The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-16
Young Legislator Mentioned as Possible Entry in
 Governors Race
RAILROADS PROTEST
 TAX ASSESSMENTS
Effort Will Be Made to Permanently Epioin Collection Under New System-Hearing on
 December Is
By E. E. FRANTz

By E. E. FRANTZ
 Jackson, Miss, December lo--tspeclai! M, S. Conner, speaker of the Nississippi lower house, and the youngest man ever holding that position in thls state' IS being consistently mentioned for goVer nor MT. Conner has made hlgh marx as presiding officer, his rulings pelng quick and to the point. His opponents In the race for speaker contended that he was too young man for the posl- tion. but he has proven hlmseH equal to every emergency and made himseil one of the most popular men Tn the state. MT. Conner was in town this week as chairman of the joint committee ol The two houses charged with the duty of rearranging the fiscal system under which the state has been groanlng loi years the outgo being S5ooooo or more greater every year than tue Income ~ the office of the state treasurer. ms committee has the copy of its report in the hands of the printer, and 1t Will he ready to lay on the desks of me members of the legislature when IL snail have met in January It IS salu 10 sus gest a complete revolution III tue iidi ner of assessments and raising or rev enues. giving hearty indorsement to tIe state tax commission Ill us enoi 'S " eoualize assessments.
 Heinz asked as to the probability or his entering the gubernatorial race NIT. Conner stated that he did not know what he would do--that he had mot made up his mind about it. and would not TOT few months. So far put tWo caIuiua r9.'ass, su9 have announced for the place, Lieuteh- ant Governor Russell of Lafayette, ana Attorney General Ross Collins of Lau- derdale In the last gubernatorlal race' Russell and Collins were Biloo sup porters and both Vardaman men, HON ever. Governor Bilbo had hardly Warfneu tb,s' big cushioned chair in the office of ,sssr oxec,,tiye before it was known that he and Collins had come to the "parting of the ways," and they are still at cross purposes Russell is understood to have the Bibo backing, and that splits the Bilbo following of three years ago. Mr, Conner was private Ill tne Bilbo-V Vardaman ranks, but he has never taken any active part in their poliueaii affairs. The consequenee is that he VIII draw heavily from the Bilbo faction and get all the votes of the anti Bilbo con | tingent should he offer for governor:
 THE RAILROADS PROTEST
 At their special meeting this week the railroad commission fixed the assess ments on the public service corporations for ad valorem taxes During the past summer tentative assessments were made which increased the total yalua- tons by more than $39,o00,C0o, They hao been in excess of s700Oo,00O the year pre- vious On this the railroads protested though they were not hit Tor many more thousand dollars in the way of taxes, Tn view of the fact that the state levy had heen reduced from 6 to 4 mills. After hearing all objections and thinking that perhaps they were a little too high on some of the smaller roads the commis- sion made reductions amounting 10 about s6,OO0OO0, leaving the increase at 5000, ,0o0 in round numbers, or S1oo0oo, ,oeO for all public service corporations The moment the action of the commission was made known the attorney for the Mobile and Ohio, the Alabama ana yicksburg, Illinois Central and the Yazoc and Mississippi Valley secured inJunc- tions from Judge Niles oi the ieoera' court. enjoining the collection of the tax It Is possible that Judge Niles will make the injunction permanent on hearing oi the issue on December 1S, and in that event it will be a long time before the state of Mississippi can collect any taxes for the year 1917 out of the rail roads, It is supposed that all other rail roads will take similar action
 STIRRED UP THE TOWN
 The Jackson Light and Traction com pany notified it's patrons and the public generally a few days since that they would increase the price Of electrlcity and gas from 30 to 33 per cent. Jackson is now paying $1.50 per 1000 for gas, anc the housekeepers are up in arms swear ing they will put in oil stoves. The city commissioners are of the opinion they can do nothing to prevent the increase
 MONUMENT TO WOMEN
 A handsome monument of granite ant bronze. erected in honor of the moth. CTS, wives daughters. and sisters ol Mississippians who lived through thos' trying times from 1861 to 1865, was un yelled here Monday in the presence O a devoted few of those brave men wht wore the gray, a number of Confederate women and school children. An interest ing programme of music and addresse had been arranged for the open air a the monument, which is located directl. in front of the capitol, but the weather though clear and bright, was extremel, cold and the exercises, save as to tn actual unveiling. which was done b. three grandaau ughters of veterans of tn lost cause were held in representative hall.
 STATES CENTENNIAL
 Mississippians celebrated the one hun dredth birthday of their state last Mon day. and the Masonic grand officer placed a marble tablet in one of tn front pillars of the old capitol commemo rating the day and marking the time an the occasion. Behind the marble sa were placed copies of newspapers of tn day, copies of some of the speeches tha were made and interesting data for thos of 100 or 1000 years hence in the even the ssealed sepulchre should ever b opened.
 ALABAMA TAKING NOTES
 Prof. w. F: Feagin, former state su perintendent of Alabama, and now su perintendent of Montgomery county. ha been spending several days in Missis sippi looking into educational matter! Prof. W +. Bond, state superintendent here, accompanied him through some ( the model counties in the southern pal of the state, showing him everythin good to be seen in the way of agrcu tural high schools, consolidated rurs and other schools, and it is understoo that the Alabama educator was dt lighted with what he found.
 It is announced from the A. and M. col lege, which is the headquarters for far extension work, that of the S1 countit in Mississippi there are now only eigl or ten that do not boast a county farl demonstratot.t It is expected that som if not all of these, will fall in line bs fore planting time next spring, and the Mississippi will be ready to enter tl lists for record breaking food ere once moro.