The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-06
Alabama Power Company Is
 AssaiIed by Governor For
 Alleged Campaign Activity
(Continued from Page One)

Alleged Campaign Activity
 (Continued from Page ons)
 of business pending before the com mission of which they are members business that affects the interests of hundreds of thousands of citizens of the state7
 Tn my judgement the public serv- ice commission will never protect the interests of the people of Alabama until the people elect mon who are loyal and fair 'to their interests and who arc not under special obliga- tons to fhe public service corpora tions."
 Governors Statement.
 Governor Kilby'H statement fol-
 lows:
 Several months ago told the as well refer their petition for
 lower gas rates to. tho Alabama
 Power company (which owns the An niston gas plant) as to send it to the public service commission under the
 majority control of Associate Conn
 missioners Cooper and GailIard. I
 had observed the working of the | com mission since the retirement by 1 the people of Mir. Sam Kennedy as president and could see little if any 1 improvement. There was no sort of | cooperation between the associate
 commissioners and the new presi- l dent, MT. Patterson.
 1 My judgment of the old commits | sioners as expressed to the citizens
 of Anniston was vindicated Friday morning by an occurrence in the of-
 flee of the commission as related I by Hugh White secretary of the
 commission and corroborated by Mayer Aldridge. a we'll known and
 highly respected citizen of Montgom-
 cry, as follows:
 Writes Letter to IxiIby | Montgomery, August 4. 1sa2. | Hon. Thomas E. Kiiby, governor | of Alabama. Capitol. Dear Sir: It becomes my duty
 as I see it to report to you as
 chief executive of tho state,
 charged with the high responsi- bility of protecting the interest | of the people of Alabama, an oc- currence which took place in the
 office of tho public service com mission at 11:45 a. m. on this | day. Such occurrence Is as fol- lows:
 Two gentlemen called at this | office today at the time stated where l. as secretary of the com | mission. was busy with my of- ficial duties. They first asked for s. P. Gailiard. assoicate commissioner, and then asked for B. H. Cooper, the other as- sociate commissioner To each inquiry I advised them that Mir. Gaillard and Mir. Cooper wore out in tho state busy in their cam naiRnq acH0rdInn fn formation, and that did not know juse where they were. The gentlemen then intro- duced themselves to me as MT. Felix l.. Smith, Jr., of Rockford, and Mir. E. o. Byrd of Birming- ham. Mir. Byrd stated that hc was connected with the land de- partment of the Alabama Power company. He exhibited. before me some of the campaign cards of B. H. Cooper and S. P Gaillard, for reelection as as-
 sociate members of the public
 service commission, and stated
 that Logan Martin. who is gem
 eral attorney for the Alabama Power company, had furnished him with the cards and that they had sent him into Coosa county because he was acquainted with
 all the people there. having bought up lands in that county for the company.
 These gentlemen asked me to report to Mir Cooper and MT.
 Gailiard that they had called to
 see them and asked me to advise them that CooBa county is safe except as to Goodwater, which is doubtful. HJnqf nftar dinnar " n
 company with Mayer W. AL ' dridge, who. as understand. Is chairman of the state board of public accountancy. and grand keeper of the records and seals of tho grand lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Alabama, and we walked into the lobby of the Exchange hotel. There I saw Felix L. Smith, Jr.. above
 referred to again, ana Tn a con- versation between him and Mir. Aldridge and myself. he referred to the visit of himself and Mir Byrd to the office of the public service commission in the morn ing and reiterated the state ments made by MT. Byrd and by him to me above set out and fur ther stated that he Is an attorney for the Alabama Power company MT. Smith further stated that he would not travel over Coosa county with Mir. Byrd because the people knew that Byrd was con nected with the Alabama Power company and that wouldn't do. MT. Smith further stated that his method of campaigning in Coosa
 county for Mcssrs Cooper and | 'Gaillard was to carry with him cOpies of the atate ticlet andaha would mark on this ticket all the
 officers hc thought ought to be elected: that he did not lay any special emphasis on Cooper and Gaillard. He said 1t was very easy as the people seemed to be glad to have advice about the candidates for whom they should vote. Very truly yours. HUGH WHITE, Secretary. Alabama Public Ser vice commission"
 Aldridee's Letter Montgomery. August {. 1922. Hon. Thomas F. Kilby. bover- nor, State Capitol, Montgom- cry.
 My dear governor: In re- sponse to your request of even date for information as to the conversation reported to you by Hugh White. secretary of tho public service commission, said conversation having been be- tween B. o. Byrd and Felix L. Smith. Jr., and MT. White, beg to advise as follows: After lunch today MT. White
 and I were comforting on cer-
 tain matters relating to investi- -