The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-22

to TX q reasonable rate. The roads
 would have recourse to the courts, if
 we went beyond that"
 9oing back to railroad valuations, the
 speaker declared that the Central or
 Georgfa was paying taxes on its road
 at valuation of s9,600 mile. yet IL
 was making the people of Alabama pay
 on securities to the amount of s32.5oo
 to the mile. He asserted that because
 the representatives of Alabama had
 been controlled by the railroads, the
 people of the State had been forced to
 pay millions of dollars out of their
 pockets.
 He said the railroads had told their
 employees if Corners movement went through they would have their salaries
 cut. He denounced this as dastardly outrage, an attempt of the railroads to take the living away from people in Alabama that they might pay interest on the watered stocks and securities held by Wall Street.
 Drixgers Charges Brought Up. He brought up the Driggers charges made against him in the Smith -Comer lcampaign denouncing them as un- qualifiedly false. After recounting their history he said that he had sued a number of the big papers of the State for publishing them. but the case had been thrown out because under the ! iiDti law Oi tnC CtdtN liNS hco hOe bNNh given five days in which to retract. He declared that If he was elected Gov l ernor he would repeal that law. T hold in my hand a copy of The | Advertiser" he said. And some of
 the strongest editorials I ever read | against the trusts were published in l this paper. But they were against the | meat trusts, Chicago trusts and New York trusts. They have. had nothing Ito say against the trust here at home, I the trust I am fighting" ~.' And at this junctures he led up to his announcement for Governor. T | began this fight for regulated rates year ago, when I found the Alabama | rate so much higher than the GeorgIa rate"
 r. Here he was interrupted by an en- | thusiastic supporter in the rear of the room who seemed to be exhilirated by l the invigorating mixture of cold noun | tain air and corn whiskey. Hurrah. I for Conner, we want him President of the Railroad Commission and Governor
 at the same time
 A pleased smile passed over the fea- l lures of the speaker and he told his | hearers that he found that nothing could be done before the Commission.
 He went back to the Legislature and | could do nothing there. The fight had | then been carried to the people who 1 had elected a Legislature in favor of an elective Commission. He had found. though, that the Commission could not do everything.
 Could Slave on Regulation. ! He said that the railroads could con- 1 tend under the constitution that the Commission could not pass legal rate, that only the Legislature could do that, | but he said that if the question was carried before the Supreme Court the | decision would be that the Legislature could delegate that power. 4a fnYt An- lay the matter by applying for an in- junction against the rates of the Com mission, on the grounds that they did not have the proper authority. When the courts decided this against them as they would do the railroads would then fight the rates, saying that they did not permit reasonable return on their investment.
 It was here that MT. Conner brought in his argument that a Legislature and
 State officials in hearty accord with i him should be the only ones selected next year. By such officers the delay would be avoided. He especially named the State officials who make the State Board of Compromise and who fix the tax valuation of railroads as those of his friends to be elected. He asserted that while the roads were paying taxes to the Auditor on $36.000.000 worth of
 property in Alabama, they were paying dividends on securities valued at $316,-
 000, 900.
 In his closing five minutes. he made
 his allusions to his opponent, vr. Cum
 ningham, whose environments the
 speaker said, were not satisfactory to
 him, and this was followed by his for i mal announcement.
 At the close of the speaking. some of
 Mir Corners friends brought up
 dozen or so of the voters and presented
 them to the new gubernatorial candi- date.