The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-13
JUDGE JONES IS VIGOROUS IN
 ATTACK ON COMER'S METHODS
fCoNrINUED FROM PAGE 7)


 nropariy rights. but had broadened into one of anarchy and overthrow of the gov elument My duty was plain and imper- attya. and I neither desired nor needed as sistallce in the conjuncture which then confronted me.
 "All the attorneys for the railroad commission were personal frienos or mine. some of them very close, ana III chambers l had freely talked to them about my preferences and enorts to have another judge sit with me- NO one of them, and their relations were such they knew they might have sug- rested if witho out offense being taken, ever intimated that there could be the least impropriety in my sitting alone In the cases, and several of them ex- pressed satisfaction that l would try the cases. These facts must have been known to Governor Conner.
 Owes the Railroads Nothing.
 "I own no stocks or bonds of railway companies, and l am not interested II, them save as every citizen Is concerned in them. am in no wise indebted to them for the appointment to the ofhce I hold. and owe them nothing, unless fair pay for honest professional service in the past creates obligation to oetray A trust judge has no clients anu there are conspicuous instances III my public history, widely known, that even when I had railroads for clients l never hesitated, when exercising pup lie trust, to legislate against "hae they insisted was for their interest IT my judgment was otherwise, and acted for what I thought the Just rights anu interests of the people, no matter what effect it might have on my business or nersonal relations with them. This indenendence of conduct on my part has been illustrated from the day en- tered the city council of Montgomery in the legislative halls of the state, III the povernor's office, and in the con stitutional convention in 1901. Tn ous- ands who are now living know or the part taken by me in these various stations I need not recite the lacts here. Governor Conner knows them well.
 "What possible motive could be con iured up, save from the workings or deprayed mind, why judge who holos off,ce during good behavior, and whose only reward can come from the good mama he may leave to his children should betray a sacred trust and decioe A case contrary to the right because in former years he had Duslness reia tions with one of the parties! Tn us last analysis such Judgment IS 'ae condemnation which the opJector pro nounces upon his own honesty II ne were in another's place.
 Unjustness of Charges.
 "How are our courts to be constituted if every judge is to be disqualified from sitting In litigation in which 1ormer clients are involved, and merely pe- cause of that fact? Certainly no lawyer Wbo has reached middle life and is ffe for the bench can be found who mas not had A number of clients, and In this day. when everything is incorporated A number of corporation clients. 1T man who has represented them perore the courts prior to going nthe pench' cannot properly sit in such cases, hei.n CT can the man who has prosecuted bases against them before he went on the bench. The flower of the bar would he eliminated from the bench, ana branded as unworthy of judicial sta tion finder this infamous ooctrine John Tyler Morgan and Edmuno w. Pettus. two of the best-ioVed men who ever lived in Alabama, would nave pesH ohiects of suspicion in the Senate. Tn the past both of these eminent men hao been conspicuous attorneys TOT rah roads, whose affairs. though these gen tlemen had long since severed theiI relations with them, were cohs.an' subiect of legislation when they were In inc Senate. It would have excluded from the bench or made them objects of suspicion where former clients were interested, high men and great law vera like Chief Justice Stone ana Chiel Iustice Brickell and MT. Justice Ciop- ton whose lives and characters are bonseh old treasures In Alabama.
 "A Teacher In Ethics"
 .rbe finer instincts of our nature are not developed In the hearts of men to xybom their fellowmen are constant op- iects of suspicion and distrust, ana ;uaged from the sordid standard or d jife mainly developed to gathering "gear" Governor Conner might well have asked before he essayed to De teacher in ethics whether he, or tne object of his attacks. presented the pet. tar standard of disinterested, honest and unselfish discharge or pupilc ou'y' and Justice to his fellowman.
 "Thts controversy Is more dlstaste- rn, to me than I can well express, ana entered upon only after repeated anu aallino nroyocation. It rests with my assaiIant whether and how 1t shall continue. From my youth up, in wa, and in peace, in time or tuniui' .r nestilence and riot I have been witn and for my people. Alabama has peen my home since I could walk and nere T have lived and reared family. Ihe ashes of my dead are here. on her soii axnect to rest when gathered to nv fathers. The good will and respect or her people are very dear to me my assailant was any other tnah lne man who holds the office Of governor of the state I might be siiept'
 Silence Mislnterpreted.
 "My silence in the past has been misinterpreted by him. For years in the executive office and in his travels, he has repeatedly indulged In base in- nuendo against my motives. and now goes upon the stump to repeat them. l cannot recall that there Is paraliei in any civilized state, where governor ever before so outraged all sense or justice and propriety in attacks uL/n a iudge about a case. could not re- spect myself or respond to the dictates of my manh ood, which was not sur rendered when l went upon the bench, if I did not speak out plainly against this disgraceful and causeless crusade of the governor on the stump against th a cha racter of fel1oWman who was