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THE COMMERCIAL arthall & Baird. Union City, Tenn FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1914. Entered at the port office at Union City, Ten ia secona-cuuu nuui hiuilci. Announcement. - For State Senator. ELKINS. We are authorised to announce Robt. A. Klkins. of Weakley County, m a candidate for re-election to the Senate of Tennessee from the counties of WeHkley. Obion and Lake, sub ject to the action of the Democratic party. For Representative. McOADK We are authorized to announce G. R. McDnde a candidate for rr -election a Kepre aentntive to the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, subject to the action of the Dem ocratic party. For Floatef. ' GRIFFIN. We are authoriised to announce Dr. J. F. GrifBn.of Tiptonville, aa a candidate for Floterial Representative for the counties of ' Dyer, Lake and Obion iu the General Assembly of the State of Teunessce, subject to the action of the Democratic party. .. COCHRAN We are authorized toannounce J. L. Cochran, of Obion County, as a candidnte for Floterial Representative for the counties of Dyer, Lake and Obion in the General Assembly of the State ot Tennessee, subject to the action of the Democratic party. The Railroads. v The Commercial believes that it is the function of the newspaper, concerning matters of a general public nature, like the judiciary, to separate the tares from the wheat. There is a good deal of prejudice existing between the railroad corporations and the people and it is not wholly on the side of the people. At the banquet the other night we had sev eral very able addresses by the officials of theN.,C.&St. L. Railway Company. One of these was by the president of the road, Mr, Peyton, Mr. Peyton is a la'te comer to Tennessee. We want to say that the speech be made impressed us very forcibly and very favorably. We have the utmost confidence in Mr. Pey ton's honesty and sincerity, and we be lieve be is a man of very high business and executive ability. There was an other speech by Mr. Cole, a man of very big brain, who was there obviously for the purpose of appearing in behalf of private corporations and whose irony was thinly veiled. He evidently made little effort to appear as a broadmioded, patriotic citizen. His speech bore the stamp of an advocate rather than one of a public assemblage. His golden rule seemed to have been made of alloy. We believe there has been a great deal of public clamor against the rail roads without good judgment. We be lieved then and do now that there was something more important than the passenger rate agitation. The fact is that the railroads were then and are now Carrying passengers for less than two cents a mile. This of course means an average and includes the summer tourist rates and special trips. The average rate was much less than two cents a mile. The railroads are now asking for an increase in freight rates, mak ing the point that all other com modities have advanced in price and that the cost ot maintenance an operation of the roads has vey materially in creased. Their position seems very tenable, but we do mean to say that there ia an unwarranted discrimination in freight rates. , The railroad systems have catered to the largo terminal points to the end that the tariff is very much less than it is to shorter hauls on the same lines. They are giving the long distance shippers a cheaper rate than to local shippers on the same line. This of course refers to car lots, not to mixed cars. The intermediate points are there fore caused to suffer in competition with terminal points. Small towns are prac tically prohibited from being manufac turing towns in competition with termi nal points, because the railroads have discriminated in freight rates in favor 6f the latter. There is no excuse for this except coast and river competition, and the railftads have already absorbed the principal coast and lake lines. At the same time the Interstate Commis sion should not allow this excuse tp stand,' as it is unfair and unjust to the intermediate station points. The rail roads may be entitled to an increase in freight rates, but they are not justified in the existing schedule of discriminative rates nd not entitled to any increase in the rate, if at all, except to through or terminal points. ' This is an evil that railroad companies will not admit.' The railroads of the country are them selves responsible for the rigid laws made to regulate their business. If they .had always been fair and honest this would not have taken place. When the rail roads were first built Stock was sold to tha uublic. and many a widow, as ref erence was made tho other night, lost her holdings entirely when a reorganiza lion took place and the big fish eat the little ones. - Now the laws prohibit cor porations from doing this, but the laws became nect-asary to stqp it. There are many honest railroad mou but we refer to corporations. As stated in the outset, we believe ijfjt. Peyton to be an honest man, and if be had bis way there would be an en tirely different state of affairs in tne