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SMITH DISCUSSES FREIGHT RATES AND DISFRANCHISEMENT OF NEGRO AND REPLIES TO HO WELL’S A TTA CKS THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN. SATURDAY JUNE 9. 1**. if Only Hope of Relief ; a Return to Popu lar Government. SAYS RATES HAVE GONE UP; * SHOULD HAVE GONE DOWN Tells Audience for Pint Time Where Money Prom Piedmont Bar Went—Scores Ring. . In hi* Opening speech In the Joint llscusilon with Clark Howell at the I'oachtree auditorium Friday night, the IE n. Hoke Smith said: "Mr. Chairman, Ladles and Gentlemen: "I have lived In Atlanta 31 years this Is the first time I ever asked your ‘ ; ; irt for office. Two weeks before announced my candidacy for governor had no Idea of entering a contest for i ha l high and honorable position. 1 " a i Induced to become a candidate chiefly bscause so many of my fellow tlsens throughout the state expressed d'etre that I should lead a fight for 'polar government against railroad and corporate rule, but I cannot deny that the threats of exposures by Mr, Clark Howell, marie through the col imns of The Atlanta Constitution, iiinulated me to the task. I believe In popular government, believe that the free and unrestrained ■ ul" of a majority of the voters builds th<- rharacter of our rltlsens and brings th, best government. It can be easily shown that an alll mi 0 of men, largely Influenced by the political attorneys and agents of great corporations owned outside the state, due to the machinery of the Democrat ic pirty, and, to a great extent, controls th<- policies pf Georgia. for twelve months past 1 have been litfTlnir the people to throw off this yoke n nd to take charge of their own af fair". The necessity for such action Is mads clear when you consider the bur dins placed upon the people of Geor- i only ask you to consider with me tonight those burdens which grow out ef tne unjust chnrges for carrying j .i engers and freight made by the railroad companies. Entitled to Only Fair Profit "The supreme court of the United States has declared that a railroad company Is a public carrier, a public highway, and only entitled to charge such rates for carrying passengers and freight as are neceseary to eari) a re* eonablo profit upon the money actually put Into their properties. They should rmt be permitted to make excessive charge# to enable them to pay Interest nnd dividends upon atocka and bonds ued In excess of the money put Into their properties. “If we make a conservative estimate ti died by the live great railroad sys tem- doing business In this state and i .impure this with the net earnings of till systems In Georgia, we will find that they are collecting between three mill four million dollars annually from 'he people In Georgia In excess of a fall interest upon their Investments. "High freight rates are a tax upon tin industries of the meases of the puo- I'h A merchant or shipper may first i "iv tho freight, but he adds what ha hns paid to the price of his gooda and tin- consumers return the money to him tn the Increased charges he mutt make rm a lint he sells. It Is the duty of the mih ..ml commission to reduce the rates "nd the duty of the governor to that it is done.' ■f ir tho purpose of determining whether the rates are excessive 1st us u*o the chargee which the railroad commission has permitted the South- ion Railroad Company and tha Can- t i'i» I of Georgia Railroad Company to churn.' the people of the state. If we compare th* rates for hauling freight mi the** two roads with rates charged by i mils similarly situated tn Houth Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia w' will flnd that the Oeorgla roads make charges which avsrage 15 per rent higher than those of the other Mm. 1 named. • r i.-nty-llve years ago n standard t s r i r* for freight rates was adopted by th. mllrnad commission. It waa a regular schedule at rstee which rall- pmoIh were permitted to charge for oar- r> ing different classes of freight. Tha ranon the Central and the Southern were advanced until In 1(13 they were pet tidtted to charge the standard tariff and 5 per cent added. Tho Commission'! Reason. ’ "In permitting this Increase the rail road rompttsslcn gave aa a reason for granting IK fc- ""That the great financial depression sll over the country, that has affected every branch of trade, has been ae- voreiy felt by the railroad companies of Georgia.' ' While this may have been true In ]>■!>' for a number of years past the milt -ad companies have been doing the Ixigi it business tn their history. • The buatnees of the Central railroad ha* I screened since 11(3 over 100 per Cem Its net earnings have also Ip - IT. .mad over too per cent, while Us mi., age has Increased less than 40 per mu. During this time It has also In- >ied from net profits tn addition to net profits Just referred to, an HON. HOKE SMITH. ■H* |»s i»mn » nri 1V1I fill . , • «•»(»* avion# of a million dollars a year tn betterments. in the past ten years the Southern Itullway Company has Increased Its net . ruing* from five million dollars per \. nr to twelve million dollars per year. Ti . Is true, although, according to a rptrcuUr Issued for the sale of bonds oi tha Southern, It Is declared: ■ “That the bookkeeping force of the s ohern has literally been obliged to Hrark overtime In order to conceal the ^^Bvplus which has been piling up.' Should Havs Bstn a Reduction. ■ "The