The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-17

ley never had any rsiation with the l. and N. Railroad. and for thet mat ter no oflcer of that road while was Governor. ever recommended any one for appointment by me. I was once . member of q child labor ccmmittee which was urging certain iegislAtion, which Governor Conner opposed re- garding the committee as impfopsrIy intsrmsddling with privAte a9aass He also became somewhat inoensed against mo. though was not ,respon- sibie for the talk becsuse cf some comparison which was made In the press and by speakers regarding our respective conduct during striksa and disorder In tho mineral region. All these things innamed his resentment. He simply awaited an opportunity to attack me.
 schsausng ss Destrsy the Judge
 When the rate cases were filed In the Circuit Court here. and before I had made any order whatever. ex- cept to notify the commission of the application for . restraining order, though I did not learn It for some time afterwards, the Governor i'm mediately declared to confidential friends that he intended to get an- ether judge" He determinded in ad- vance. that should be pursued as . ''partisan judge" regardless Of what might do in the cases, whether my acts were right or wrong. He was quick to make suit in an equity court about property right the oc- casion of private and public war upon the court and the character of the Judge. sud to attack them by all the political forces at his command. ct . trv1. ~lxA ul< Sfv~-~ a~ much infiamed, and justly Tn some re- spects. against the railroads. in order to destroy the judge and aggrandize himself To that end, and with a ferocity which would reflect upon q savage. the Governor has gone up and down the State denouncing me as . destroyer of the rights of my own people, and iawlessiy interfering with their local affairs" hectoring and overwhelming the States officials. and usurping or sobscuring" it's just rights and powers. and adding to all this that the motive was the unworthy one political obligations. which he said were due to one of the litigants be- causes of past business connections in former years. Relentless in his pursuit of vengeance. he inveiEhed even against the Constitution of the fathers because 1t provided courts which, in certain cases, all persons might freely enter to defend their liberty and property against wrong threatened under color of State law. and rocked little that he. like tue judge. was bound by his oath to sup- port the Constitution. and that 1t de- thereby. anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding"
 It was in this frame of mind that he plunged the State in 1907. into an era of passion and excitment about q mere law suit regarding a property right. which was without parallel in It's history. There have been other warm contentious as to suits and rates in Federal Courts in other States. but never before has Governor ever adopted such means as were attempt ed in Alabama to undermine or pre- vent the orderly workings of the Con- stitution and laws of the State and the United States. and to browbeat and intimidate courts and litigants. The Governor of North Carolina did not denounce the Federal Court, or aHsail the character of the judge or hack at him on the hustings.
 Tn the beginning Governor Conner was chagrined because the eminent lawyers who represented the Commits sion. admitted In open court, that the bills. if proved. entitled the complain ants to relief, that the suits were not suits against the State. and that un- der the evidence as it was, when the preliminary injunction was asked, the court had no alternative but to grant 1t. He bided his time. and when iu the same identical suit. the aIlega- tons in which were not varied one iota, except to state the threats of arr rest of operatives by certain named officers. under his advice. and the ask ing of an injunction to prevent 1t. the Governor guided the attitud of the new defendants and declared such an injunction would he a mortal blow at the liberties and rights of the state and g bald usurpation for which the court should be resisted and denounced The rates then involved the Legisia. ture shortly afterwards increased. and the first rates were never enforced for single day against any one.
 etatcss own Laws Branded ttnworthy of Execution by its Own OHlcers. Failed in cotinteracting that injunc- ton, which was necessary to preserve
 the Jurisdiction of the court, and turned upon other questions than the veasonableness or unreasonableness of the rates the Governor practically abandoned that phase of the question which was of most concern. although
 1t delayed the trial for over a year and bent all his energies to finding a way to drive or get the suitors out of the Federal Court by beating round the constitution. To that end | he procured the passage of a series of remarkable statutes to carry out his program. which no court under our institutions could fail to pro- l nounce against the fundamental law He insisted the. States dignity was
 involved in allowing these cases to l be tried in the Federal Court at all and set the unseemiy example for the head of a great state, whose sole end ought to be the advancement of jus
 tlce. of bounding suitorsso out of a country without a hearing, because I they preferred one court to another | regardless of the merits of their con- itentions. The duty had been entrust- ed to the Commission to enforce the !