railroad world. Mr. Peyton is a Vir ginian of the old school and we have great confidence in him. The Commercial has no prejudice against a corporation simply as a cor poration. When a corporation serves the purpose of co-operation in business it is an advantage to the public, but when it crushes an, independent dealer unfairly it ia amenable to law and should be held responsible like the or dinary law breaker. Individual mem bers of a corporation should be made to respect 'the law as ordinary citizens are made to respect it, and if guilty of vio lation they should be punished. Com petition will always exist notwithstand ing corporations. It will show in some manner if not fn rates. Every firm or corporation has an ambition to excel and that of itself will keep alive the spirit of competition. The government belongs to the people and they and .not corporations will eventually control. Therefore only those corporations can stand which are iotended to be just and fair to the public. Governor Hooper Asks Correction. Editor of The Commercial, Union City, Tenn. Dear sir: My attention has been called to an editorial in your issue of last week, in which you do Gov ernor Hooper a gross injustice. It is not Governor Hooper's practice to un dertake to correct all the mis-infoima-tion that is published about him and his administration. He feels in this case, however, that your mistake must have hfifln unintentional and that you will cheerfully permit its correction in your columns. He has tnereiore requesieu me, as bis private secretary, to make the correction. In your editorial you use the following language: " "Governor Hooner has Dosed for some time as the only honest advocate of law enforceraentamong tue men who aspired to be Governor of Tennessee and thou sand of voters had come to look upon him as the only safe man with whom to trust the cause of Prohibition, but after a fie-lit for veara and the failure of law enforcement in Nashville he censures the only man on the bench, Judge Neil, who has had the courage to do his duty in the name of the law. This censure charged to Judge Neil for being oppres sive to negro bootleggers, isn't it time to see the Governor's motives as tbey really are. Judge Neil has been making a vigorous fight to close the saloons in Nashville and to prohibit the sale of in toxicants in that city, and the most sur prising thing of all is that he encounters the hostility of Governor Hooper in this work. The Governor says that Judge Neil has been unduly rigid with certain negroes violating the liquor laws, and Judge Neil replies that Governor Hoop er is altogether mistaken. "What is the inference? Suppose, as Governor, McMillin andCarmack bad done the same thing, what would have been the inference?" Thia entire statement is without foun dation. , Governor Hooperhas never had any controversy with Judge Neil in regard to the Judge's recent efforts to enforce the liquor laws, He has never censured him for being oppressive to negro bootleggers. He has never said that Judge Neil has been unduly rigid with certain negroes violating the liquor laws. All these assertions relate to something that has never occurred. Such a misstatement is peculiarly un just to Governor Hooper in view of his record on this question of the enforce ment of the liquor laws, lie has never extended clemency to any man, white or black, in Nashville convictod of vio lating the liquor laws. In three years of his incumbeucy, he has extended rdAmnncv to onlv eieht men and women convicted of liquor violations, and in part of these cases las action was a commutation or conditional pardon. In Patterson s four years he pardoned zvi bootleggers. In McMillin's four years he pardoned 44 bootleggers. Tha onlv time Governor Hooper ever criticised Judge Neil in connection with the liquor laws was two years ago, when, to au open letter, he called Judge Neil's attention to the ODen violation of the law and proffered to furnish his court and grand jury with the evidence oi it. T ralrn it that vou fell into error through mis-interpretation of what Gov ernor Hooper had to say about the case of John Williams, colored, whose sen ton of death was commuted to life imnj-isonment. In that statement he called attention to the fact that Wil liams, at the time of his crime, was beastly drunk on whiskey bought on SnnHaw in saloons in Nashville, allowed to operate illegally by connivance oi public officials. s Very truly yours, Robt.'S. Hknky, Secretary. ' Nashville, Mar. 7. We publish above letter this week from Mr. Henry, private, secretary to Gov ernor Hooper, relative to some remarks in The Commercial on the 6th inst. con cerning Governor Hooper's criticism of Judge Neil of the Criminal Court of Davidson County. We admit that we were not accurate aa to facts of the case. The paragraph in error was as follows: "The Governor says that Judge Neil has been unduly rigid with certain ne groes violating tho liquor laws, and Judge.Neil replies that Governor Hoop er is altogether mistaken." Now the trouble in question really was the charge made by Governor Hoop er that Judge