same rule which gave three roads an Increase of charge* for carry- K tng freight In 1M1, It proper vigilance i a<l been used by your public officers, » mid have long ago brought to the i ■. ; le of the state a reduction of f> ixht charges. The net Income practically without substantial value and merely speculative stock. The high rates the road has charged have given to this stock now a market value of eighty million of dollars more than It had ten years ago. The railroads were vigilant to obtain an Increased price on account of hard times, but no one was watching the interest of the public and giving you u reduction as a conse •luence of prospermia times. “As an Illustration of the way In which the people aro being unjustly burdened by high freight rates, the Southern railroad purchased the At lanta and Florida railroad, built by Atlanta capitalists, running from At lanta to Fort Valley, for (271,000. It has capitalised this property at 12.- 683,683, and Is undertaking to make the people, by high freight rates, pay this capitalisation. It Is easy to understand from the facts I have mentioned how the people of Georgia are being taxed by the five great railroad systems on local busi ness alone, between three and four million dollars a year In excessive charges for carrying freight and pas- aangers. The unjust charges placed upon the people of our etate are not limited to local rates. Georgia distrib uting points In comparison with places S mlTarly situated In other states suffer otn severe dlscrltnlnntlons. Comparison of Rates. 'Let us compare the rates charged from tha East and the West to At lanta with those charged to Nashville, Tennessee, jil In title connection you must bear In mind that what la true of Atlanta la true of the balance of Geor gia. The distance from New Tork to Atlanta ta 8T< miles. Tha distance from New Tork to Nashville la ISI miles. Tet the rates per car load of 34,000 pounds are higher to Atlanta than to Nashville on flrst-clase gooda per car, $7(: on serond-clasa goods per car, 175; on third-class goods per car, »»«; on fourth-class goods per car, 1102; on fifth-class goods per car, <78; on sixth- class gotids per car 151. If you. make the comparison from New Tork to Cin cinnati or Loutavtlle the discrimination against Atlanta Is even greater. "Different charges are made per 100 pounds for different classes of freight. !sy a change of classification, moving articles from cheaper classifications Into higher-priced classifications, a heavy Increase In freight rates an over the Routh was made six yean ago. About the same time an Increase was made In the charges for freight on coal of HI cents per ton. This was done at a time when, by every ■ eonable rule, a decrease In the freight charges of not less than 10 cents per ton should have been made. Atlanta handles 20 (00 care of coal annually, thus making an Increase of about 3*0,- 000 to the coat of hauling this coal, when there ought to have been a de crease of over (50,000, It Is easy for evefy man to understand how the coat of hla fuel has been Increased by the Improper conduct of tha railroad com panies. Applies to Many Georgia Point*. 'Although I have used Atlanta aa tha l>olnt for this discussion. It can be made with equal or more fore*. If 1 should use Griffin, or Macon, or Cor- dele, or Valdosta, or Rome, or Colum bus, or Aniertrus, or Albany, or many other points In Georgia. It Is a plain preposition that railroad companies have not given tn Oeorgla the benefit of her harbors or her rivers In furnish ing water transportation, while they have done so for other states when fixing freight rates. It may he aug- geeted that It la not a question which can be Involved In a state campaign, as state house officers have no power to bring relief. With such a view 1 tho Central of Georgia railroad for th* I. year 1(05 was 32,4(0,000, In addition to the net profits spent for betterments. This railroad company last year, after paying Interest on fifteen million dot- : Ian of Income bonds, a targe part of M which, ten years ago, were worth about •E ( cents on the dollar, had a surplus of l' f "''.ooo from Its net Income “The Southern railroad ten years ago lee i< d sixty millions or preferred Block «e hundred and twenty millions ■Georgia has two splendid harborn. With but little expense steamboats can be placed upon the ocean, sailing from theso harbors to Eastern ports. Mailing vessels come from Eastern ports to these .harbors. Excessive freight rales from th* ports to Intertof points In Gaorgta prevent the Interior points from receiving their proper ad vantage by the use of transportation from the East through tha port* of Georgia. "With this question Is Involved what Is now commonly known In Georgia as the port rate fight, made by the At lanta freight hureau for lower rates to Atlanta, and If to Atlanta, then to other Georgia points, from Savannah and from Brunsa-lck. The Atlanta freight bureau petitioned the railroad com mission for a reduction of charges from Savannah to Atlanta. So strong a case waa made that at one time the officers of the railroads conceded Its justice and undertook to give tha re. dilation, hut finally they failed to do ao. The reductions asked for would not have brought the chargee substan tially below what u now charged In Hcuth Carolina. North Carolina and Virginia. It would not have brought the rates lower than the chargee volun tarily made by the