The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-30
AND GAVE HIS REASONS
SIMILAR CAUSES HERE AND IN
VIRGINIA.
THESE COURTS CAN SETTLE THE NATTER
Holding That Dady ano Ryan Were in the Fight
Together the Judge Said These Were
the Tribunals 10 Resort To
in the Matter,

Macon. ia. Jan. 21.-Judge Speer this
morning III the case Of DAILY against tha
Georgia and Alabama Railway refused
the injunction sought 70 prevent the cen
solidation OF the Seaboard Air Line sys-
TEN.
lie referred 10 the fact that causes
substantially similar were pending in the
Federal Jurisdictions OF Virginia and
North Carolina, holding that the court
which first took cognizance OF the case
should carry II to its termination.
Holding that the plaintiffs were pr5vies
with 1tyan in his suits III the iurisdic-
tons referred To. he held that those
tribunals We're the proper ones for him
10 resort "a. the same ISSUES being IN
volyed. He further held that only a ma
jority vote OF stockholders was neces-
sary for such consolidation iii Georgia
and that it WAS not properly maintain
able that because. the defendant John
Shelton Williams occupied the position
Of Il member Of the voting trust, Presi-
dent Of the Georgia and Alabama and
of the Florida Ccntrnl and Peninsular
that merger or consolidation brought
about through his instrumentaEty should
be enjoined.
Mr.. Morris Brandon. OF counsel for
the plaintiffs. says:
The only way in which the consoli-
dation can be carried out IL by the
method pointed out in the bill, and should
the different companies attempt TO merge
4 final hearing will be had on the pres
ent bill and the plaintiffs viii then take
an appeal to the Circuit Court of APP
peals.'
In hts decision Judge Speer said the
grave>t consequences lax resulted and
may result, involving enormous loss
where courts and judges OF concurrent
jurisdiction ignore the s~alutary princi-
pies of comfy, bring about a conflict
of authority, pass conflicting orders, rem
der conflicting decisions on the same
facts and in the same controversy, pro-
ducing endless confusion and distrriSt III
the administrator OF the law and often
rewarding parties who are s~tubbornly
~litigous who are endowed with greater
resources for litigation and who not IN
frequently seek TO use the courts as
pawns in the game they play OF the
gigantic chess board marked by the
! transportation ines OF the country.
He further decided that no importance
is to be attached to the fact that at the
present moment there was no physical
connection H+IWttll TIE 10 EId ALld -hiA
hanna and the Stnboard. that they wore
separated by less than a dozen miles and
that the Intervening track was now he
inc laid. An interesting part or the de-
cision is that which bears upon the com
p~etitiva character Of the two roads. Irac-
ing their general trend and calling atten-
ton to the fact that after leaving Sa-
yannah they are in no wise c~onnected
save through the intermediary or one or
two shallow rivers on which small steam
boats occasionally ply and that interven-
ing the two lines are powerful ompeu
tive systems. he said:
at is not difficult To perceive that the
contemplated system Of the Seaboard
Air Line instead OF tending 10 defeat
competition must inevitably tend to pre-
serve it. \ new system viii contribute
to the transportation service of the copm-
try now so admirably served by the lines
there located. Surely it needs no argu'
ment TO Justify the statement
that consolidation of the great
railroad systems serving tho south
ern States will do much 10 prevent an1
make impossible rather than create mo
: norelv in the railroad transportation oil
these States and will do much TO pre-
vent an injurious control II any shoulo
no attempted, Of the vital powers of com
mon carriage in a territory which VIII
all of its expanding interest promises II
be richer than the broad empire OF R0m'
under q Caesar or a TrlJan."