. he said, that this commission
 was appointed, yet it was to protect the
 people and not the railroads, which were certainly able to take care of them | selves.
 High Rates on Cotton. 1 He devoted some time to the interstate and the intrastate rates, and showed that the latter determined the actual
 rates He spoke with feeling of the fact
 that the rate of cotton is the highest of | all the rates on raw production.
 ~1NN------~T
 canal and said that river towns like
 Montgomery and Selma would be the
 beneficiaries by it's construction but
 Mobile, he said, IS fighting the move ment.
 A river gave a town intrastate rates
 forever, said MT. Conner
 Speaking of his opponent. John V. Smith, now president of the commission.
 MT. Conner said that Mir. Smith stood on his past record and this record was not
 very stable MT. Smith had been op- posed to an elective commission, and had in other ways indicated that he was ai- lied with the railroad interests. Who
 would be better qualified, was MT. Com CTS argument, to protect the people rom tbe railroads a railroad lawyer or
 business man?
 MT. Smith says that tho people should | get aid from the interstate commission" | said the speaker. But that aid has never been gotten. Have MT. Smith and his associates asked their congressional rep | reseutatives to obtain this assistanceT Charles and Louis XVI went to the
 block for much less oppression than the
 people of Alabama is now subjected to-" said MT. Conner, and he appealed to voters no longer to live in humble sub mission to a commission that had al- ways been the center of State politics.
 Mr. Conner quoted many statistics showing more equitable government of railroads in other States. and he stated that the same justice could be had in Alabama.
 His address was well received
 Each Gives $5,ooo Bond.