Central railroad on through haul from New Tork, Boa. where the steamboat line la ono named by the Central railroad. Effects of Reduction Asked For. “The money, therefore, which the railroads would have received would have been practically the same aa that which they now receive as their pro rata for ahlpmenta from tho East. by water and rail. The benefit to At lanta and to other Georgia points Would have come from the free use of uny vessels they desired upon the ocean, and It was conceded that ocean rates could be obtained at very much less than the pro rata of charges now paid on through shipments to the steamers named by the Central rail road. The effect, as a whole, of this reduction of rates from Georgia points to Atlanta and tn other Interior points would have been to make the rate from the East to Georgia points about 25 per cent less than the present rates. “Another benefit of this reduction of Eastern rates would have been that Western rates would have come down In proportion, nnd the all-rail haul, both East and West, would have been reduced to meet the new water and rail haul. Two of the commissioners, Messrs. Joseph M. Drown and Warner HUI, voted against the port rate reduc tion. Mr. Pope Brown voted fhr It, expressly stating that he, at the same time, voted to make similar reductions of rates throughout the state. Mr. Joseph M. Brown gave aa hla principal reason for refusing to vote for the reductions, not that tb* proposed rates would fall to be remunerative to the Oeorgla railroads, but that the com bined rail and water rates to the Eeit would be so much reduced that the all- rail lines, East and West, would be compelled ta reduce their rates to meet the competition; In other words, that the unreasonably high rates now being permitted by the Oeorgla railroad com mission from the ports of Georgia to Interior points In Georgia furnished the rent opportunity for the railroad com panies to give cities of other states much lower through rates than were given to Georgia points, and because the reductions demanded lit Ueorgla would Interfere with the unjust exist ing through rate system, he would not grant a reasonable reduction from the porta of Georgia to Interior points. It la hard to estlmato bow much lha peo ple of our state are taxed each year on account of this Inexcusable decision. Atks Full Duet for Georgia. “It may be argued that Georgia la proape roue. This la undoubtedly true. No living man has greater confidence In tha future of Georgia than I. Rut I ask that all be given to the state to which It Is entitled. I believe that Georgia has opportunities to become a manufacturing state and a commercial state, scarcely rivaled, not excelled, by any stats In the Union. Because the state la growing rapidly, because the people are prospering ta no excuse for preventing, by unequal freight rates, the growth to which she Is entitled. 'The traveling men or Georgia build up the business of the state and con tribute Immensely tn the prosperity of the raltroed com pontes. They have been pleading for years to obtain thousand-mile book*, good on ah rail road system* and their connections In the state, and they have naked for a t-cent rate. The traveling men not only serve those who employ them, but they nerve the local merchants, and they serve the whole people, by the Information which they distribute throughout the whole state with ref erence to the commodities which they sell. Their demand has been reasona ble; the railroad companies nave turn ed a deaf ear to It. The Southern rail road, the Central of Georgia Railway Comiutny, and the Oeorgla Southern unit Florida Railroad Company, de clined even to participate tn the use of the Interchangeable thousand-mile books. The railroad commission of tieorgta has had the power all along to fix this rate for the traveling men. and lo make the books good on the Houthern, Central and Georgia Houth em and Florida railroads. It has fail ed to do ao, and In fallng It has fatt ed tn discharge a duty wtilch It owed tho people of Georgata. In point at fact, a fiat 3-cent per mile rate for all passengers on the big systems would be sufficient, after free passes to those not entitled to them are eliminated. 'The freight charges collected from the people of Georgia on local and through business In excess of reason able charges, and, therefore, unjust, amounts to over five million dollar* a year. The Georgia railroad commis sion, If It were organised with men who really desired to serve the peo ple, and hacked by a governor who waa really In sympathy with th* movement, has the absolute authority to reduce the local rates. Something Can b* Done. “Can anything be done In Georgia to protect our people from the unjust In terstate freight rates? There ta no doubt that something ran be done. The Atlanta freight bureau mad* a long fight against excessive Interstate rate*. It carried the fight even Into a roads, Milan they naked from tha city local conraasion*. As a final result this tight, u committee was appoint rd to negotiate uith the railroad*. > readjustment of rates waa thereby ob tained which Mill save to Georgians several hundred thousand dbllars each years. It must always be borne ti mind that having won a fight for re. adjustment la Atlanta, the readjust ment necessarily' followed to other ! point* In Georgia, and all over th# state tho reduction waa made, aa well aa to Atlanta. The fight waa made