The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-09
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 The following. strange to say, Is regarded by The Birmingham News as a conclusive argument if rsfutation of a recent statement of .rhe Advertiser:
 A pirglpghaR Ssws reporter CT called 2, } ,,i ager for B B Conner, this morning and asked If he had any political news
 Yes hs replied T have just ,s,,I nailed ed effoft to faisfead the people by The Montsomefy Advertiser The other day. The Advertiser reproduced from The Marion Standard a uuctation rom the the esfeet meet that nj inc .rafiroad rate issue was settled by the Interstate law pass states wifi be governed by this nation. m and no longer an issue The Adverti- ser then hastened to add that this was the whole matter In q nutshell: and all Mr. Corners beating the ar and frothing at the mouth ,t IS the .yets yefe rsiraaa lsif namso9 ssom9n,aona n ei be aboshe In a few years and is not. they will
 sAs p the fraud In the above para graphs Is plain. because the new in- terstate commerce law cannot possioty have anything to do with intrastate rssss ssss. Tsss sss sf fss se e rressman Underwood had been either purposely or unintentionalfy. misduot-- ed After some effort, I finally go, go. TSe % sspwlos MaTlons stasdafd sas pan and The Mont. gomerv Advertiser, he. furnished ne wit the nsns fsicwns ststsnsnt aions this line tn the editor of The Marion stand, ard and in my statement said that sssSa settled n not srsats sl s m srbss Gr ssursf s M country and did not refer to local frelghts, which of course. must be set tied by the states them selves .sa railroad organs to deceive the peo- pie.''
 Now. this absolutely proves. the cor rectness of the position of this paper as ot the hhnbug embodied In MT. comer's isbeating the air and frothing at the month" Mir. Underwood states. specifically. that s5 per cent of the freight rate question is settled by the act of Congress, that beipg the amount Of freight over which the states have no control This much tlef being set tied and out of the way only fs per cent of the railroad freight business fin Alabanfa can be touched by State law and regulation. An order of the State Commission allowing for local rates such a per cent of increase on interstate commerce rates. as may seem fight and proper and keeping In view the constitutional. requirement. of allowing such charges as will produce reasonable compensation. can settle this whole matter of freight rates and this we believe will be the outcome The Advertiser will be fair enough to state that the proportion Of state freight Is probably higher than Mir Underwood's figures. In either case 1t ia absurd to make this question the dominant issue in state politics. Es- pecialiy would this be true. If only IS per cent of the entire business is sub feet to the }udlsdictien of State laws No stronger argument than Mir. Un- dsrwood's statement could be made to show the faIiys of Mir. Conner and his followers in appealing to the preju- dices of those who are uninformed up- on this subject
 It wii, no doubt, be a great sur ] prise to Mr Comer's thick and thin supporters to learn that only IS per cent of the whole railroad freight business of the country is left for the supervision of State authority. The Federal authority as to interstate, and a brief. comprehensive order of the State authority as to per cent of in- crease for State freishts. is. the solu- ton of the whole question. except that by such a sensible procedure MT. Conner and his kind will be statesmen left without a job.