Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-20
The Railroad Commission and the
Naval Stores Industry.

Naval stores INDUSTRY.
some of the naval stores producers are
Of the opinion, it seems, that the Railroad
Commission is, in some respects, hurtful
IN their Industry. As some legislation
respecting the commission is expected by
the next LEGISLATURE would be well to
have very full and frank understanding
of an the points wherein the commission
fails 10 serve the best interests Of the peO-
ple. The Legislature will not lie able to
act intelligently without it has all the
facts before it. The commission itself, 1t
appears from its last report, does not hold
that il is an absolutely perfect institution,
and suggests certain refOrmatOry legisla-
ton.
With respect to naval stores, 1t seems
/ that the commission interferes with the
transportation Of low grade rOsin TO mar
| ket. In fact, it is found impossible, if re-
ports are to be relied upon, to market this
| class Of rosin at all under the existence Of
| the low prices for the article and the rul-
| ings Of the commission.
! one Of the largest naval producers IN
| the State is Mr.. d. B. Paxton. His farm
/ is yerv extensive and is skillfully man.
/ AGED. 1t extends about ten miles along
| the OchIOckonee river, and is nearly three
miles deep. To a correspondent Of the
| Townsville Enterprise, Mr.. Paxton, a
/ few davs ago. gave some interesting in
| formation about Il naval stores business.
| The following Is an extract from the cor
respondents letter
Before the days Of the Railroad Com
/ mission farm as well equipped, ecOnomI-
| caIIv and Systematically managed as Mr.
! PaxtOn's. would have paid handsomely.
/ But the ruinOus policy OF the Railroad
] Commissioners has almost completely
| paraIyZed this industry and caused many
/ interested in It to lose thousands OF dOl-
| lars. OF course other circumstances were
/ the urinary cause Of these disasters, but
| if the railroads had not been handicapped
/ by the Commissioners. but had been per-
I mitted to adjust their rates to the eXigen-
/ cies Of the business in this section, many
would have been able to tide over the
| ssbard tines wave that is sweeping over
! the country at present, and they would
| have made some money Where they are
/ now losing thousands.
This not only affects the present. but the
future of naval stores. thousands OF
| acres along the line Of the Savannah,
/ Florida and Western Railway that might
have paid very well for thirty or forty
years TO come. have been and are con-
/ tinually being turned loose to the raYages
/ Of the flames, just because the lust and
| reasonable rates" established by the
| Commissioners to prevent unjust dis
/ elimination, ETC., have proven to the naval
| stores men the worst kind Of discrimina-
/ ton against their business, and have we'll
nigh ruined an industry that might have
/ been a considerable source of revenue TO
| Southern Georgia for number OF years.
If they are any doubling ThOmases as
| to these statements they can be thoroughly
| convinced of the naked and unwhOlesOme
truth of what we say, by conversation
with Mr.. Paxton and other prominent
naval stores producers.
The purpose of creating the Railroad
Commission was to prevent the railroads
from damaging any of the industries OF
the State by unjust determinations. The
naval stores industry is one Of the most
important in the State. If it is being
damaged by the Commission, as claimed,
it is certainly time that the law under
which the Commission acts was mOdi-
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