The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-05-11
TIE nARRIs. BURR DEBATE.
-. a,,rr Challenge Accepted and DIS
...ion Takes Place in the Court
aovse-ovite n Large Crowd
IN Attendance.

4ssn. X nuns" ~
.a.r,da Railway Omission. was in
n -, Nlnnday. he came here for the
.,.e Of answering the criticisms
-, had been made In The Ocala Ban
.valnst the Florida Railway Com
,,,..on. he had challenged Mr.. Har-
4. Al meet him on the platform and
-, MS arrival Mr.. Harris notified
-, of Ms willingness to do so.
T,,e debate took place in the court
s,,,.e Monday night at o'clock Mr..
..hn Graham. executive cnminitt"c-
- far this precenct, presided and
,-,-,aueed the speakers which ne did
felicltious and pleasing manner
a.. arst introduced Mr.. Harris. who
80 without notes substantially as
follows:
Mr.. Harris's Address.
Fsllo~ citixens;-On the historic
..,-.a Of beautiful Lake Geneva, in
sx,tzerland. just before the fatal acct
ant thar befell the poet Shelly, Lord
uvron visited the Shelly cottage near
~ The night happened TO be a dis
al one. gloom had settled itself over
an. whole earth. II was just such
ulrht As % make one think OF ghosts
.nd ghosts" became the subject of
cenyersation and each one agreed to
,rrite a ghost story TO be read at the
shany cottage "a fortnight from that
Ale. Lord Byron being recognized as
an. superior writer. read his story first.
sh.lly read his next and the modest
Mrs shelly read hers last. Like Jeffer-
san's declaration III Independence, il 50
f,r SURPASSED the others thatByron and
shelly tore theirs into fragments and
insisted rhat Mrs Shelly publish hers.
n 4 thrilling and fascinating
story. The hero Is made 10 discover
tho generation and germ of
Az. He Is "A philosopher
A. well a. a scientist and visited both
h,.,nispheres and searched all records
IN MS Efforts to lind this subtle and
mysterious power.
His labors We're rewarded. He final
a. made the priceless discovery and
created "A something and gave 10
Ife d developed into distorted
thing and the creator became fright
sned a, the creature ~ his creation.
Wild, weird and fan, iful rs Mrs
Shelly's starry il. Ia me IL bears some
relation a. my connection with the
Florida railroad commission.
a - kalG.,sa that 7 will he 40
garded as egoiistical by this audience
when say that helped 10 create the
Florida railroad commission. But
nke Mrs. Shelly's "Frankenstine." it
has grown into a distorted thing and
h giving universal alarm Ia all
xhOm q concerns.
Under its distortion il Is impossi-
bic for the interior section Ia cope
with our sraports and every man liv-
mr IN the interior is forced to pay
territory embraced i'm the section of
country stretching from Escambia bay
~ Cape Sable H. being aban-
doned and will be- almost entirely
30 when the lumber. turpentine and
phosphate interests are exhausted.
When the old commission was
abolished and I advocated its re-es-
Establishment put witnesses on the
stand 10 prove the value il had been
90 the people of Florida
Governor Jennings had made can
sass m fernando county for member
II the legislature on an anti railway
submission platform and | was told
that holding crisp ten-dollar note in
his shapely fingers. he said that he
WOULD give a ten dollar bin for every
nickle's worth of good IL could be
shown that the old commission had
d"ne for the people Of Florida,
He was elected 10 the legislature
and was made speaker of the house
OF representatives and leaving the
chair when the bill came up for re-es-
adjustment OF the commission. took
me hoor and repeated the speech he
made in fernando county. In reply
ing O. the same put on tn" stand
cneditable witnesses in the persons of
The Hon. p. +. Bishop owner "f a
large grove AT Citra. Hon. william a.
Hooker, Of Leesburg. owner OF n grove
on Lake Harris. Attorney General
Cooper and Others to prove the value
TIE old commission hat been AMI the
amount of money il had saved 10 the
shippers. The amount aggregated
many thousands of dollars re-
dnced these dollars to nickles and
multiplied the nickles by. ten dollar
bills which amounted Ito "A vast sum
aud as ! wanted to be philan
tfopist. ] called upon Mr. Jennings 10
hand mc over this amount in hard
cash ami would in turn donate 1t 10
ihe freeze sufferers of Florida. But ] ]
Mia a. Ne all knew Mr. Jennings did
not have this sum Of money. he could
H"i make good his promise i'm his own
l"rson a. he knew when ne made
a. =" ne must have been
"lins az the agent OF others who
"ere able hut imagine my astonish-
incut instead Of my efforts being re-
cnsnized as philontrophist the ar
uele was read by Mr.. Jennings to the