The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-08

l Alabamians against Aiabamians and to create division in your ranks and prejudics in favor of those roads that | VIII also call your attention to the fact that the president of one of these railroads admitted that his road has | Alabama for years, and calmly asserts that this corporate dominance of a state government. by which he secured freedom from every regulation, both as
 tions and their freight rates, was for the good of the State
 | This Is strange statement to a free people; as in every age the domin-
 has been regarded as direful in the last degree. and should be arrested at all
 hazards. Read the platform of every party state and nation. and you vii,
 subject decryfng this danger. He would | be strange candidate for office in this State, who on the stump before the | people, would make this statement claimed by this road that it's control of the State and freedom from control by | the State M
 "This road, the one which has defied
 your laws and under the claim of lee | gality has thwarted the will of tho l people and has done more politically to debauch the State of Alabama than any other interest in the State. is here I today with a corps of environed men and environed interests for the purpose l of dictating. of seducing or influencing
 turning away y9r from the interest oi tSe l people and following the will of this l road which seeks to escape through | you the just demands of the people lation and surrender the States SOW I ereign right of controlling it's intra- | state affairs.
 Says Agitation Doesn't Hurt. ia laf tIat x.f | this great question and the laws of the l State and the United States regarding | same have deranged and hurt business. | Any one who has followed the course 1 of the high hnanciers of the East, the | parties who control the public service corporations of our State and of other I States, and has noted the wild orgies of speculation; the multiplying of secu. millions. were written and tossed about on the market in regular football method, taking little notice or account of the interest of the people who pay reason for such business disturbance as has occurred.
 Those who have followed the course of high financing will know that your cannot be made too strongly protective in the interest of the people. Today the Interest of those people, who have brought danger to the body polite and
 
 "The producer. repeat, is being call ed upon to save the high fnanciers and ion to which their wild foiiies seem to lead. It is the money from the cotton crop of the South and the food crop of the west which is expected to bring the country back to safe and solid found alton.
 This being true, as every one knows that it is, then for your part, without hesitation or quibbling, 1t becomes duty to make as safe as possible the own section: for 1t would be criminal to leave them unprotected in the hands of those who control these great public
 Tt is said that Mir Wander bilt, when questioned on one occasion as to what the. public would think Of some some of of. his railroad transactions. re-
 'It has been said that MT. Hartman, when questioned regarding what cer- tain legislation would do. for his sys- ming the same. replied that he could buy the Legislature, he could buy Con- gress he could buy the Judiciary. He purchase as he could buy a horse. a COW or sack of peanuts; but he meant that he could so environ the ,Legisla- ture, Congress and Judiciary that they would carry out his will.
 Railroad Influence Debauching.
 "The influence of railroads on the policies and politics of Alabama in the debauchlng, and the railroads have not hesitated as to the methods used in carrying out their policies. This tnfiu- conditions which prevail in our State today, which make it your duty to fashion the law lin such manner as the evils resulting from them.
 several yearsjago, when tine Louis- vile and Nashville Railroad was bought overnight by John ". Gates. am in- made by J. Pierpont Morgan that MT. Gates was too dangerous man to own and control such a property. MT; and transferred 1t by sale to the Att lantic Coast Line. In the general up- heaval thst Is eQnstantly taking place hinder MT. % Gatss. VsS or some other man or combinationfof men, whom Mir. Nor gan, or anybody else would consider ts tdsangerous from re5bgylng,: ,,ry not only but also connecting lines?
 The Central of Georgia Railroad has changed hands. three times within the past few years. What is to hinder this great property, so interwoven with the vital interests of Alabama, from pass ing into the hands of men whom MT. slider dangerous? What is to hinder our entire railroad system from being bought and controlled in the same
 What is to hinder such methods as these from securing such an interest in our transportation system as prac- ticlaly to hire out our producers and consumers forever? The protection of the citizen is the first and last care of the successful law-maker.
 When We See"
 When we see the weighing and in- specting rules of the railroads made arbitrary and unfair; when we see de- murrage rules made entirely onesided and unfair: when we see claims of shippers for lost or damaged freight l pigeon holed and the settlement there- of delayed indefinitely; when we see the most arbitrary rules regarding the purchase of coal from our mine own CTS and the arbitrary prices fixed for cars for the carriage for the output refused unless their price is accepted; when we see all our important water ways, by combination of railroad in- terests boycotted and rendered of lit- tie use: when We see the Tennessee | River, connecting the Alabama with l the Mississippi system, a system that | is attracting the attention of the world and on which the Federal Gov ernment is about to pledge the expen- allure of many miJlon dollars for the purpose of helping and cheapening freight carriage; when we see this which the Government has expended many million dollars, and which should be of incalculable value to the State, I sandbagged and the people robbed of what should be of great worth to the State; when we see the port of Mobile |