Neil had "railroaded" Henry Davis, alias John Williams, to the electric chair and that Williams was "beastly drunk" at the time of the homicide, and this was Governor Hoop er's reason for commuting him to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court passed upon the facts of the case and affirmed it. If the evidence showed that Davis was beastly drunk the court would bave reversed the case. The de fense claimed that the negro was not drunk and the negro claimed he was sober. Therefore his crime was without any mitigation whatever. We under stand there was not a scintilla of evi dence to support the Governor's charge. The prisoner appealed for mercy and this led Judge Neil to ask the Governor to commute him.' Governor Hooper then seized upon the case to say mean things of Judge Neil and inflame an ignorant race of people, against the courts of the State, all for political pur poses. He charged that there was a "svstem" of "railroading" all over the State, which is a wicked slander of the judiciary of .Tennessee, and made the statement to win the favor of negro voters. It is easy to see that politics was at the bottom of it. Last fall when Judge Neil was doing everything in bis power to break up lawlessness in Nashville (single banded), and while he was being threatened on every side, Governor Hooper, at Colum bus, Ohio, stigmatized it as a spasm of virtue." This was not true, as every reader of the Nashville papers knows, and it was done at a time when Judge Neil needed the help of the people whom Governor Hooper tried to turn against him. Now. the fact of the business is that we erred only in a technical way. The truth is that Governor Hooper has been fiehting Judge Neil, the only man in Tennessee who has really tried to en force the liquor laws up to the present time. Governor Hooper had been cred ited with sincerity in his professions for the cause of State-wide prohibition even by his political enemies. But his attack on Judge Neil has unsettled that posi tion and placed the Governor where he really belongs. The attack on Judge Neil and the judiciary is a bid for the negro vote and sharp play at the political game. If his independent friends can see it in any other light it is beyond us. Everybody knows beyond a doubt that Judge Neil is making an effort to close all the drinking "places in Nashville. The last raid be caused to be made was on Lui- gart's places, and be told the Sheriff that he would close them if he had to lock the doors. There is no question about what Judge Nail is doing, and there is no question that bis only motive is to respect his oath in the enforcement of the law. Now we are not asking that the inde pendents follow a false "cry of harmony. We are not asking them to go blindly to a baiter. But should there be a Democratic candidate who is also a known State-wider with a State-wide platform, then we don'tknow whatkind of a Democrat he is who would support Governor Hooper under the circum stances. - - : - . Letter from Mr. Waller. Messrs. Marshall & Baird, Editors Commercial, Union City, Tenn. Gen tlemen: My attention has been called to an editorial in this week's issue of your paper, in which appears the fol lowing: "Wb understand, however, that Mr. WnlW. iThief Counsel of the Legal De partment, admits that the opening lead ing to the siding from jNiies' arug store tnlenhnns office comer, to all practical purposes, has been dedi cated as a street, it nas nereioiure uecu claimed by some of the officials that this is not a street." This is a miss-quotation, or at least a misunderstanding of what occurred be fore the Railroad Commission. . What happened was this: There was some statement made that the street was opened across the railroad company's property to the depot. I remarked that If this were true, it was only being used by permission of the company, and if such use had amounted to a dedication by the company of this property as a street tho company certainly had made a mistake in doing so. Thereupon Mr. Hunter McDonald, Chief Engineer, explained that it bad not been dedi cated to the public but the company bad for a time permitted its use in order that its patrons might reach tha station from that side ot the depot. I did not make any admission that there had been any dedication by the railroad company of the property as a street. On the contrary, it had been my understand ing all along that no such dedication had been made. There had been simply a permissive use of the property as an approach to the depot for a time, and as explained by the Chief Engineer this hud not been done with the idea of ded icating that portion of the property for a public ttreet. I make this explanation so that you and the readers of your paper may not ba misled as to my position in this mat ter. Yours truly, Clauds Walles, General Counsel. Nashville, Tenn., Mar. 14, 1914. . Tho above letter from Mr. Claude Waller, General Counsel of the N., C. & St. L. Railway Co., in regard to a statement in this paper last week, con tains the exact import of bis remarks in the matter. 