The Opelousas courier., 1899-03-04
More Railroad.

A controversy has been going on to
sometime past, through the Crowley
Signal, between Mr.. Thos. II. Lewis
and Clas. S. Fay, Asst. Gen. Freigh
Agent of the Southern Pacific Go. Al
the subject discussed is 0ne OF equa
interest to this community, We Tepub,
lish below Mr.. Lewis last letter:
CROWLEY, La, Feb. 81, 1899.
EDITOR SIGNAL: Mr.. Fay appears
again in your paper with a twc-columr
letter criticising the accuracy of my
statements, very conclusively, as he de.
sires the pE!ic to believe, but he at the
same time prudently gets out of the
range of a hot shot in reply by an
%nounclng that with that letter lie closes
the controversy. He should have acted
upon the advice OF Polon!us to LocItes
Beware of entrance to IL quarrel hu5 mn
Bear't that the opposer may beware of thcc,&~
Give every man thine car bnt ftW thy voice,
Take each mans censurc hat reserve thy
Judgment.
He says: "Having disposed of every
charge of alleged Discrimination made
by Mr.. Lewis this will close the cores
pondence SO far as | am c~oneefled."
l am not surprised that the freight
agent OF the Southern Pacific Co. should
want this controversy to stop after hav-
ing gotten the advantageas to the literal
accuracy Of some details, as to which he
may be correct and myself wrong and
| yet leave the merits OF tho great cause
of tho people VS.. the Southern Pacific
untouched. 10 demonstrate how COM
pletely i! am justified in the charge
against the company for making extor-
tomato and arbitrary freight charges,
| now do what | could easily have done
in the first place, give Mr.. Fay u few
facts, not based on hearsay, but upon
receipts given by Mr.. Il. NJ. Jones,
freight agent at this point, and which
have under my eyes as [ write this:
| will premise by saying that | only
called upon two OF the merchants of
Crowley for proofs, and have no doubt
weekly edition to tho exclusion OF
other matter. But to the proofs.
DIR. H0mere CIacherG on the nth Of
this month, received a lot of furniture
from Marietta, GA, weighing 800 pounds
on which he paid to the agent here
freight charges from Marietta to New
Orleans, 81 so, and from the latter point
to Crowley, $G19. Considering the
difference IN the haul, the Southern Pa
citic Company's charge is over four
times as much as that of the line that
carried the freight to New Orleans.
Again, | have before me ak receipts
for freight received at different times
and from different points by Messrs. j.
A. Sabatier & Bro, n for two boxes
of calicoes weighing GG0 pounds, and on
which they paid charges for the Lnuis-
willie and Nashvllih from Mobile 10 New
Orleans 80 cents, and the Southern Pa
citic $317. Another box OF c%aiicuus, al
so shipped from Mobile, weighing 1916,
on which the L. & N. charge was S201
and the Southern Pacific S6.43. Another
consignment from New York to Grow
ley. weighing 100 pounds, on which they
paid charges tn New Orleans 2G cents
and from that point 10 Crowley Si.G5.
Another consignment of two boxes OF
raIlcnes shipped from Mobile on which
the l.. & N. charges was S1.10, and the
Southern Pacific $50. Another bill, al
SO from Mobile, of 1l30 pounds in
weight, on which freight charges to
New Orleans were $2.04, and from that
point to Crowley $5.42. Another ship
ment of 60 boxes soap from st. Louis,
weighing 1850 pounds. on which was
paid freight to New Orleans $12.G3 ana
from that point to Crowley S12 ga.
But could multiply examples AL tini-
tuni, were it necessary to liofe thr OK
cessive and arbitrary freight charges
cxacted from this people, as to wl.icl, no
man except Mr.. Fay has ever attempted
to deny or excuse. ! think he should
recall his abrupt abandonment of the
controversy and give the public the
benefit OF some comment on the facts.
But after all. the dispute is not with
the officers of the company who ope-
ate its line here, with whom | have no
quarrel, and all Of whom are, so far as
know, gentlemen and uniformly cour-
III their treatment of the public.
The men who manage the affairs of this
great corporation are responsible and
Who in their dealings with the people
illustrate the saying that
corporations have no souls" | wish
Ilso to emphasize the fact that my share
n this controversy is taken solely with
view Of arousing public interest here
II the building of a competing road,
which the public of this parish and
own should promote by active and
material aid as an enterprise of para
Mount Importance to them.
THos. IL. LEWIS.