The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-08-05

l uElDeu very lnuNn III SuDpiAih AliC N1
 hcency of miners for this district. How eyer much free labor may object to com
 petition of this nind. facts go to show
 that these conviets have not taken the | place of any miner who desired to work and, during my experience in thls district. | have not known a time but what there was a shortage of coal miners. It seems | to me- therefore rather unfair and un- | called for that prejudice should be created
 against those companies who have found
 it profitable and desirable to hire con
 victs from the state and the several | counties.
 Interests Mutual.
 It must be recognized by all thoughtful business men, at least, that these large | corporations including railroads, require competent and experienced men to con | duet their business successfully, and To | that end it behooves these corporations to employ the best IT cn that they can | secure. therefore, 1t is not surprising that men of capacity should accept, If not seek, these positions. whether in the ac- tive business of the corporations or In | t,Ieir legal departments If 1t is fact | that great business enterprises must be | carried on in corporate form, then 1t IS strange that any man. or any class of men, should take the position for mo- ment that employment by corporations 1 disuualifes citizen for holding pubic | cffice, or prevents his having his own | views as to how the state government 1 should be conducted. or as to what laws | should be enacted that are best for the | common good. It does seem that as soon as any one of prominence accepts em- ployment from q corporation hd is i charged by certain people as being under | the influence or such corporation, and 1 1t seems to be supl Sed that he will use his Influence for corr bratlons as against the good of the people at large.
 This Is an unfair and unjust position 10 take for 1t is a fact that the interests l of tho people and the corporations are mutual and you cannot harm one very well without injuring the other. l can see no good reason why man connected with a corporation should not have as much voice in public affahs ar any ono else, If he wishes to do so, an1 not thus be unjustly criticised. think 1t is a fact that a great many who criticise corpora l tions, and those connected with them, would very promptly accept lucrative em- | ployment from them if 1t was offered. have never observed in this district, or in thls state, that the corporations are desirous of controlling the state govern ment or influencing improperly the legis- lature. It is fact, as often stated by | those who critlcise corporations, that they are creatures of the law. and only have such rights as the law gives them That I Is very true. but they are certainly en- titled to enjoy those rights which are given them under the laws without let or hindrance and I do not see any im- | propriety in any person connected with a corporation being opposed to the en- ! actment of such laws as he thinks would be injurious to the property in 1 terest which he represents. II is frequent | ly the case that n is not so much the desire the part of representatives of corporations to have laws enacted fin their behalf. but 10 prevent, if they can. the | enactment of laws that are oppressive and harmful.
 No one questions the right of any class of citizens. whether farmers. merchants ] lawyers officeholders or others to use | their influence in matters of legislation particularly where they think it is in- l furious to their interest. On the contrary every one accords these interests the right to seek such legislation as they | think will be beneficial to their interest and not harmful to others. Unfortunately 1 these questions have become political | questions. and politicians have used them 1 to the fullest extent fin their own interest. I very well remember that it was pre- | dieted, when a large number of our clti- zens thought that the end justified the means in tamperng with the ballot box l 1t would not be a great while, If this practice should be continuously indulged in. before there would be no color line in manipulating the ballot to accomplish the ends ot interested parties, and so we | found that to be the case much to the | embarrassment, If not disgrace, of the state Hence arose the necessity for a new constitution. I have noticed for number of years the tendency of certain 1 politicians and attorneys under certain | circumstances, to abuse corporations railroad corporations particuarly-and | discredlt them for the purpose of gain | ing their temporary ends; but, unfortun- | ately in a sense this practice has OK | tended beyond what they intended until they have. in this way and other ways, | built up a prejudice against corporate interests of all kinds. I sincerely believe | that every corporation should be com pelled to comply with the laws under | which they exist; and, as far as I know, in the main, they do so; and 1t is my belief that if every individual would obey the laws as uniformly as the corpora | tions do, we would have more peaceful conditions. and human life and other in- terests would be better preserved.
 Serious Question.
 These are important and serious uues- tions to be considered at this time. be- 
 ing exhibited in the present political can vass. It may be true that 'all is fair In | love and war" but I do not think 1t is | true that all is fair m politics, because a great deal of harm may be done that cannot be remedied in the future. We certainly should desire that class of men to hold office in this state, and to repre- sent different counties in the legislature, who are men of character and capacity. and who with the lights before them will do conscientiously thll best they can. It is certainly unfortunate 1that any num- Der of men should be SC ! to the legs- lature hampered by pledges to do' cer- tain things concerning matters about which they are not well posted. Men should be sent from this and other coun- ties who are capable and ready to con sider all the important questions that are to come up concerning the interests of the counties and the state.
 We not only need men to regulate rail- roads and other corporations to the ex-