'At the same time we would like to observe that what The Commercial was trying to convey waa the idea that Mr. Waller's statement was practically an admission that the use of this opening was equivalent or amounted to the same thing as a dedi cation. We did not mean to say that the railroad company had at any time formally or otherwise dedicated the street. Thia is what we understood from the gentlemen who went to Nashville to confer in the matter. Now, the fact of the matter, notwithstanding Mr. Mc Donald savs that the company bad for a time permitted its use in order that its patrons might reach the station from that side of the depot, this opening has been used continuously as a walk way for many years, even before'Mr. Gibbs' leased the land to the railroad company. The writer remembers walk ing through there forty-five years ago on a walk, we take it, provided by the city.' ' , - . Congressional Extravagance. .The attention of Congress has again been called to what is known as author ized extravagance in the appropriation of automobiles for tha use of public of ficials, or an annual appropriation for that purpose. Additional appropriations of this nature were made a few days ago. This is wrong and the people, should de mand a halt. It is remembered that Congressman Sims opposed an annual appropriation of $12,000 for automo biles for the use of, the President and also that Congressman Sims ia a man of very conscientious scruples along that line. He is one real, honest Democrat in Congress and will always be found doing his duty regardless of influence. The fact is that Congressmen are guilty of personal extravagance of an unwar ranted nature. They get mileage of 20 cents per mile and stationery and abuse the franking privilege and then a salary above it all that is compensation enough alone. This mileage, if allowed at all, should be for actual expenses of travel.' But we deny the justice of allowing it at all. The clerk hire ia $150 per mopth and an additional month every year ia voted to the clerks. Some of the Con gressmen and Senators employ a stenog rapher at a small salary and hold back part of this fund. You see, then, what sort of luxury the officials in Congress and in the Executive Departments get at the expense of the people. This, however, is only the beginning of extravagance and abuse of office. It permeates all branches of fcovemmenl, and to our minds it is one of the weak points, so far, in the present Adminis tration, The Administration is trying to cure an evil, and that evil is the failure of wealth iu bearing its part of the bur dens of taxation. , Specifically corpora tions and individuals have been dodging the personal property tax until it baa become a joke. That is what brought about the income tax law 1to cure the evil. It was brought about to equalize taxation, but we deny the right of a member of Congress or any other mem ber of the official family to indulge in extravagance at the expense of the tax oaver. even 'at the expense of the in come taxes. The income tax is just, but it is not justice to ask any private fitizen to contribute to official extrava gance, and if President Wilson doesn't begin soon to make some reformB along these lines we shall bold that bis Ad ministration is not consistent with Demo cratic pledges and with the progressive ideas of Eovernment. Congressmen did enough when they raised their own salaries from $5,000 to $7,500 a year. They should have no more, whether it be in mileage, stationery or what not, and this wholesale abuse of Congres sional power in the purchase of private automobiles Bbould call for a ringing protest from the people who pay for them. V J. C. BURDSCH Wholesale and Retail Reelfoot Lake and ; Mississippi River FisK Game ' ' Oysters in Season. , New location, East Main Street Ine 183. UNION CITY, TENN Buy your Seed Potatoes Early and avoid the rise. A. J. Rainey's Veekly Price List Subject to change without notice. Seed Potatoes and Onion Sets. Early Triumph Seed Potatoes, per bu $1.15 Red River Early Ohio Seed Potatoes, per bu. ...... 1.35 Irish Cobbler Seed Potatoes, per bu. . ...J.. 1.35 Early Rose Seed Potatoes, per bu..- 1.20 Early Burbank Seed Potatoes, per bu. 1 -20 Red Onion Sets, per gallon 35c Yellow Onion Sets, per gallon White Onion Sets, per gallon We have all kinds of bulk Mustard, and Tomato seed, and ' Yours for A. J. RAIN EY frsiWfei :;::;:: :::::: HAVE YOU TRIED CLP ) Z REAM FLOUR Ask Your Grocer for it NONE BETTER DehnHelker lilling Go. Ask us for prices when selling your grain. i P. ' :;:: w:::::::....... C. A. DAVIS, Union City. Phone 8. DAVIS K REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE List Your Farm with Us To-Day We Will Make a Quick Sale for You. We have several pf Obion County's best Farms listed with us now. For all particulars and terms, write or phone. DAIS &, SUSSELI Nailling Building, Telephone 261 UNION CITY, TENN. $1 Pays for The Our Seed Potatoes and Onion Sets are the best of Qyality - 1 :- .. .1. 35c 4Qc Peas, Beans, Radish, Lettuce, all kinds of other Garden Seed. business, o ft V P. J. M. RUSSELL. Troy. Phone 58. USSELL Commercial 1 Year