prl | martly for Atlanta, but Incidentally for I the whole state. •Twelve months ago, I began calling the attention of tha people of the state to the Inexcusnble 35 per cent which | the Houthern and Central railroads wero charging In excess of the stand ard tariff. I also called attention the 20 per cent excess beyond the standard tariff which the Atlantic Coast Line waa permitted to charge. I also have called attention to the per cent In excess of the standard tariff which the Georgia Southern and Florida railroad waa permitted charge. These excess charges had been without excuse for years, but nothing had been done to reduce them I told the people that the agitation the subject alone would help them, said'In my Klberton speech last fall that before the gubernatorial election. Jelled with the work of the rally commission upon the theory that the railroad commission forced this great saving for the people. I deny that any auch saving has been made by any body. I oak Mr. Howell for hla proof, hut whatever It Amounts to, was ac complished by your own fellow citi zen* and In Spite of the blunders and faults of the railroad commission. Repealed Eight Out of Nine. “The railroad commission refused the port rates reduction. They passed nine orders on freight charges in over twelve months’ time and repealed eight of them. The pnly order they had left at the close of fast year reducing freight rates waa one with reference mat ueiure uir gunernuiurmi ein-uuis the railroad commissioners would find that they could no longer afford ti continue In office without doing any thing at nil for the people. As a con sequence of the Agitation alone, the rail road commissioners, In the early part of the present year, reduced the 25 per cent extra chargee allowed the South ern and Central to 15 per cent, and .the 20 per cent allowed the Atlantic Coast Line to 10 per cent, but they refused to make the reduction on the Georgia Southern ar.d Florida. What Honest Commieeion Can Do. "1 have shown that a proper reduc tlon of rates from the ports to In terior points will largely overcome the present unjust through rates to Geor gin points. Olve the people of Oeorgla railroad commissioners with all the power of th* state to regulate local freight rates; give them full power to Investigate Interstate freight rates, and. If necessary, in behalf of the state to fight before the Interstate railroad commission for Just through rates back your railroad commission with governor who know* the evils, believes they can bo remedied, and Is willing to fight to remedy them; arouse all the local commercial bodies In Georgia to the support of the railroad commis sion and the governor, and you will find that the railroad companies can be made to respect the rights of the peo ple, but the state must carry the fight, and not the Individual shipper. “TherO Is an unmistakable Issue be tween the peoplo of Georgia and the railroads, and It must be fought out until the people win their rights. I would not do the railroads an Injustice, but I demand for the people a square deal, and I declare that they are not now getting It. "And the same Issue which exists between the people and the railroads exists between Sir. Howell and myself. I -have championed the cause of the people; he has done all that he could to support tha other side. In hla for mal announcement, In his speeches, In editorinls published In his paper, through letters by Joieph M. Brown, Bnd published In his paper, he hnH en deavored to show that my contentions are unfounded, and he-has defended the railroad commission and the gov ernor. In his announcement he con demned what he termed 'assaults pub licly directed against the railroad Cbm mlssloners.' And declared that 'the local rates, which arc under th* Juris diction of. the Georgia railroad com mission, are- less thnn those of our sister states of Alabama nnd South Carolina.' He declared also ngulndt any power of the railroad commission to bring relief from unjust Interstate rates. All over the state he hns de fended the railroad commission and vllllfied me for criticising them. Says Howell Defends Roads. According to the published report In hie paper of a speech he made at Mabelton, In Cobb county, he defends the railroad commlelon, as now organ ized, by declaring! 'Tour railroad commission stands ready to rectify any dtscrtmnatton In rates In tho state, and theae are the only rate# over which It has any power.’ And he added that to atoves. which may have possibly made a reduction In freight rates ol less than 310,000 a year. It was dur ing this period that Mr. Howell wa* extolling the commission. Local rate* then were excessive to such an extent that they ought to have been reduced 14,000,400 a year. His railroad commis sion, with th# valuable work It wa* then doing, having mode a reduction of 310,000 tn over a year, at the same rate of speed, would have required 200 year* to give the people the local re ductions to which they were entitled. "I call on Mr. Howell to show the order of the commission which saved tho 31.000,000 he had talked about. He can show none. "I ask Mr. Howell to show- wlrai ex cuse he has for saying that the rail road commission secured tha reduction In Interstate rates that was obtained about twelve months ago. T call his attention to the fact that In tils own paper In mentioning these reductions he has said: ‘Roads make concessions to Atlanta