The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-08
A RELATED REPORT.

The Birmingham News of Saturday printed what purports to be full ac- count of the speech delivered by B. B. Conner, candidate for Governor, at tuscaloosa, December g. Tn the same issue. in an editorial. The News says:
 Elsewhere in today's issue The Bir- mingham News publishes an accurate Conner. delivered at Tuscaloosa on De- cennber 9. Portions of this Earlicuiar address were incorrectly reported py some newspapers of the State at the time and as 1t contains in full the ar gument on which the campaign or tne advocates of rate reform and railway port of :s is is imporfant
 A few weeks ago The Advertiser published a verbatim report of the speech of Mir. Conner at Tuscaloosa. A stenographer was employed, and went to Tuscaloosa, and there took down the words of the candidate as they fell from his lips. Nothing was changed and nothing was omitted, The Adver- tiser printed what MT. Conner said, no more. no less. This expense was sons to for double purpose. It had been charged by Conner. and reiterated by some of his supporters among the newspapers, that The Advertiser had been unfair to the candidate in it's ac- counts of his utterances. Never for a moment did The Advertiser believe that there was the slightest foundation for this charge. On the contrary. it be- Iieved then. and it believes now, that at Talladega, and elsewhere, the cor respondents )of The Advertiser have treated Mir Conner with every consid- eration of Justice and fairness.
 And there was another reason that a stenographer was sent to Tuscaloo- sa. The Advertiser held the opinion that a verbatim report of the address of MT. Conner would confirm previously printed statements that the candidate desired to be "the whole thing. the boiler, the engine. belt and the rest Of the machinery of the State govern ment. We believed full report ot | his speech would show that he had made sweeping charges that members | of the late Constitutional Convention and former Democratic Administra- | tions of the State government and leg l is latures had been dominated by the l corporations. It was clearly demonstra- | ted that he had not been incorrectly reported and that he had made the charges referred to.
 ] The Advertiser was accused of deal" ing unfairly by Mir. Conner. Yet when it printed a stenographic report of his utterances, this cry of unfairness does l not down
 Where did The Birmingham News l obtain the speech printed in its issue I of Saturday? Was 1t ta'fen down Tn | short hand at Tuscaloosa? No, It wasn't. Only one report in full was | made at Tuscaloosa, and that was made ! for The Advertiser. Then, where did it come from? Will the people of Ala bama be asked to believe that MT. Co., mer or anybody else could remember | for a month the exact words or n speech a dozen columns in length 1 Isn't it clear that the article in The News is what Mir. Conner realizes he should have said rather than what he did say? Why thus hum and haw and stammer in an attempt to get around cold facts? Why should not MT. Conner and his supporters of the press admit
 that the candidate was on the wrons i trail and that his aspersions against the characters of Seay, Jones, Oates Jelks, Walker. Coleman and the many
 other brainy and upright men who ir
 the past have participated in the gov ernment of Alabama, are untrue and
 unjustihable? Wouldn't it be better tc
 wipe off the slate, ask the Democrats
 of the State to forgive him, and make
 a new start with promise to be more
 circumspect in the future? Does MT Conner and The News believe that the
 people of Alabama will swallow his
 warm lover. reconstructed address as
 the real article that was delivered te
 the little crowd at Tuscaloosa Decem'
 ber 0?
 But Mir. Conner and The News. il
 seems. fall to profit by the mistakes oi
 the past.