The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-13
The Former Governor Calls
Names in DenOuncing Tao
tics of Those Now in
Control of Alabama
CHEERED BY GREAT
CROWD AT GADSDEN
Speaking of Committee Action Says
Lets Give Them Jim Dandy
Majority to
Present Governor
CONFER
R,c a. NERRECI1

BY e. 4. NERBECK
Gadsden. January 12.-( -(Special)-Calling
upon the voters of Etowah county to put
down domination of the state by ma
chine politics. and to sweep that gang
out CT our politics." former Governor E.
s. Conner spoke for two hours i'm the
courthouse this morning to hundreds OF
Conner enthusiasts
Sometime ago.. he said The Age
Herald published a picture. Many of
you saw it, Ii was entitled His Master $
Voice. And there was the governor of
Alabama listening to the words from a
eraphophone. And the message from The
graphophone was labeled the l.. & N
and Charley Lewis Gentlemen in the
strongest language of which am capable
of using | want TO say to You that that
tune shall never be played If | am elect
ed governor. The only master I know
is the people. [ will do their will And
want it understood that l am as much
opposed to the liquor boss as | am to
the railroad boss Thunderous applause
indorsed his statement
In introducing Mr.. Conner, John A. liner
referred to the fact that for the first
time In history the people of Alabama
propose to re-elect a man who already
has been governor. He said there Will
be only one primary in the governors
race, that of April 6. He introduced Mr..
Conner as the last and the next governor.
Mr.. Conner called attention to the state
t,1 tbat ba 10 so et
This evoked much laughter.
Carried Out Promises
"You gave me a majority twice--when
was a candidate for railroad commits
sioner and when I ran for governor" he
said. Il did as / said l would do. II we
made mistakes, you are responsible for
We did just what you said we should do.
In the national democracy is written
the will aof the people, and it is
being carried out. say, in Gods name,
lets coma back here To. Alabama aud
sweep out this gang which Is cndeavor-
ing to control our state. It's Conner and
anti-Comer. That is the issue today
Il have in my hand here u little pam
phlet from Louisville. Ky. TITS about
Comeritis, of the Jim Dandy brand Lets
give 'em a Jim Dandy majority. Let's
tell Louisville that they can't come down
Lere and run this state. BY the way,
this pamphlet Is anonymous. Whenever
I put out anything, I sign my name to it.
You do the same thing.
"T'hey call me a railroad batter Back
there in 1907 they talked about the Conner
panic Reminds me of group in Mont
gomery which was discussing the Conner
panic. Finally one old white-haired man
from Washington county said: TN tell
you, this man Conner Is the greatest man
that ever lived. He has brought OH a
panic in Europe, Asia and Africa -
Work for Education
Mr.. Conner spoke of his work for educa-
ton for the rural schools the county
high schools, the normal schools Monte
vallo, Auburn and the university. every
little white school house is an eloquent
speaker for Conner
"The present governor said I left the
state s1,0O00OO in the hole" lie continued
Here is the report of the committee
which reported on the condition Of the
terasury two days after | retired from
office. There was 1925, 900 there then. On
February IA there was $824,U00. Up to Oc-
tober of tha tsame year IL had not been
found necessary to borrow any money
for the state. Nobody ever said we took
it, either. And nobody ever said, when
l was governor. that there We're some
handsome lawyers down there who put a
price on every office.
when you give money for educational
purposes, YOU don't spend it. You invest
it, You don't have to trace what we spent
by an Investigating board. They have
had numerous investigators down there
recently There was one Investigation
that of the convict department. conducted
by Gene Steiner. a railroad lawyer.
don't know whether this is true or not.
but some one reported that friend went
| to Steiner and said See here. Gene, you'd
better go slow this investigation. You
may catch some one of your friends.
And Gene Is reported to have replied: Set
the plow shallow.
Reference to Liquor Question
Mr. Conner declared that every law writ
ten by the Conner Legislature had been in
| dorsed by the succeeding legislature ex-
| cept one. the prohibition bill. He said that
| only eight counties have departed from
| the Conner bill. which now stands in So
| counties.
about liquor. the speaker continued,
II understand you are having some trou-
! BILE in making convictions under the pro-
! hibition law stand. If / am elected gov
| ernor. they will all stand all right When
| the liquor question came up in my ad-
| ministration / advised my friends to let
! il alone for awhile. We had local option.
| and 1t was clear that 80 per cent Of the
| counties would be prohibition. But they
had come fresh from the people. they be-
| lieved the people wanted 1t, and they
passed the prohibition bill stood by my
! friends then, and I'll do it again. fhe
| Fuller bill was written by the New York
| Bar association; it is the same bill as they
wanted In New York.
| Mr. Conner declared that many of the
old men of the state have used whisky
| and want to use it, But, from business
| standpoint it is not wise to put 1t In the
hands of the young men. He said the
state should underwrte Its young men
and Should protect them from every
/ hazardous risk Liquor is one of those
risks, he declared.
Promises Of His Opponents
The speaker told his auditors of tho
work of the Conner administration in
doubling the pension approximations
sYou will hear them say, We're GO
| ing 10 increase your pensions and give
you more morey for your schools and
| we're going to decrease your taxes at
! the same time How in the name OF
common sense can you decrease taxes
and Increase appropriations
| Regarding taxtion Mr.. Conner said
| that the county back tax commissioner
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