The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-09
IR. CoMER AND THE coNsTI-
 TUITION.

-at- SOiucT IS HTtdt dI itttCA ing. He seems to be craving, all the time, to be in the limelight. His let- ter to MT. Harrel and his later letter to the public ought to have warned him that he cant open his mouth with out putting his foot in it." If aver a man exhibited utter inconsistency he did 1t in these two letters. TO MT. Harrel he said that a certain act of the Legislature COULD NOT BE EN- JoINED.In a few days afterwards when he had. perhaps, received more light, he said 1t COULD BE ENDOWED. Two opinions on the same matter inside of two weeks and yet he talks of pr. Cunninghams inconsistency and claims that nobody but B. B. Conner knows anything about railroad rates and regulations. What a great calamity 1t would be if this great boasting know all should be taken away from the scenes of earth. In what desolation of ignorance and darkness would ev- erybody be groping if this great lum- mary should suddenly cease to shine.
 ihS tSf hb"cNCAs 0at III Stltif letter. the third inside of month. Mir. Emmett c. Jackson of Lee county wrote to MT. Conner that 1t was charg- ed in his county that MT. Conner was opposed to the new Constitution. It was fair conclusion from Mir. Co., mer's Tuscaloosa speech that he was not in love with the Constitution. be- cause he severely criticized the mem- bers of the Convention and of the work they did on the railroad rate regula- tion. It Is fair to state that his re- marks in that speech as to the Conven- tion and its members were directed solely to the railroad issue.
 MT. Conner wrote in reply that:
 As regards the new Constitution I adopted and given a fair, square trial. 1t was not everything that we wanted, but it was better than what we had, and I not only favored 1t, but voted for it..
 The rest Of his letter is devoted to his political acts in Barbour county and elsewhere. a point about which there is no contention. for in those dark days of negro carpet-bag rule MT. Conner did, as nearly every white man in the State did, his full duty.
 As The Advertiser has frequently as- serted. MT. Conner shifts his ground SO often that it Is hard to keep up with him. He is quick to try and chime in with popular sentiment, and therefore. he turns around according ly. It is strange to find him declar- ing such love for the new Constitu- ton when he was so bitter in his de- nunciation of it in his earlier speeches as being made and dictated by railroad coriations of him for these attacks and the publication of Judge Coleman's s letter and MT. Knoxs speech in vim dication of the honor and patriotism of the members of that great conven- ton, MT. Conner has seen a new light and concluded to be mum. where be- fore he had been apparently implaca- ble in his denunciation.
 But later letters do not remove for mer bitter words and there is no doubt that MT. Conner poured forth his true feelings at Tuscaloosa and other places campaign. He would. no doubt. like to wipe out that tell-tale exhibition of his innermost heart feelings but it can't be done. They were made calm ly and coolly and with knowledge of what they meant and he cant by later
 ,f exhibitions of hostility. All o@ MT. Corners denunciation of the Constitu- tion was because a majority of the members declined to make foolish spectac1es of themselves by putting into the State Constitution statute have left the people in fearful fix.- subject to railroad rates that could only be changed by amending the Constitution. They did the wise thing of authorizing the Legislature to reg ulate railroad matters and the first one Constitution enacted the present law under which the Railroad Commission has absolute power to fix rates and do the other things set out in the new Constitution. It Is based upon the Georgia Constitution and the power of the Legislature of that State to es- tablish a Railroad Commission has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. and therefore, the constitutionality of the Alabama law stands on the same footing
 Ever since MT. Conner took up the notion that he was divineIy appointed to become Governor and dictate poli- cies to State officials and Legislators, he has been befouling his own nest. the Commission of which he is President. belittling it's power and seeking to discredit it before the people. Be- cause the Constitutioanl Convention would not listen to him and do what he wanted done. its members were de- nounced by him as unfit for their plac- es because they were under railroad domination and not able because of corrupt and dominating "environment" to do justice to the people. If such men as John B. Knox, William C. Oates, Thomas G. Jones, Ex-Supreme Court Justice Thomas w Coleman, Richard Walker. Ex- Chancellor Jere N. Williams. the late Reuben Chapman and the vast array of other good men who composed the Constitutional Con- vention of 1901 were too weak to re- sist the domination of outside and cor