committee.' Again! In the same article his paper publishes: 'It was only after a hard' struggle • that Atlanta's committee was able secure from the railroad officials the reduction.' This wa* hla account of the reductions when the agreement to make them was reached. "How Inconsistent ta the position' _ Mr. Howell! In 'one breath he de dares that the railroad commission of Georgia obtained these Interstate re ducUons, and In the next breath declares that the Georgia railroad commission can do nothing toward rec tifying excessive Interstate rates. “I call upon you, Mr. Howell, lo de fend yqur claim that tlie.rallroad com mission secured the reduction to which I have referred. I call 1 upon you to explain your claim that the reductions amounted to a million dollars a year. I call upon , you to tell the people of Atlanta why you published at the time that the committee,representing the city of Atlanta, secured the reduction that the committee Secured them, and then, subsequently, you changed your post tlon and gave the credit to the rail road commission you were seeking defend. “The truth about It Is you eannot successfully defend the attitude of your allies on the railroad commission, nnd not being able to defend them you can not successfully defend yourself. Refers to Copied Editorial. "But I ask you, Mr. How-ell, to turn to your paper under date of Febru ary 16, 1906. There you have copied on your editorial page an editorial from The Macon Telegraph. You copy It without, censure. You give It In a sense your editorial approval. By copying It without criticism you have carried to the people of Georgia an unjust criticism upon the citizens of Atlanta. ■“That editorial charged Atlanta with seeking an undue advantage In freight rates over the other cities In Georgia. It charged that Atlanta was seeking the port rate reduction for Atlanta alone, and not. for Interior points In i eorgla. It charged that as aoon aa bn. Pop* Brown rendered his decision you meant by domesticating foreign corporations? 'Will you tell thl enc# what you meant when you said you w ere opposed to permitting foreign corporations to remove their cases to the United States court? I will await your discussion of this subject with great Interest, and 1 will, furthermore, be prepared, In my concluding remarks, to furnish jny own position with refer ence to It. "I have declared time and again that today an alliance exists between the leading attorneys and hired political agents of the big railroad systems In Gaorgta and the ring In charge of the Democratic etate machinery. “Let us be historical. Eight years ago a chairman of the state’ Demo cratlc Executive committee was chosen, nnd Hon. Fleming duBIgnon selected for the postllon. He was at torney for the Plant System and the Southern Express Company. Two year* later, Hon. E. T. Brown mads chairman. He was attorney for the Seaboard Atr Line railroad. Four years later, Hon. M. J. Yeomans was made chairman, and Hog. J. J. Spald ing vice chairman. Mr. Spalding was attorney for the Louisville and Nash vine railroad, and his firm was con stantly engaged In heavy litigation fo: other railroad companies. Mr. Yeo mans appointed Judge Hamilton Me IVhorter from the state at large i member of the state Democratic Ex ecutive committee. McWhorter and Supreme Bench, “The fibst startling evidence >f the Influence of the polltcal attorney came to the people of Georgia when it was ICarned that Governor Terrell lender cd a place on the supremo court bench to Judge Hamilton McWhorter. His position as political 'it.orney of the Southern Railroad Company Is too well understood to need discussion. For years he had not been practicing law, but had been practicing politic". Hla appointment count only hnve neon made for the purpose- of permitting him to show to the officers of the Southern railroad his Influence with the head of the Democratic party m Georgia. While this may have been- valuable for him, it I" also Important that the people of Georgia should un derstand this Influence. as well railroad officers. “Startred by the Influence of Judge Hamilton McWhorter with tha govern or, we look hack and find that u rail road attorney has been practically at the head of the slate Democratic Ex ecutive commutes ever since Govern or Candler was elected governor, and that Mr. Yeomans, two years ago, put the political agent of the Southern railroad, side by side with one of your railroad commissioners, ns memlier* of the executive committee from the state at large. “What business has a man who runs politics In the Interest of a great rail road company managing the affairs of the Democratic party? Tho Dome cratlc party Is supposed tu servo the great masses of the people. There Is conflict of Interests between the people and the railroad companies; on tho ono side, the railroad companies are seek Ing to tax the people with high frelgnt and passenger rates to the lull extent of their ability; on the other side, the people are demanding their Just lights. The power of the state alone can pro tect the people. The railroad com panies are certainly strong enough to take care of themselves. The whole organization of the Democratic party should be with the state officers In the struggle for the rights of the people. When you trans fer that organization to the control of the hired political agents, or the regu lar attorneys of the great railroad com panles, you give up that