The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-08
na. coMEs,s DOUBLE PLAY.

i0dl fne people or AfdUdIud VIII CiSSe a Legislature. and with that Legisla- ture pass the following laws;
 First, that the present rate of Ala- bama shall be the maximum, that is. that there can never be higher freight rate than now exists without retfing a law to that effect. You can see at once the importance or this as the railroads could not enjoin that proposition.
 The best answer to Mir. Corners as- sertion that the rates fixed by the Legislature can not be enjoined is found in the language of the Supreme case of the St. L.' and s. F. Railway Company vs. Gill. 15e United States Report. page s4s. the Court said:
 The state law which establishes & tariff of rates so unreasonable as to destroy the value of the property of a railroad company, may be held to be uneonstitutional as taking the property a remedy in. the courts for relief against Legislation establishing a tar if of rates which is so unreasonable as to practically destroy the value of property of companies engaged in the carryingA business and that that espe- ctaliy may the courts of the UnitedStates treat such a question as judicial one. and hold such acts of legislation to he in conflict with the Consultation ot the United States, as depriving the companies Of their property without due process of law, and as depriving them of equal protection of the law.
 In symth ys. Ames 1ss United States Reports, page 4s4, the court holds as follows:
 A state law. OF regulations made thereupder establishing rates iII IHr ton, is repugnant to the fourteenth Constitutional Amendment as depriv. tng the carrier of his property without due process of law, and denying Io " the equal protection of the laws. Whfie the state may fix rates of transporta- ton, the question whether the rates are so unreasonably low as to depfise the carrier of its property Witnout mined by State Statute or Regulations hereunder so conclusively that the matter may not become the subject Of judicial inquiry.
 In the latter case the courts abso- lutely enjoined and set aside the rates which had been fixed by an Act of the Legislature of Nebraska.
 In Chicago M. and St. P. R. Company vs, Minn., 1s4 United States Reports, page AIS, the court said: If the conn., pany is deprived of the power of charg- ing reasonable rates for the use of it's property, and such deprivation takes place in the absence of an investiga- ton by judicial machinery, it is depriv- ed of the lawful use of it's property, and thus, in substance and effect, of the property itself, without due process of law and in violation of the Consti- tuition of the United States"
 In Chicago and c. T. Railway Com pany vs. weIlman, 14s United States Reports, page 339. the court said that The Legislature has power to fix rates, and the extent of judicial inter- ference is protection against unrea- sonable rates"
 There are numerous other de- cisions to the same effect with which MT. Conner must be familiar. because in hearings before the Railroad Com mission since he has been President these decisions have been read and quoted to him, so that when Mir. Conner tells the people of Alabama that any rate fixed by the Legislature can not be enjoined, he must do so with the deliberate intention of misleading them MT. Conner knows very well that any rate fixed by the Legislature can be enjoined upon the same grounds and for the same reasons, that any rate fixed by the Railroad Commission could be enjoined.
 MT. Conner says second, that The ad- vocates the Legislature fixing the rates on about one hundred articles, leaving the remainder to be handled by the Railroad Commission" There are in the Southern classification adopted by the Railroad Commission of Alabama, 3.s45 articles. There are in the Geor- gia classification only 1,736 articles. Now Mir. Conner promises the Georgia rate in Alabama, which meant the Georgia rate on 1,736 articles. He now proposes to give that rate on only one hundred of these articles, which would leave 3,245 articles in Alabama un- touched on which he says the present
  less the Railroad Commission should reduce them. Now MT. Conner has al- ready told the people that even with two more men like himself nothing could be done because the railroads would enjoin them; it follows, there people in Alabama the Georgia rates on only one hundred articles, leaving the other 3.245 to bear the present rate He says he would do this because if the Legislature attempts to pass on all of the classifications of rates, they would go into an endless bog and end less law suits-and the whole matter would result in nothing done" Now every man with any common sense l knows that if the Legislature has the power to fix the rates on one hundred ! articles. they have the power to fix the rate on the entire S,345 articles. If the Georgia rate Is good thing for one hundred articles, why is it not euqally as good for the whole list of articles.
 The Advertiser Is informed that Mir Conner, before Dr. Cunningham began his campaign, wrote numerous letters to his friends that the rail- roads had ceased to fight him and con- ceded his nomination, and that all that was left to do was to elect a Legisla- ture in accord with his views. Singu- lar to say that about this same time, MT. Conner came out in favor of his present position to the effect that the