The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05
GETTING Up STATISTICS.
The Board Of Trade at Work on the
Subject Of DiiieTentialS.

Subject Of DilieTentialS.
The Argument to Be Submitted In
Manuscript to the Board of Arbitra-
ton of the Railway and Steamship
Association-The Railroads to Be
Allowed to Prepare Rebuttal Argu-
ments Before the Question VIII Be
Passed Upon by the Board-This
viii Consume Valuable Time-The
Charleston and Savannah Commit
tees to Confer.
President Purse Of the board Of trade
and the committees of the cotton ex-
change and the board Of trade appointed
for the purpose are hard at work gather
ing information to be incorporated in the
argument to be submitted by them, in
common with a similar argument from
the commercial bodies of Charleston, to
the board Of arbitration of the Southern
Railway and Steamship Association.
II Is expected that the arguments will
be in readiness TO be submitted by the
latter part of next week. 1t has now
been definitely ascertained that the board
of arbitration will hear no oral arguments
from any source upon the subject, and
that all argument must be submitted to
it in manuscript. There is no discrimina-
ton in this against the appeals of the Sa-
vannah and Charleston commercial bod
les, as Capt. Purse learned in an interview
which he had last week with Col John
! Screven, one of the three members of the
board of arbitration.
ONLY WRITTEN ARGUMENTS RECEIVED.
Col. Screven informed Capt. Purse that
it was the invariable rule of the board to
accept only written arguments, it having
| been found necessary to adopt this rule
| for the purpose of better enabling the
board to pass impartlally upon all mat
tiers submitted to it.
After the Savannah and Charleston
I commercial bodies have submitted their
arguments the latter will be printed and
| copies sent to the traffic managers of all
the railroads Interested, in order to allow
| Jhem 10 prepare rebuttal arguments upon
their side of the question. When the
| latter have been received, the board will
| proceed 10 the consideration of the ques-
| tions involved, and their decision rem
| dered according to the merits of the case
in their Judgment. II will thus be seen
that it will require some time before a
| decision can be arrived at.
| CAPT. PURSE ON THE SITUATION.
OdpG. L uISb WTOJ6 1 res. j. AOQer
! Smyth of the Charleston Cotton Exchange
last week, acquainting him with the sit
uation here The following is the sub
stance of Capt. Purses letter:
In reply TO your esteemed and valued favor
| of Aug LIST previously acknowledged 1 beg
! to say that had long and very satisfactory
| Talk with Col John Screyen, one of the arbi-
! tration committee to which our protest
has been referred, and am satisfied
! that the refusal to hear oral
! arguments is in Wit
| ing practice Of that committee, which re
| Qutre that all argument in any case submit
ted to them shall be written. There
| fore, nothing can be accomplished by
| your or my personal presence at the
| the meeting OF the committee to do mission
airy work. There would be no one TO exercise
! our talents upon, as the whole meeting would
| be the three committee men, and they IN
| close communion.
Upon our additional protest, therefore, we
must exhaust our energies in the sublime ef-
| fort to wrest our rights from spoiation and
! unrighteOus combination. We are hard at
work gathering facts for protest and may
some day ask your committee to come over
! for conference or run you down with our
| presence in your beautiful city"
WILL TAKE A LONG TIME.
The question Of the differential is Of ex-
IRENE Importance to the ports of the
South Atlantic. Under the mode of pro
cedure DESIGNATED by Col. Screven it
Will necessarily require a considera BILE
length of time before the question is
ready for final adjudication by the board
of arbitration. The busy season Is
fast approaching and the rail
roads will soon be making
contracts for hauling the fail
business The fact OF the existence of
such contracts is very likely to be used as
an argument by the railroads against any
change in the differential. The differen-
tial does not affect cotton alone, but all
classes of freight, and unless restored to
the former figure, is likely to be very dis
astrous to the ports of Atlanta and
! Charleston.
The transportation committee of the
board of trade has charge of the work of
gathering statistics here in support of
Savannah's claim. The committee is as
follows: w, b. Lane, chairman; J. p.
Williams, w. B. Stillwell, Herman Myers,
A. B. Moore, T. B. Harriss and w. D.
Champion.
AS Capt, Purse suggests in his letter to
President Smyth, the chief hope of the
two cities in carrying their points rests
with the position which the railroads
centering at the two ports may take upon
! the appeal, and the arguments which it is
| in their power to make in its favor.
| The towns of Houston and Galveston,
| Tex, have question of differentials be-
| tween them before the state railroad COM
mission. Houston wants the dinerential
retained and Galveston wants it removed
| Houston is now rival cotton market
with Galveston.
FVT - ~