Instrument which alone can b$ used to protect the people from unjust taxation In high i bagwempils favoring thqnort rate* for Atlanta, and other points in Georgia as well, he was promptly displaced as a candidate. "You well know that the Atlanta freight bureau In Its fight for port rates took the position before the railroad commission that the reduction should be made to -Atlanta, and also to other mints In Georgia. You well know that :his attack upon Atlanta waa simply an Inexcusable effort to array other jarte of Oeorgla against me In my race for governor, upon the theory that " would give special privileges to Atlan ta and antagonize other cities In the state. You know that the attack upon the Atlanta freight bureau by Tho Ma con Telegraph was Inexcusable, and the fact is that few discriminations In 'yet you copied the editorial and never local ratee'are now complained of.' He put himself clearly In the attitude of not only Indorsing the railroad com mission, but Indorsing the existing lo cal rates. “In an editorial In The Atlanta Con stitution on August 3, 1(05, he elabor ately defended the railroad commission and termed my campaign ono of 'gen eral vinification of the officials of this state.' H* terms my critlesms as 'sin ister' and 'misrepresentations.' He then declared that 'back of It all there ts nothing more substantial than the desire bf other men Jo hold office.’ Ho closes hla editorial defending the rail road commission with the statement that 'the campaign of misrepresenta tion and vinification against them must and will prove on utter failure.' “Now, I Invite Mr. Clark Howell to meet the facts of unjust local freight ratee that I have brought to hla atten tion. I Invite hint to disease ray criticism of the railroad commission ers with reference to Interchangeable mileage and reduction of passenger rates. In what respect have 1 made a misstatement? In what respect am I Inaccurate? "Not long ago th* point waa made that the capitalization of the Central of Georgia railroad today waa exces sive, and that Its charges for carrying freight and passengers were sufficient ly high to enable It to earn dividends on an over-capitalisation. Mr. Howell promptly eprang Into the arena with his paper and declared that the capi talisation of the Central today was not aa great per mile as It was before the war. I pointed out to him In my olumbus speech that by the reports f the Central Itself 't* capitalisation before the war waa 310,000 per mile, and It ts now- 129,000. He has left hla Inaccurate statement tn defense of the road without explanation or apology. Challenge* a Reply. We are supposed to have come here tohlght for a debate. I show that he has defended the railroad continuation and haa defended the present local rale*. I call on him to discuss them In detail and show In what regard my erltlclame are Incorrect. Mark what I tell you. fellow cltiiens, he will not undertake to dlacuaa them; 4ie can not do It. lifted pour voice or your pen to defend the conduct of your fellow citizen* from the false charge. You actually circulated tho false charge through your paper. I want you to tell your fellow citizens tonight how you expect them to support you for governor with such a present rocorfl, during the pres ent year, as a part of your present can didacy. Support of Railroads. |l cun well understand how your course will give you the support of the officers of railroad* located In Atlanta, and of the political attorneys located In Atlanta, and of those whom they can control, hut there your support will stop. You are not meriting by your conduct the support of your fellow cltl- sens at large. "It Is true that In general language you say you aro In favor of justice to the people, hut when you come to ape- Iflc expressions you line yourself up m the railroad side, and you naturally and logically today are receiving their support. "In the editorials In your paper you have declared In favor of domesticat ing all the railroads doing business In this state. In your formal announce ment you said: i bellevo that they should be compelled to litigate In the courts of this state all questions aris ing between them and the people.' “Now, I ask you to tell your fellow citizens how you propose to domesti cate foreign railroad corporations, and how you propose to prevent suits against foreign corporations from be ing removed to the United State* court. When you inode this declaration surely you meant something, and knew what >ou were talking about. I Invite you In this joint discussion, face to face, speak out, so that our fellow cltlsens may know for what we really stand. freight and passenger rates. Criticizes Committee's Actlen, 'Let us turn to tho state Democratic Executive committee which met here the last day of April. Instead of wait ing until the open meeting and dis cussing all matters publicly in the in terests of the people, a caucus waa held to shape things In the dark. The three leading spirts of that caucus were Judge Hamilton McWhorter, po litical agent of the Southern railroad; Judge Enoch Callaway; a corporation attorney, at times representing clients xriltlcally as well as In the court iouse, and Hon. Warner Hill, your railroad commissioner. There you see the close Identification of your rail road commissioner and the railroad K lttlclans. There you see the si nce Inside the Democratic organiza tion controlling It. "Now, what relation do