The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-18
STATE POLITICS AND STATE POLITICIANS Campaign for Many Offices is
 Now Warming Up c0MER AND CUNNING CHAM A Word About their Plans, Methods and Purposes-Gray Leading for
 Lieutenant Governor-Hob-
 son-Bankhead Fight.
COMER AND CUNNINGHAM
BY SEYMOUR RANSOM.

In spite of the fact that the primary elections are certainly six months, and possibly one year, distant, politics through out the state are beginning to assume an exceedingly Interesting aspect. Public attention Is naturally concentrated upon the race for governor, and incidentally upon the candidates for certain offices which, with the governorship, go to make up what Is known as the state admin istraton.
 Inasmuch as Mir Conner, the president of the Alabama state railroad cornrnis- sion and candidate for governor on the railway rate reform platform. has re- peatedly said that in order to carry out the reforms he has in mind 1t Is neces- sary that the governor, the lieutenant governor. the president of the railroad commission and the legislature be friendly toward the railway rate reform movement. it is highly probable that the whole state campaign will revolve around the one definite issue of railway regula ton and rate reduction.
 MT. Comer's Candidacy.
 Mr Corners candidacy for the governor  recently taken definite shape, with pur- poses so clear that even he who runs may read them Unless the unexpected happens, and from present indications 1t Is not likely to happen, MT. Conner will run for governor on the platform set out in his Blount Springs speech, namely:
 Your freight rate makes you or breaks you. We want the Georgia rate. We in- tend to throw of the yoke of railway domination in Alabama politics. and by the eternal Gods, we are going to do il"
 MT. Corners supporters are exceedingly active. Though apparently duiescent the old Conner organization is intact through out the state and is doing effective work in awakening interest in the principles and policies with which MT. Comers can didacy Is identified.
 Corners Plan of Campaign.
 The plan of the Conner people is to keep their lines well formed till the battle be- gins in earnest and when the bugle blows, to make a short sharp, decisive fight on ground selected by themselves. They are, it is said, resolved that nothing shall be permitted, if they can help it, to displace or overshadow what they regard as the paramount issue in the campaign, name ly, railway regulation and rate reform. This subject they propose to keep con stantly in the public mind, and drive 1t home effectively when the canvass begins to warm up.
 Mir. Conner, personally, is pursuing a policy that is at once the admiration of h nd .fr of h fr ponents He has not yet actually said he would run for Governor, but he is losing no opportunity to strengthen the position of the man who will run for Governor on the Conner platform. It is known that personally he little desires to be a candidate, but it is known also that if in the logic of events he must needs be a candidate he will leave no stone unturned in his effort to make a successful canvass MT. Conner speaks today at Dadeville, and he is expected to enforce there the ideas which he has championed in recent Alabama politics.
 Conner on the Stump.
 MT. Conner is not an orator in the popular acceptation of the word. He Is not even, in the judgment of some per- sons, what might be called skilled de- batter, for he has had but little training in the art of public speaking. But he is nevertheless an interesting and convinc- ing talker. His speeches prove that he knows the subject he discusses, and pre- sents his views clearly and forcefully. He has what Carlyle says is absolutely essential in any man who seeks to do enduring work in the world. He is. or at least he creates the impression that he is, .'in dead earnest" His speeches are not only listened to by those who hear them; they are carried home and thought over by the audiences he ad- dresses. The work that he and his sup porters are now doing may in one sense be said to be preliminary and informal, but it is none the less definite and en- during, sowing as it does, the seed which may be expected to bring forth fruit later, when the canvass is more ad- vanced.
 Cunningham Not Idle.
 Tn the meantime Lieutenant Governor Cunningham, who will oppose MT. Conner in the race, is not idle. He is apparently taking what might be called a telescoplc view of the situation, praeticing in the meantime his profession of medicine and diagnosing certain phases of political con- ditions. Naturally he is at present nei- ther voluble on the one hand, nor, like another famous person in history, ready 'to die and make no sign" His mood at this time Is evidently contemplat tive.