The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-31
CUNNINGHAM AMONG HIS
 OLD NEICHBORS OF ELMORE

| paid close attention to the speaker. sit- I ting. as 1t were at the feet or past When man Is practicing law he must he prepared for any contingency. He does not know at what time the people may rise up and demand tribune and the tribune ought to be yersed in cam. paign oratOry.
 Cotton was rolling in and it was n tumpka. but a number of the leading business men found time to tear them- selves away from their business and ent political controversy. wetumpkn | Is an old town. one of the oldest of the State and a wealthy place for its size mercial affairs might be considered above the average in wealth and intel l ligence. They were attentive listen CTS. but for that matter so was the en-
 Perhaps twenty-five or thirty ladies were in the audience occupying seats we're sood s isfeners isa rso and % DIT %cunnns ham. experienced as he is. directed q large part of his arguments at his fem part in public life for as long a perios ] as thirty. years without finding out where all sorts of political influences
 most interesting part of the audi ence was that big portion from the hills of Elmore. Somebody. estimated that men frem phe his zGD D the hsSs aadienee l They take their politics rather earn | estly and seriously. these men from the CTS to handle, 1t is said, They look over every man who presents himself for leadership or for political honors tps and ii tbe is saa 9 of l ntical office is more likely to catch their ear than the man who is on the ioasg sy hss sv made siened | and helped out with the applause that l greeted some of the well rounded pe- l riods of the speaker.
 l Probate Judge H. J. Lancaster presid- | ed and introduced the speaker. Judge | Lancaster is something of an orator | iiticaI matters and unlike some county | officials he does not hesitate to express l them. He has some strong convictions on the county convict question and in | upon the convict question, explained 1 his convictions and was arguing their justice when the thought occurred ,si,.,t3 to 1 think that he was taking up too much of the speakers time and he cut short 1 the introductory address.
 | He presented Lieutenant Governor Cunningham as one of the most dis tinguished and most widely known cit said gndes ss ] ''is that he was once citizen of FL more County. The people of Jefferson
 9s6 n FInm1 Emore o CountS fS and m they imme
 
 diately insisted on his going to the Sem ate from that county. And he did so l we'll that he again was elected to office and made Lieutenant Governor of the State"
 | Judge Lancaster alluded to the great importance of the railroad question and said that 1t was well for the people to study the question and weigh the claims of the candidates for the high office of Governor; He spoke. too; : of the sur. .So State. a surplus that was SD large that there was talk of an extra session to spend it. Judge Lancaster suggested that the proceeds from the labor of conyicts who W ere serving terms of less than five years should be returned to
 n 9Sny and apoeS to eney ne the fine and forfeiture fund. or put to use in securing to the county a system
 Forsmer Citizen of Fillmore.
 In beginning his address pr. Gun, ningham said: "If some one had told me when l came to the town of We tumpka, twenty-four years ago, know ing only two people in Fillmore County. that within less than a quarter Of a century l would be before the people or Alabama. a candidate for the highest office within their gift, l would have given that man a certificate of insanity. feel most grateful for. the, support accorded me by the people who know me best. I was born and reared In Lawrence County, I practiced medicine lived in and was married in Franklin | County I was practising physician in Elmore County before I moved to my home in Jefferson When I was a can : didate for the office of lieutenant-Gov- ernor I got every vote but twenty-nine in Lawrence County every vote but carried Elmore County by large ma jority. I hope that l will have as good luck this time" Whereupon the Elmore County audience gave the speaker a round of applause.
 Continuing the speaker said, If you wished to employ a man you would want to know what sort of work was to be done and you would want to know Now. one of the greatest, one of the most important questions before the people of Alabama Is the regulation oi transportation charges for freight and persons. Naturally you want to know what I will do about it. You want to know what I have done about it."
 | Having gotten well into the subject the speaker reviewed his stand for a quarter of century for railroad com mission with plenary powers. He de- farce and a humbug." It belonged, he said in the same category as court with advisory powers which after con victing man of murder would advise him to 70 off and hang himself.
 He got down to the consideration of Elective Railroad Commission in the last Legislature and showed his hearers. how it could have been killed by his re- re- | knew would have killed It. But the committee which he referred 1t to brought in a favorable report and the bill passed He told, too, of the pro- posed amendment which would give all members of the Commission as it then stood term lasting until 1906.
 "The vote on that amendment, said Dr. Cunningham. was a tie, Is to l5. Senator Lancaster hero will bear me out in what I say. And being a tie, I directed the Secretary to call the name of the Lieutenant Governor that he voting for tabling the amendment, would have pleased members Of that Commission who up tO that time had been my political friends. and who in 1900 mad urged me to run for, Cover nor. The politics of it would have and take that issue for my issue in this present campaign as l easily could have done. But if an elective com . mission would be q good thing in 1So6 why was 1t not a good thing in l9O4! The man who would play politics on worthy of public trust and public con- fidence. So l voted for the tabling or the amendment and the amendment was killed"
 The speaker took up his classifica- ton of the various opinions that were entertained as to what should he the attitude of the State towards railroadS. | Those three classes of opinions were l first. that railroad property was amer . able to the law in the same manner, m the same way as private property; sec ond. that railroads should be run soie- l lv for tho public good; third. that .ratI- | roads were private enterprises run TOT l the public good and on which the own | CTS should receive a fair and ]usi re- | turn and on which the public shouId nc l.I -af