The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-28
SPEER REFUSED INJUNCTION.
SIMILAR CAUsES ARE NOW PENDING
IN OTHER COURSE.

He Held That the plaintiffs Were
on the Same Footing as Ryan and
should Go TO the Courts In Which
He IIns Brought the Matter Up.
Says the New system VIII Greatly
Bencfit the South-The Decision Is
of Great Interest in Savannah.
Macon. Jan. 27.-Judge Speer this MORN
ing, in the case of Dady vs.. the Georgia
and Alabama Railway, refused the in
junction sought 10 prevent the consolida-
ton of the Seaboard Air Line System.
He referred to the fact that causes sub
stanually similar were pending in the
federal Jurisdictions of Virginia and North
Carolina, holding that the court which first
took eognizance of the case should carry
it to It's termination.
Holding that the plaintiffs were privies
with Ryan in his suits in the jurisdictions
referred TO, he held that those tribunals
were the proper ones for them to resort
to, the same issues being involved He
further held that only majority vote OF
stockholders was necessary for such con-
solidation in Georgia, and that 1t was not
properly maintainable that because the de-
fendant, John SHELTON Williams, occupied
the position of a member of the voting
trust, president of Georgia and Alabama
and of the Florida Central and Peninsu-
lar that the merger or consolidation
brought about through his instrumentallty
should be enjoined.
Mr Morris Brandon, of counsel for the
plaintiffs, says:
The only way in which the consolida-
ton eau be carried out is by the method
pointed out in the bill, and should the
different companies attempt TO merge,
final hearing will be had on the present
bill and the plaintiffs Will then take an
appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals"
Consequences May he Grave.
In his decision Judge Speer said the
gravest consequences have resulted and
may result involving enormous loss where
courts and judges of concurrent jurisdic-
ton ignore the salutary principles of com
ity bring about a conflict of authority,
pass conflicting ORDERS render conflicting
decisions on the same facts and In the
same controversy, producing endless con
fusion and distrust in the administration
of the law, and often rewarding parties
who are stubbornly litlgious, who are en-
dowed with greater resources Tor litiga-
ton, and who not infrequently seek to use
the courts as pawns in the game they play
on the gigantic chessboard marked by the
transportation lines of the country.
lie further decided that no Importance
is to be attached to the fact thar at the
present moment there was no physical
connection between the Georgia and Ala
bama and the Seaboard, that they were
separated by less than a dozen miles and
that the intervening track was now being
laid. An interesting part of the decision
is that which bears upon the competitive
character of the two roads. Tracing their
general trend and calling attention TO the
fact that after leaving Savannah they are
in no wise connected save through the
Intermediary of one or two shallow rivers
on which small steamboats, occasionally
ply and that intervening the two lines
are powerful competitive systems, he said:
at is not difficult to perceive that the
contemplated system of the Seaboard Air
Line, instead of tending to defeat com
petition, must inevitably tend to preserve
it, A new system will contribute to the
transportation service of the country now
so admirably served by the lines there
located. Surely It needs no argument to
justify the statement that the con-
solidation of the three great rail-
road systems serving the Southern states
will do much to prevent and make impos-
sible rather than create monopoly in the
railroad transportation of these states
and will do much to prevent an injurious
control, if any should be attempted, of the
vital powers of common carriage in a
territory which, with all of its expanding
interest, promises to be richer than tho
broad empire of Rome under a Caesar or
a Trojan"