The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-12

0Y<E In6 0l6t0 anu Alc titSa6a> AtG -f-~~ walkover. The Advertiser kept . short-hand reporter constantly with him. We printed two of his speeches in full, something none of his mouth pieces had done, and continually re- ported such parts of his harangues as had any news value. He resented this reporting all the time. constantly show ing his teeth at this paper about It. Finally, he lost his temper. and dee nounced this course most bitterly, say- ing The Advertiser was "hounding him like a common criminal by keeping a reporter at his heels" He did not want his speeches reported at all, and he repudiated a shorthand report Of his speech at Tuscaloosa by printing revised and totally different speech. Evidently he felt hampered by having reporter with him.
 The next extreme he went to in his ebullition of hatred for the press was at Talladega. where he denounced the present libel law as an outrage, and declared his determination to have 1t repealed by the Legislature when he became Governor. Probably he would like to be veritable Czar. and to have a press censorship.
 Just now Mir. Conner and his friends are doing all in their power to brow beat aad intimidate the press of the State from printing anything more about his child labor law record and the situation at his Avondale mills. He and his leaders have given 1t out all over the State that he has sued The Advertiser for libel for printing pr. McKelways letter, and that he will in- stitute proceedings against any other papers that copy it. Several county papers have written us about talk of this sort by Conner leaders in their towns. As a matter of fact. he has not yet. so far as we know. filed any suit against The Advertiser. He has sim ply given notice that he considers cer- tain statements in Dr. McKeiway's let ter and in The Advertisers editorial as false and defamatory." This may or may not be preliminary to fil- Ing suit Two years ago his lawyers overlooked that legal preliminary, and that is one of tLe reasons he has de- nounced the present law.
 MT. Conner has the reputation of be- Ing very crafty, and also of being a very bold buffer. He knows thorough ly how much the strictures of pr. Murphy and pr. McKelway have hurt his candidacy. and ne has hit upon libel suits as a method of preventing the mass of people from reading those letters. We suspect that just now he is very craftily using his threat of a suit against The Advertiser as an bama press. He did not sue any of the County weeklies two years ago, many of which printed far more serious charges against him than this mill matter. and we dHubt very much whether he has any intention of sueing any of them now. He will probably confine himself to The Ad- vertiser and perhaps some other dali lies.
 Tn the meantime, however. the press of the State has further insight into the spirit and temper of this candi- date for Governor. He has gone all over the State 1ibelling the news papers as corrupt; he has challenged the right of a newspaper to keep a reporter with him; he has promised to repeal libel law framed to protect newspapers from shyster lawyers and from injustice. and now he threatens to sue for libel publications about the business conduct of the incorporated mills of which he Is President. He has denounced everybody he chooses in Alabama, including past Governors, Legislatures. Constitutional Conven- tion,- Executive Committee and news- papers for all sorts of things, and he arrogates to himself the right to be an autocrat in this respect. The Press Is not to be free in criticising this Caesar, if he can help it.
 Will the people of Alabama make such a narrow, bitter. intolerant, in- consistent, arbitrary man Governor? No. we do not believe it.