The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-01-13
That Commission Row.
Mr.. Thomas Has Yet Another
Communication to the
Public.

Railroad Commissioner Thomas
has yet another communication to the
public This time it is in regard to
the refusal of the majority of the
commission to allow him to print his
minority report. llere is what ne
says:
desire to state for the information
of the public that l put a minority
report in the hands Of the printer to
be published in the railroad commits
sioners' report along with that of the
majority of the board On last Mon
day when l came to the Office sent
for it to submit to Chairman Evans
and was very much surprised to find
that he had forbidden the minority
report being printed I then went
with Mr. Evans to the attorney gen.
erals Office where we made the fol-
lowing agreement That letter
written by Attorney General Barber
as to whether or not there was a
trade made at Charleston should be
eliminated. We agreed to substi
tute instead the protest which [ made
at Charleston against the trade. Then
Attorney General Barber w] to pre-
pare a paper to be signed by Mr..
Evans and myself, asking the legis-
lature to investigate the fertilizer
rate. Conforming to our agreement
to ask the Legislature to investigate
US published yesterday my protest
against excluding the minority re-
port to be laid on the desks of the
Legislators.
Yesterday the secretary, Col. Dun
can, asked Mr. Evans to do away
with all this agreement if I would
eliminate everything of personal
nature from nay minority report. Mr..
Evans told the secretary to help me
to prepare it and submit it to him
He left the Office and never returned
Chairman Evans says he would not
allow the minority report to be pub
lished because of the abuse OF the
other members of the board, which
| desired to have printed in the re
port.
deny that there is single word
of abuse in anything that / propose
to report. In the ports did not
propose to mention single name, but
to con6ne myself entirely to the re
cords of the Office
This is the most Objectionable part
of my report. which Commissioner
Evans construes. suppose, into per-
sonal abuse: "The blanket rate in
the sixth congressional district was
fixed without calling the board to-
gether as is custom and the law.
No blanketrate existed in thisterritory
before and no cause has been assigned
why this congressional district
should be made an exception The
rate fxed was purely arbitrary and
cannot be figured by any rule ever
adopted by the board Of commission,
ers (See Atlantic Coast Line joint
freight rates, effective Jan. 27, 1896;
also supplement effective Feb. I,
1896
I tried to eliminate from that
everything of personal nature aud
agreed to change that sentence to
read instead, 1.-The blanket rate in
the Pee Dee section is an arbitrary
rate, which cannot be figured by any
rule therefore, adopted by the board. :"
The majority of the board
have made a full showing OF
their side Of the question
at the expense of the State
and all that asked was
the poor privilege of allowing me to
submit minority repor, as | am in
structed to Go in general statutes,
section 1857 Surely Commissioner
Evans does not desire me to go be-
fore the Legislature as we agreed
without some printed statement Of
of my objecti, to the rate made
by the majority of the board.
If there is any abuse whatever in
the blanket rate for the Pee Dee sec.
ton am not at all responsible, be.
cause both the record and the rate
were made by Chairman Evans with
out consulting me and the question
for me is this "Shall l be silent ano
be made party to the making of al
unjust rate, or shall l do my duty al
the law requires me?' | prefer te
pursue the latter course. If 1t re
fleets on Chairman Evans at all an
very sorry for it and had no part II
making the record because | was no
consulted or informed of the meeting
at which it was done.
have done all that | possibly
could to prevent annoying the legis
lature with this matter, but it seem
to me that Chairman Evans demand
II