The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-04
NO EFFORT AT coNcEALMENT.
OWNERSHIP OF THE RAILROADS
WILL BE MADE KNOWN.

A Letter From Chairman TrRmmeil
20 President Conner Asking Him Ia
show Cause With Others Why the
Central, the Southern, the Macon
and Northern and the 6. :. and r.,
should Net Come Under Their
Rules Applicable to Different
Lines owned and Controlled by
the same Parties.
There Will be an interesting hearing in
atlanta before the Georgia railroad COM
mission April q. The commission. in max
ing W its tariffs, takes into considera-
ton the ownership Of lines. and If two
lines are controlled by the same COM
pany. though under a different manage
ment. for the purpose Of these tariffs they
are considered as one lire.
II appears that IL has .seen brought TO
the attention of the commission that the
Southern Railway Company controls the
Central, the Georgia Southern and Florida
and the Macon and Northern, while ali
of them have heretofore been practical
ly considered as different lines. The COM
mission is now undertaking to inquire
into their ownership, as will be apparen,
from the following letter addressed to
Georgia Railway Company, which was
received yesterday:
ONCE of the Railroad Commission OF
Georgia, State Capitol, Atlanta, April I,
lS96.-Mr. II. NJ. Conner, President Cen
trail Of Georgia Railway Company. sa-
vannah. Ga: Dear Sir-You are hereby
notified to show cause, if any you have.
on the 2lst day Of April, 1896. at the office
pf no raj ,e
in the city Of Atlanta, at 10 o'clock a. H..
why the following companies, the South
ern Railway Company the Central OF
Georgia Railway Company, the Georgia
Southern and Florida Railway Company
and the Macon and Northern Railroad
Company, should not be required to con-
form to rule one of the Rules Governing
the Transportation of Freight" adopted
by this commission, which is as follows:
All connecting railroads. which are
under management or control, by lease
ownership or otherwise, of one and the
same company shall, for purpose of trans
portatlons, in applying this tariff be con-
sidered as constituting but one and the
same road, and the rates shall be COM
puted as upon parts of one and the same
road unless otherwise specified" Yours
respectfully L. n. Trammell,
Chairman.
The fact that such summons had been
ISSUED TO the railroad lines mentioned was
stated yesterday in a dispatch from At
lanta to the Morning News
II was stated that an effort was being
MADE 10 conceal the identity of the owners
of the Macon and Northern but il is well
known that this is not the case The fact
that the Central has taken charge of il
was announced by circulars, and the deeds
making that property over to the Central
of Georgia Railway Company have been
recorded in every county through which
II runs from Bib to Clarke. II is one of
the lines of the system, and belongs to the
Central.
As to the owner of the Georgia Southern
and Florida, il has been announced and is
generally known that the majority of its
Irst mortgage bonds, and consequently the
majority of the stock as these bonds were
bought before the reorganization was COM
pleted, are the property of the Southern
railway Company. Through this owner
snip the 9; ): and +. is practically under
the control of the Southern.
In the case of the Central it is generally
supposed that the Southern is the owner
of all of the capital stock, which was
turned over to the majority stakeholder
under the reorganization plan Whether
the Southern is really the owner of this
majority stock or not. remains, however,
to be seem Railroad men here say they
do not know who Is the actual owner
of that stock. OF course, the owner of the
stock of corporation is considered the
owner OF the property, as II has the con-
troll Of the property as long as it's obiga-
lions are paid, no matter how heavily
mortgaged it may be.
With regard to the ownership of the
majority stock Justice Jackson in the cir
cult court decided that the Richmond
Terminal Company had the right to own
the majority stock of the Central, taking
into consideration the manner in which it
was bought. There is no apparent reason
why that decision should not apply equal
ly we'll to the Southern, if it be the owner
of the stock, as II is practically the sue
cessor of the Richmond Terminal Com
pany.
At any event the investigation before
the commission will be awaited with in
terest. The commission is working with
a view to enforcing one of its rules with
regard to tariffs. and it does not appear
from the circumstances mentioned that
any other questions are likely to be
brought up.