Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-09-23

pleased to term it, is the whole of tha
part OF the Seaboard system included
IN the States of South Carolina anS
Georgia.
This is position of distinguished
weakness which has no parallel among
the railway systems OF the United
States.
Mr. st. John states that
the Seaboard Air Line has had
persistently to fight efforts to create
physical pools of traffic, and to re
slst boycotts made against it.p
lie neglects to state that the Sea.
board g objections to physical pools OF
traffic are Of quite recent date. So
recently as the beginning of the move.
ment of the last cotton crop, he was a
party ny agreement to the physical
apportionment of that traffic. He
withdrew the Seaboard Air Line from
the Southern States Freight Associa.
non, and, consequently, from the
agreement for such apportionment, for
the sole alleged reason that the
Association had not elected perma.
nent board of arbitration, and this
occurred at the same time as. and in
direct connection with, the Seaboard a
appeal to arbitration upon their per.
centage of such apportionmenk and
when the Seaboard Air Line had no
other case awaiting arbitrators' de.
cision.
He neglects to state to you that the
chief and governing cause of the boy.
colt, so called, was the persistent, se.
crSt, and, therefore, unlawful manip.
ulaticn by his line of through rates
from the West by means of billing to
fictitious destinations, and the change
OF destin ations en- route, under which
his Company secretly Disseminated in
favor OF one set of shippers against all
others, and fraudulently deprived its
most friendly and important connec.
tlons of their just proportion of the
revenues ACQUIRING upon such traffic.
These frauds were proven, and the
Seaboard Air Line made restitution in
money to it's defrauded connections.
Mr. st. John 8 statement as to the
threatened danger to the States prop.
etty, the Western & Atlantic Railroad,
is scarcely worthy of a denial. The
unexpired term of the present lease is
sufficient safeguard for some time To
come, and with the continued owner.
ship by the Louisville & Nashville
Company in the lease of the Georgia
Railroads, no fear will be created with
you or with the people of Georgia that
the earning power and value of the
Western & Atlantic will fall 80 low
that the State authorities will be un.
able to amply protect the States prop
erty at the expiration of the leaoe.
l beg to assure your Honorable com.
mission that the Southern Railway
Company is not, and does not intend to
be, violator Of the laws Of Georgia
Any statement to that effect is entirely
gratuitous and untrue. 1t has ACQUIRED
no railroad in the State of Georgia
which 1T has not perfect right to CON
troll and operate under the laws OF your
State.
1t holds itself amenable to those laws.
and Is ready and willing at all times to
have it's acts submitted to and passed.
upon by the courts or other tribunals
of competentiurisdiction, and it asks
your Honorable Commission and the |
people OF Georgia not to accept the
sensational and untrustworthy state
ments of its traducers on the grave
question of whether the laws of the
State have or have not been violated.
1t has no desire to monopolize the
business of Georla, or as Mr., st. John
would have you believe, to oppress or
lnJure its competitors or any other
vested interest within or without the
State. Quite the contray, it recog.
mixes, to the fullest degree, that its
own success is dependent upon the
of all these interests and of
The communities which it serves.
If, as Mr.. st. John asks you to be.
ieye, the purpose of the Southern
Railway Company was to crush out
and injure the Seaboard Air Line, it
would not have surrendered voluntarily
IS it did the lease of the Northeastern
Railroad of Georgia, which tapped
most EFFECTIVELY the next to the largest
business center In the State of Georgia
reached by the Seaboard Air Line.
There is no place where 80 much injury
could have been inflicted upon the
5eaboard at 30 little cost.
The Southern Railway Company has
made no objections to competition
when conducted fairly and openly
upon business principles, and it has
never sought to suppress it.
Its relations to its competitors
throughout the southern territory to-
lay are abundant testimony upon this
point.
1t has done nothing in its history to
'ppress any interest, and l challenge
Mr.. st. John or anyone else to produce
my evidence Of an attempt or desire
lpon its part to do so. 1t has not
alSed the rates at any point, and it
las not attempted to control them:
md 1t Is impossible to conceive that
my acquisition or combination BY 1t
u lines in the south could be sufi.
iently strong to enable it to exercise
n absolute control over rates at any
oint. No combination can be large
nough in the United States to control
ates, and the railroad manager who
temps it or asserts it writes himself
fool. There can be no clearer proof
I what would be the futility of such
forts than the present rate situation
Il the south, when one small line 600 {
niles 10 length, from Portsmouth to ,
atlanta, destroys, as 1t is now doing, ,
he rate fabric from New England to
lew Orleans, and from the Ohio and :
Mississippi Rivers to Florida. II
The effort of the Southern Railway {
as been, not to control rates, but to
eep them uniform and reasonable and
ublic, and the testimony of substan.
ALLY every member of tho Southern |
tates Freight Association would be to I
his effect II such testimony should be
sked by your Comm ission. 1t has
ought stability and the stoppage OF
ecret "outting, and other illegitimate
iethods of operation. Its policy has
cen and is to build up, not to pull
own or destroy. 1t has improved
verv piece Of property which it con.
rolls within the State OF Georgia or
lsewhere, and has furnished improved ,
and accommodations for the ,
ublic without any increased charge.
Mr.. st. John complains that tho {