The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-11
WHAT RAILROADS HAVE
 DONE FOR ALABAMA
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 AW OW and then there bobs up in
 this section great talk of what 2 v some politicians are going to do to the railroads. As many of us are ig- norant as to what crime has been com mitted, we would like to know more about the matter. Is 1t the voice of the people crying or Is it the wall of the demagogue with his campaign cry of Down with the railroads"?
 So far as we know they began their ar gument in the recent campaign with a statement that was incorrect. if the code of Alabama is printed correctly. They said: We want a railroad commission elected by the. people and paid by the state instead of paid by the railroads" Any one who can read can look at section s4ss and see that a railroad never paid a commissioner yet. But the state pays them. Why do they want to mislead? If their argument is fictitious and de- lusive wherein do they hope to succeed7
 Now to get at the truth: Alabama Is as well favored in rates, service and accom- modations as regards railroads as any southern state. The railroads are not like the deadly upas tree that withers all that gets beneath it's shade. On the con- trary, they came into our state which was bare and desolate. They were the forerunners of all other development They built up the waste places; they caused the desert' to blossom like the rose; they made Birmingham possible; they put the markets of the world before our people, and the lumber mills, truck farms, shlngle mills, coal and Iron mines, lime quarries and the many other enter prises were enabled to breathe and live. They have reared the foundation of our greatness of today; they have been req sonable in all things; they have done the same work cheaper than 1t could have been done in any other way; they have filled the state and county treasuries with tax money; they have given em- ployment and homes to thousands of our people; they have always been friendly to the interests of the state; they have earned less money on their investment than any other enterprises In the state of Alabama, and have frequently run at a loss. Their dividends have been from nothing to 6 per cent, and yet the law allows any one in Alabama per cent. But the railroads who took all the chances when they built into our state have never earned it, practically in their existence.
 
 in evidence. They come nearer paving on the full value of their property than ntnety-nine hundredths of the people of Alabama.
 Suppose that the people wanted to elect the commissioners direct; is it not proper to ponder over the matter carefully? We have in Alabama nearly S300,000,0O0 worth of property. Of this over one-flfth is rail- road property. Do we want politicians going over the state promising what they will do to the railroads if they get in? How do we know that men qualified to take and handle $60000,000 worth of other peoples property will get there? Sup pose you, my gentle reader, had a rail- road; do you think it right for a man. running on the prejudice he has against you, should take charge of your property and bankrupt 1t if he wished, especially when the law already so surrounded you that you had to act fair polens Yolens? Have you got no right that the law is bound to respect? If you take other peoples property to manage, under power granted by undue excitement and artificial argument will they take the farms next and tell you what to plant; the factories and tell you what you shall make; the lawyers and tell them what class of cases they may accept; the peo- pie and tell them what they may and may not support?
 The tendency to create prejudice against capital smacks of anarchy on it's face. Capital should not abuse its rights. and in this state has not done so. Capital turns the wheel in every factory; rc,rs every smoke stack to the skies; builds the great walls of brick wherein the workers reap the harvest of their toll; digs the vast veins of coal to light the fires of the world; drives all the spindles of the land; opens all the paths to prosperity; brings far distances together; lights the fires