these men bear to the candidacy of Mr. Howoll? I do not know one who la falling to support him. True, Judge Hamilton McWhorter says that he Is for Colo nel Jim Smith, but may be that this Is the beat way to help Clark Howell. To be entirely candid, however, I be lleve there are others Judge McWhor ter would rather tee governor than Clark Howell. He naturally fears It Clark Howell Is governor, Albert How ell may supplant Hump McWhorter. “But let us come down to the fight over the Democratic executive commit tee of Fulton county. The merchants, manufacturers. and workingmen went to the court-house and elected there an executive committee, taken fresh from their ranks. They Intentionally put upon that committee a number friends of Mr. Clark Howell. These friends of Mr. Clark Howell were In duced to withdraw from the committee and Mr. Clark Howell threw all hla In fluence behind what la called th* Felder committee." Personnel of Committao. "Let us see who some of the men are upon this committee—Mr. Howell's friends, whom he wishes to manage the affairs of the Democratic party In Ful ton county. The chairman Is Mr. Tom Felijer. He la tho. attorney for Ar mour A Company> He Is attorney for Armour A Company In their refriger ating ear business, In the struggle that Is going on by the nation and state to pul an end to the exorbitant charges which they make for handling fruit In refrigerating cars. The vice chairman of this committee le Mr. Robert Alston, REMARKABLE DEMONSTRA- TION IN SHORTHAND. Convincing Argument That High Rate of Speed with New Meth- ods Discounts All Systems. In the assembly hall of Boswell 1 , Business College, at 191 PeaditreJ street, was given last night one of moat remarkable short hand demon stratlons ever witnessed In Atlantic it was attended by a large audlen,; disinterested people, many of v.:,om are highly educated and compe l stenographers, who have had yearn "5 experience In Graham, Pittman and Munson short hand. All were agreed that the results obtained In the one weeks study of Chanter Shorthand surpassed any record aver made In from four to six weeks' study In the « y ,™ tame with which they are acquainted Nek stddenta who had. never studied any system of shorthand took up this system Monday morning, and after five days' study, wrote from dictation ordl. nary business letters (practice matter) at the rate of more than 100 words per minute. Professor Spencer then wrote on the board any matter handed him from the audience, which they read without the slightest hesitation We claim that the system Is marvel- ous, and it is marvelous. We do not claim that students can make high- class stehographers in ten or fifteen days. That is Impossible. We do not claim that it can be mastered In less than one-half.the time required for Graham, Munson, or Pittman, written with a greater rate of speed and read three times as fast. We guarantee that all students who are prepared for the course will be able to write 100 words per minute and read their note* with perfeto ease In from six to twevle weeks' time. Stu dents who are not able fo do this can call at the office and have their money refunded. As to our ability and willing ness to,do this, we refer to Maddox- Rucker Banking Company. “I pointed out In my Madison speech. °, nB of ‘he attorneys for the Atlantic that the only way to prevent foreign corporations from removing their caeei to the United State* court was to re. quire them to organize local corpora tions In Georgia, and to transfer thetr property to these local corporations, and to operate their properties through their local corporations. "In your Tococa speech you said that had persistently taken the poaltion that I would take every railroad In have already called your alien- .Y forel « B c ‘*P' t *' out mon Mock. Thl* stock was tan or Philadelphia, via Savannah, local temporary hold-up of the rati tlon to the fact that the Atlanta freight reau and the chamber of commerce of the city, as a result of the fight they made and the negotiations they held with railroad officials. Induced a reduc tion of Interatata freight ratee over a year ago, which will save tha people of Georgia. It la hoped several hundred thousand dollars at year, the exact amount it Is Impossible to toll. Mr. Howell, jn hla earnest effort to bock up hla friend* on th* railroad commission, appointed by hi* friend. Governor Ter rell. has told the people of Oeorgta both In hla formal announcement, and tn Ma speech** all over the state, and In hla editorials, that the railroad com mission through .11* order* obtained this reduction of Interstate rate*. II* baa put th* figures showing the amount saved annually at from 3(00, too to 31,000.000, and he has sought to maks the people of the state feel sat- I repeal the hands of Its owners and force them to place the roads on the block and sell them out You declared, re ferring to me: 'He said he would not permit a road owned or operated by foreign capital to serve the people of Georgia. This 1a confiscation pure and simple.' Demands Hawaii's Authority, Now, Mr. Howell, I want you to show your authority for any such statement ever having been made by me. The real benefit to be derived from Joint discussions can come from putting propositions to each other and lading out the real truth. I say to you that 1 never took auch a position, and you are utterly inexcusable for charg ing me frith It. “But tu come back