The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-05
ENOUGH ~HED-Hor sPnEoHnss
Thoughtful Observer Comments es
 Samson Utteramcen. Editor The Advertiser:


 ThoughtfuI Observer Comments on
 Samson Utteramcea.
 Editor The Advertiser:
 According to one of tonight's papers the one most in sympathy with Govern or Conner, the Governor delivered ''red-hot" speech af Samson. Has not Alabania suffered too much would it not be wiser for our Gov ernor to live out and talk out one of the really fine sentiments of his speech.
 I am doing my best to put all the State authorities and all the people in the utmost harmony with our public service corporations. It is difiicult to believe in his sincerity, when the ball. invectlve, innuendo. evil suggestion and appeals to bias and passion.
 After a brief public career, which; by i IS fore-doomed to extinction at the next i election, the Governor is still blind to 1 the failure in statesmanship which will attach to the incident of his tenure in Alabama history. In consequences, the day for an inspiring call to citizen ship, just like other timely occasions, slips by unused, and in its stead appear ] foot-stampings and teeth -grittings at the mention of two such common names as Smith and Jones. Yielding his great powers to ignoble ends. he places ali ion in public pillory, calling them railroad -environed" and "anti- people l" It is an easy trick of demagogue; 1t is the safeguard of the squid in black enlng eevrything around 1t. Surely, We did not elect demagogue nor squid, but a mani
 "Railroad-environed" means what? Mir. Conner only knows The content of the word sh ows that he means 1t for bad name. To speak of railroad en- vironment in Samson was about the last place in the State to give it a foul meaning. Seven years ago sam son was pine woods; now 1t has a Mayor, and Is a city-all because it's railroad-enyironment permitted access nounce to the farmers of Geneva Coun- ty. or any other of the south heastern counties. the means by which they have grown to comforts in a few years, is simply to summon up sneers among them. instead of causing them to grow vindictive against the means of travel and shipment.
 Mir. Conner had one of the grandest | opportunities in Alabama history. l Wrongs and errors, high handed indif- ference and superiority to investigation righting among the railroads. By the | nat of the voters--all those not too lazy to ,vote-Mr: Conner was called to | the people in the utmost harmony with our public service corporations. He | failed completely; the voters who put him there know. how he failed. Drunk the solemnity of his task, he has acted the politician and not the statesman | He has caused rancors that years may when his little day is ended as one who set Alabama back instead of for- | ward. He was not large enough and, lowed a constructive plan. This was was shown in the fact that three sessions of | the Legislature were characterized by undoing much of the legislation of the hrst session, and the third tearing down more. and setting up afresh-- "cleaning the slate" as 1t was called. :. carried over into the third by legisla- tion that seemed like the determination | of murderous surgeons-'ff we cannot | cure the patient, let us kill him." r Mir Conner has made money dearer | all over the State. The foolish purpose to tax foreign loans has raised all money money here to per cent; since fo,rreign selves until the present Legislature has | ceased to exist. The same crude judg- ment was shown in, his sfrorts tc pro. l duce the utmost harmony" He set forces loose that made it unsafe for one of our brave men, an honored Gov srnor of the State, to walk the streets, and Mir; Conner is still seeking to stir up. passion against him.
 Mir. Conner said several things in his samson speech that were untrue-of course. not intentionally. One of tn csc referred to "a great assembly" fin Montgomery prior to the third session. Another was the cheap compliment to the farmer as marking out in every age the line of civil liberty The farm CT is not such a fool as to believe such sweeping statement--he knows that some advances in law and order have been made by men other than farmers. by men subjected to new problems. though crowding together in urban conditions. Item by item his speech could be picked to pieces as largely in- accurate or exaggerated. and, therefore. unreliable. It is q pity that his head is now lifted so high that none can ad- wise him.
 My name Is placed fin your hands to use to this letter, if you see fit. I nrefer. however. that these words should be Judged apart altogether, from nersonality. At any rate my name is
 Neither Smith Nor Jones.
 July 4. 'OS.