Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-01
AMONG THE RAILROADS.
ARRANGING FOR THE OPENING
OF THE MELON SEASON.

f The Railroad AOmlnlSs IOn 20 Araut a
Hearing on tho Rate QaestIon--The
Trouble Among the East Tennessee,
Virginia ard Georgia Employes-New
Lines Projected in Georgia and
Florida.
TWenty-One thousand dollars was sub
scribed i'm SummerVlle and TriOn Tues
day for the Rome and Chattanooga rail-
road.
The Georgia Pacific is having 80 new
freight and fiat cars bulls AT Scranton,
Pa. They Will be delivered july l. The
road has ordered two new engines. The
double daily trains To New Orleans will
90 on sunday
On May the East Tennessee railroad
Will put on summer excursion rates to
Atlanta and possibly other large cities.
/ A ticket for 4 cents mile round trip,
! good for > days, will he sold. A ticket at
3 cents a mile round trip will be sold to
| parties who desire to visit watering
1 places. These tickets will be sold on Sat
urdays and viii be good until Mondays.
/ A meeting of the stockholders of the
! Santa Fe and st. Johns River railroad
! company was held at Lake Butler, Brad
/ ford county, on April %, for the purpose
/ Of electing a board of directors in ac-
cordance with the charter, the requisite
amount of stock having been subscribed.
/ The following were elected directors: g.
~ Milestone, W. O. 1isOn, W. II. Ed
wards, j. J., Davis and r. G. Hill. The
board Of directors then held a session for
its own organization, resulting in the
election of q. n. Milestone, Presi-
dent; 4. G. Hin, Vice
urer; W. II. Edwards, Superintendent;
and j. l.. Davis, Secretary. 1t was re-
solved to proceed without DELAY to pro-
/ cure the right of way for the road, looking
to its early location. TO defray the cost
Of surveying and locating the road, as
well as incidental expenses, an assess
ment of per cent. was levied upon the
! present stock, and the stockholders TO be
notified by the Secretary to pay the same
to the Treasurer within thirty days from
the date of this meeting. The next meet
ing was appointed to be held at ProVi-
dence on Monday, June /, next.
The Atlanta Constitution says that 800
men have already lost employment on ac-
count of the complications over the re-
ownership Of the Georgia division of the
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
railroad. Many of these men were at the
citizens meeting last Monday, when such
a powerful protest was made against the
present effort TO dismember this great rail
road system. 1t was stated then that
/ there would necessarily be more dis
charges If the operation Of the road, as
| part Of a great system, was nterfer0d
with. 1t is well known that the Georgia
division does not pay its running expenses
a great part of the year, and is supported
by the other parts Of the sys-
TEN. In the present state Of un-
| certainty the management cannot
afford to sustain the Georgia division as
ii would if it had been operated without
interruption as part of the system. Con-
sequently the road is being crippled more
! and more every day. In addition to the
300 men already discharged there will be
lO0 men hitherto employed on the Georgia
division, who will this morning lose their
positions. The discharged employees are
employed on construction and mainte-
nance work, and some of them are train
hands. Further discharges would not be
surprising.
Gen. A. r. LawtOn, attorney for the
Central railroad, with Traffic Manager
Shellman, returned from Atlanta yester-
day, where they went on Tuesday to at
tend meeting of the Railroad Commits
sion, called to consider the complaint of
Hit IL Co., OF Americas, VS.. Central Rail
road and Banking Company, on account
OF transfer charge on about 1000 bales of
cotton shipped from Americas to Savan-
nah for export. The claim amounts to
about $500. There was a full board pres
ent. The position assumed by the road
was that the commission had not
jurisdiction in the case, as the
shipment was a through shipment be-
ing marked on the bill of fading "fOr
export" The claimants argued that the
commission did have jurisdiction, and
claimed that the charge was an unjust
discrimination in that the road made no
charge for like service on cotton shipped
from stations on the Atlanta division. The
road claimed, in justification Of this act,
that competition with the East Tennes-
see at stations opposite their own caused
them TO do so. The case was very ably
and forcibly argued by attorneys on both
sides. The Commissioners are consider,
ing the matter, but have not rendered a
decision.
The Atlanta Constitution pictures sad
condition of things IN the East Tennessee
Virginia and Georgia railroad shops IL
Atlanta. Where 800 mechanics were EN-.
ployed ten days ago. % are not now al
work. A leading official is quoted rs say.
ing: "The road is going 10 ruin. We can
not Keep men on uncertainty. People arc
afraid to ship by our line, and those who
owe us are afraid to pay us. The bust
ness of the road has been badly affected
and the thing is in such a muddie that
we have to cut down. We must sus-
pend the men because to keep them
would be worse than to suspend
thent.Y some OF the men are very much
distressed. They have been told that il
the cloud blows away they will be rein.
stated, but they don't know what to do
Some have already lett the city. These
men all get good wages. varying from
81 % per day to $40 per month. They
are such men as city needs. A great
many Of them have homes and families
send their children TO school and live
comfortably. They report that this is a
very bad season at which to be thrown
out of work, as the summer suspensions
Will soon be made and it will be difficult
TO get in again. The men feel
very bitter over the matter and
it is probable that they will
meet and take some organized action.
The suspension Of the men is a very seri-
Gus thing 10 the city. Every month the
road pays out in wages there $4,000.
THE RATE QUESTION.
The Railroad Commission has issued
the following card and requests its publ
cation as far as possible, so that all in.
torested may receive due notice:
OFFICE OF THE RAILROAD COMMITS
SION, ATLANTA. GA, April 29.-While
engaged ia considering the application of
the railroad companies of the State for
an increase Of rates on classes G. y and
+, the commission received the following
communication from the Superintendent
lao a. l. D. ID.