to what you said with reference to your own position. this audience what a Coast Line and the Southern Express Company. Upon this committee la found Mr. John D. Little, on* of th* attorneys of the Central railroad and one of the counsel In Georgia of the Louisville and Nashville railroad. “Upon the committee Is also found Mr. Albert Howell, one of the attor neys for the Southern railroad, the At lanta and West Point railroad, the Western Union Telegraph Company and th* Pullman Palace car Company, and th* attorney In Georgia (If not still, certainly last year) of the New York Mutual, New York Life and Equitable Life Assurance Companies. Also Mr. Hollins Randolph, attorney for the Seaboard Atr Line. Mr. How ell la trying to put Into authority this committee with a representative on it of nearly every big railroad corpora tion In the Mate. Now, I have not criticised any of theae gentlemen discourteously, but I have called attention to a condition that exists—the controlling presence and Influence of the railroad lawyers and hired politician* In the Demo cratic organisation In Georgia. . "And 1 have called upon th* people free the state from this Infiuinc*. They are active factors In that part of 2* **2° CI »‘ ,C Pf*? * n Oeorgla with which Mr. Howell Is allied. They are “ part of what may be properly called The Reigning Dynasty in Georgia,' or, In common Anglo-Saxon, The Con trolling Political Ring.' People Mu*t Take Control. “If the people of Georgia are to really take control of their own af fairs, If they ore to really obtain pro tection from exorbitant freight and mssenger rates, If we are to really have a government by the people anil not by the corporations, then the cor- 1 mratlons must be beaten by first de feating their agents who seek to con trol, and you must beat the political allies of their agents as well as the agents themselves. 'Ths danger from the control of the state by the railroad companies and their allied corporations Is not limited to the power which their agents and attorneys exercise Th t»lftlcal affairs. It culminates with the contribution of money to political campaigns. "I charge that-railroads In Oeorgla have sougbt to control the state sen ate nnd that money has been contribut ed to the campaigns of member* of the legislature and of those even higher In authority. "The old-time system of presenting matters to the legislature, when the general Counsel and the superintendent of the road would go to the capital nnd argue a question upon Its merit* before a committee and then go home, has passed away. In Its place the political attorney and subordinate agents, gath ered from different part* of the state, undertake, through political Influence, to prevent legislation which the cor porations oppose, and to pnss legisla tion which they desire. Political pull has (aken the place of an appeal to the real merits of questions being consid ered. Let the political attorney be backed by funds of the corporations to help elect or defeat a member and hl« power ta enormously Increased. Attacks Entire 8yst«m. I attack the entire system ns dan gerous and hurtful. I call for legisla tion which will make It a crime for any corporation or association to con tribute money to elections of member! of the legislature or state house of ficers. I believe that the entire use of money either to buy voter* or lo hire men at th* poll* should be for bidden by statute. I favor legislation which will limit the right of un em ployed attorney, or agent, to appear before a committee and m»ke an ar gument In public. I would make It a crime for them to undertake to con fer In private with legislators, and I would require every man who takes an employment to at once regfster the fact or hla employment with the sec retary of state. “I believe that every candidate for a state house office, or for the legisla ture, should bo-required to file, un der oath.' a statement of just what he spends In connection with his candi dacy, what he spends for It. ape where he get* the money from. "I am opposed to convention nomi nations. I favor not only a resolution to be passed at the next Democratic convention, requiring that future nomi nations shall be at the ballot box, hut I also favor legislation which will fl* the time for our primaries, and require that our nominations for legislators and state house officer* shall be at the ballot box. • , "Our state senate la composed of for ty-five men, twenty-three being a ma jority. Under our present system rotating senators, first letting county and then another tn the sena torial district, name the senator, ana under the further. »y*tem of requiring the other couatles of the *enotorial district to accept the selection of tn- oounty from which the senator 9 come. It is really only necessary ' r tha corporations and special!nteri\ to control twenty-three counties In tn •tat*. It give* them the power earn? to control the state senate and to him * any legislation to which they op poaad. Favor* an End to It. "Thl* la far from being government by the people, and I favor aril™ Continued on Pag* El*v«n. To Driv* Out Malaria And Build Up th* •y* 1 *'" Take the Old Standard. TASTELESS CHILL TONIC. T«® know what you are taking. Tne J mula Is plainly printed on erery showing It la •Imply Quinine and iro In a tasteless form. Tho Quinine out the malaria and the Iron build* p the Byitem. Sold by all deal** - * * years. Price 50 cents.