The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-25

moment consider such a favor.
I About this time the Southern railway
was coming in for its share of the tax
raises under the intangible law You
| know l hunt. Well, James Weatherly.
now a commissioner in Birmingham, who
was counsel for the Southern railway.
asked me to hunt with him down on a
| farm owned by his brother-in-law How
ard Douglass. He said the game was
plentiful and that every thing would be
lovely. He said that he would ask his
! friend. J. 5. b. Thompson, to go along
Well, you know Thompson was the polit
| ieal manager for the Southern at that
time
I Il told Weatherly when he made that
| insinua tion that I would not hunt with
| him. That is what I called environment
and I wanted none of it while was rep
resenting the people as their governor at
| Montgomery"
! The governor referred humorously to a
possible approach of back tax commits
sioner to the Tennessee Coal, Iron and
| Railroad company. trying to get an in
crease in the taxes of that company. He
did not so into that very deeply, but
brushed such a possibility aside with the
| reference that nothing would be done and
| that the proper method was by the state
/ tax commissioner IL he was elected gov
ernor and said that he was almost tempt
| ed to do 1t when he was arranging the
intangible tax law and the state tax
commission bills. He called upon Alto V.
Lee to bear him out in that statement.
Mr.. Lee said he hoped the Conner legis-
lature would come back when Conner
said
I'VE will be there. God willing. and we
will attend to that as sure as you are
born"
Fuss i'm Jefferson
The former governor referred to the
fuss in jefferson county in the matter
of resisting taxes and the increases made
by the state tax commission by saying
that alleged sentiment was worked up
by chambers of commerce. and such or
CARNATIONS which are used as meeting
places for those who are trying to defeat
what is just
In attacking the newspapers of Birming
ham, the former governor pointed his
finger at the representatives and said that
no paper in Birmingham was assessed at
25 per cent of its value and dared the
reporters to so quote him in the reports
that We're being made of the meeting. The
former governor then told the story about
a person being panned off as his cousin
by the Louisville and Nashville and his
suit against the louisville and Nashville
line and others. He said that the man
was not his cousin and the railroad knew
1t. Then he said that the courts held that
because the charter of the Louisville and
Nashvill failed to give it the right to
commit libel that the Louisville and Nash
will was not liable, although he says he
secured a Judgment against General Man
ager Starks.
Can Assassinate You
Then he shouted:
"A railroad can assassinate you. A
dirk can be sent up to the hilt into your
heart. Your character may be ruined, but
because railroad cannot under it's char
ter commit assassination there is no re-
dress for you. The papers printed that
scandalous proposition about my Offering
to bribe an alleged kinsman and circu-
lated it two days before the election.
carried it to Glass of the Montgomery
Advertiser and the News and asked him
if he thought that was right. He told
me NO But Mr.. Glass said that any
thing paid for went in those days. What
kind of paper is that which will take such
loot and then try to tell you and lead
you right? I tell you that / shall de-
mand a federal investigation into the
manner by which the Louisville and
Nashville handles its loot in this state.
shall turning to Congressman John L.
Burnett. seated on his lefD, Mr.. Burnett.
send to every congressman at Washing
ton letter telling them about this awful
conduct. and shall demand of the fed
eral government an investigation into the
manner by which they try to control pol
itics in this state The Louisville and
Nashville railroad. 7 charge and defy any
one to gainsay. sent $fS2, 900 loot into the
state during my race for president of
the railroad commission to debauch the
voters of this state and buy their suf-
frage. They sent satches of it out from
Montgomery and that is true. How much
did the Advertiser get? How much did.
The Age-Herald get eh?"
He said the Louisville and Nashville
sent out orders to the superintendents
to line up all the men against Conner and
read letter from an official stationed
in Gadsden. saying that all of the en-
ployes were for "Our candidate mean-
ing Smith as against Comer) with the
exception of the aged surgeon stationed
here, but that he would vote against Co
mer although warm personal friend,
when told that the candidacy of Smith
was for the railroads interest"
Spending Money in State
Governor Conner said that the Louis
vile and Nashville was spending all kinds
of money In this state distributing boiler
plate printed matter to the daily and
rural press. lie said the mark OIL the
railroad was to capture small ''mave-
ricks" from time to time and cut both
ears off
They have caught Henderson, the bull
of the woods" said Governor Conner. "and
they have cut both his ears offa He is
fighting for them now"
In referring to the recent supreme
court decision on the rate cases which
some allege eliminates Conner, the
speak er said that the state was In the
position of the farmer who had laid by
his crop.
"The fruit is ripe" said the ex-goy-
ernor. after you laid it by, what If
you did not gather it?''
him what If the farmer did that and
the reported said 1t would be awful.
Yes" said the former governor with
emphatic gestures. You have hit II
right 1t would be awful The rates
can now be gathered and il you don't
gather them it will be as If you left
your crops to waste after creating
them"
He said that unless the governor
made the Louisville and Nashville put
in the rates the other lines should go
back on the higher ones as 1t would
not be fair for some lines to have the
lower rates and the other roads the
higher rates. He referred to the "Tom
Long convention" when a resolution
was passed demanding that the gov
ernor call the Legislature together and
enact the rates and make the Louis
Vile and Nashville put them into ef-