The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-22

light 10 tresa ~ | winds.
 his Greenville speech. It was easy to | see that he had given more thought l to and knew more of the making, buy ! ing and selling of cotton than he had | to educational questions.
 | ue wanted to pave the way to the I good graces of his Talladega hearers | by telling them that he and his associ- ates were among the very largest prop erty holders of the county and they would be the largest tax payers in the county when the tax exemption on cot ton mill property expired.
 Cotton for or Gents. He repeated at some length the argu- ments made by other supporters of the Association movement and quoted re- marks made by the President of a Cot ton Manufacturing Association in Bos- ton in which it was suggested that Ger many, France and England should De encouraged to grow cotton In their colonies and that cotton should be raised and sold for or cents. In the event the farmers would not raise l it for that price. according to MT. Conner the mill man had suggested that the cotton mills of the South should go int | farming and themselves raise cotton at that figure.
 Tn this question: said MT. Conner, | You have two great forces the manu- 1 lecturers who want cotton to sell for
 , cents and the farmers who think 25
 cents is fair price for 1t. Now I raise l HOO bales of cotton each year as a
 farmer and as mill man.. I buy 10000 bales. As a mfl1 man I think cotton should sell for s cents pound. sa d 1 farmer I think 20 cents a potind is | about right. So xoii can see how a T.. I,iy n | interests The mill men are compactIy and closely organized. The forces which were organized to keep down the price of cotton were so closely organiz- cd that they were able to buy your gov ernment officials. Cotton is the only commodity in the world whose price is
 fixed absoluetly by the buyer Cotton which is fixed absolutely by Wall Street."
 Don't you see the danger of leaving great question like this to the cupid ity of one set of men?'
 This the speaker asked with scorn and emphasis. This was his introduc- tion to the railroad question and once he reached the railroad question his feet were on firm ground. On that question he has a speech all ready and made. ready for delivery anywhere and on any occasion. With his scornful question he had gotten into his anti railroad declamation and he proceeded
 to give it for all it was worth. It was practically the Greenville speech.
 Much of 1t was the speech he had used in his campaign against John V. Smith. And having gotten out of unknown fields, into known fields he pulled the throttle open and let her go
 Must stick Together.
 And yeti! he exclaimed with empha- sis. You have been told to leave this question and a greater question to a
 set of men whose interest has been different from your interest. You have been told to leave 1t to them and they would be fair. It was false from the outset. Gentlemen. I tell you you must | stick together to protect your own in-
 tercst. Have you the courage. the strength to combine? It Is the only | thing for your self protection. They
 have got their hand on your pulse. They know how much you will stand They offer you, 10 cents today for your cot | ton and if you take it. they will only offer you 3 3-s tomorrow
 A coordination is needed. and a your State government, to take hold or and manage your railroads The railroads have taken control of your
 State government and they have held
 1t for many years. But you showed them two years and a half ago that you could elect your own officers | When the railroad people walked up
 the next morning and found out the
 result of that election they were the
 most surprised people on earth" He again repeated his charge that
 Milton H.. Smith and J. M Cuip fixed
 the rate of charge on the people of
 Alabama. Two men fix that rate.
 They figure out what the transporta-
 tion charges should be. Think of the
 servitude of it." he exclaimed hotly. And if you object to 1t, they say
 you are a socialist, an anarchist and a dangerous fellow.
 | T asked MT. Green of the Southern Road how he fixed the freight rates during the big meeting of the Ala l bama Railroad Commission. was | prompted to ask the question by Judge
 Richardson of Huntsville. Now that
 was a searching question. What do | you suppose his answer was? He told
 us that as long as a commodity con- | tinued to move over the railroads he knew that the rate was not too high.
 Now think of that. won't you." l History of Crusade Reviewed, He went over again the history of his | anti-railroad crusade and he took oc- ! casion to say that especial service had 1 been rendered him in that fight by both Messrs. McElderry and Joyner. He said | that he had investigated and found out
 that the Alabama rate was 50 per cent. | higher than the Georgia rate and 100
 per cent. higher than the Mississippi | rate. He had made that statement in | his first campaign but the railroads had | denied It. He asserted that in the | meetings of the Railroad Commission ] he had brought out evidence from the | railroad men which substantiated that
 claim. He reviewed some of this tes- ] timony in detail
 | ''In that meeting" he said, Milton H. Smith spoke to me in such a way | that I had to tell him, You must re-
 member that you are in an Alabama | court when you are before the Ala 1 bama Railroad Commission, and you
 cant talk to it's presiding officer like you would talk to a porter in pour of- flee told him. too, that he had
 maintained there in the Capitol year
 after year. a lobby which had debauch-
 ed part of the press of Alabama and
 part of the people of the State" Continuing. Mr. Conner said, How l Is your State taxed? The constitution
 puts limit on the power of taxation.
 IL says that only 66 1-2 mills tax shall | be levied. The Constitution even lim- | its the amount of taxes which may be ! charged for school purposes, but there | is one taxing power in the state which
 Is not limited--the power of the rail- roads to put on a tax.
 CritIcIEes his Associates. M, Conner repeated the criticism often
 made of his associate members of the | Commission, Messrs. Tunstall and San
 ders, and described what he called out his old description of the meet l ing where they and where there