The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-03
SHOULD THE PEOPLE ELECT
 THE RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS

vided in said section 34S9 that,
 Upon the production of the state treas urer.s receipt or such tax, and the sat isfactory evidence that the person or cor poration paying the same Is prepared to transport freight and passengers with reasonable safety over such railroad the auditor shall issue to such person or cor l poration a license to operate such rail- road for one year; and any person or cor 1 poration operating a railroad in this state without such license shall forfeit $100 for each day while so engaged, one-half to any person suing for the same and the other half 10 the state"
 It will thus be seen that there is H. cense tax imposed upon the railroads, 1 payable to the state treasurer, as other licenses and taxes are paid These gen tlemen will hardly contend that if the railroad commission were abolished, the railroads would be relieved of the pay ment of a license tax for doing business l in Alabama.
 When men have a just cause 1t Is not usual for them to resort to such methods as this. The facts are that the railroads have submitted and obeyed the decisions I of the railroad commission of Alabama i just as they have submitted to and obey ed the decisions of the courts of i-.e state l The railroads have no more interest in the railroad commission than they have
  Poor Irelandl Poor Birmingham! Poor Alabama.
 | At one of the meetings of these gentle men in Birmingham, MT. r. s. White, chairman of the campaign committee" | of this new party (which has not been named by the way), as reported in The Evening News, recently said: You speak 1 of the oppression by an alien power of the l people of the Emerald Isle, but I want to tell you merchants that the inhabitants of Ireland are not now or never have been oppressed like. you are today" This assertion will be found to be like all the other assertions of MT. White, and the gentlemen whom MT. White represents.
 Alabama's Phenomenal Prosperity.
 In 1S76 as shown by reports of the state auditor, the value of the entire prop erty assessed for taxation, in Jefferson county, Alabama, was S29 $40 In 1901 the property assessed for taxation in Jef- ferson county, Alabama, was S4l,T6. IA. Poor Birminghaml Poor Irelandi
 In 1876 the entire property in the state l of Alabama, including the railroads, was assessed for taxataion at S135, ,535, 792. In 1901. as shown by the state auditors reports, the entire property of the state of Alabama, including railroads, was as- l sessed at $2s4 622, 937 Poor Alabama! Poor Ireland would to God that Ireland could be persecuted in the same way Ala Lama has been.
 In 1876 the railroads paid only 5.1 per cent of the taxes in Alabama In 1901 the railroads paid 1765 per cent of the entire taxes of the state; but this percentage does not include the taxes paid on depots, section houses tanks, lands, shops, wharyes, tools and machinery. With the taxes on these properties inciuded, the several railroads pay over 20 per cent of the entire taxes of the state of Alabama. In 1876 the entire railroad properties in the state amounted to about $7.73S, 6S0. In 1901 the railroad properties proper, not l including depots. section houses, tanks. 1 lands, shops, wharves, tools and machin- cry were assessed for taxation at $50, 253,- l Too.
 l Up to 1883 there were only two railroads in Jefferson county, Alabama-the Ala bama Great Southern and the South and North A-abama railroads, and yet be- tween 1876 and 1883 the properties in Jef- ferson county as shown by the auditors report, had increased from a little less than $300O,000 to nearly $S,0O0,000. So much for the oppression of the people of l Alabama and of Jefferson county .y the railroads.
 Prior to the building of the South and | North Alabama railroad, the Tennessee Valley was practically cut off from other 1 Decatur 1 from Montgomery one must go through 1 two other states-from Montgomery to At 1 lanta, and from there to Chattanooga and 1 from there to Decatur. Birmingham was not in existence, and was only made pos l sible by the building of the South and North Alabama railroad and the Ala 1 bama Great Southern railroad, and with out these and the other great arteries of 1 commerce which now reach Birmingham, I iTc rl1Qfa eta fi,,, 1 In 4S hours.
 Jealousy of Rival Commercial Centers.
 In my boyhood days the market town l for nearly all the eastern counties in this state Columbus, Ga. Immense num- l bers of cotton wagons in the fall and win l ter came through Roanoke, Lafayette, 1 Opelika and on to Columbus. Finally road was extended from Columbus, Ga, l to Opelika, Ala, and Columbus mer- chants looked with horror to the fact that Opelika would take away a large amount of what she called her legitimate l trade. Opelika was built up and became an important commercial center, and finally the Central of Georgia railroad was extended to LaFaye. e. and Opelika was greatly concerned at the fact that Lafayette was taking away a consider able portion of Opelikas trade. Again the Central of Georgia railroad was ex-
 
 Lafayette looked with equal concern at the fact that her trade would be materi- ally deminishedby the building up of Roanoke. This Is but e sample of what has been going on throughout the state of Alabama as railroads have been built Certain commercial centers have had their trade materially changed, but the people have been benefited, and will con- tinue to be benefited just as tie railroads are extended into the interior and this is what has causeu this tempest in a teapot" The gentlemen at Birmingham who are waging this war upon the rail- | roads claim to be distributors. They do i not recognize the right of any importer or manufacturer to sell directly under any l circumstances to the consumer But, on | the contrarr. the importer and manufac- 1 turer must sell directly 10 the distributor 1 and the distributor to the reta- CT, and l the retailer to the consumer, each one taking out his legitimate profits, to which he claims he Is justly entitled and, from their standpoint, no man ..as a right to buy, unless first the profit of i..e manu- facturer or importer Is taken out; second the profits of the distributor; third the prohls of the retailer. These gentlemen are opposed to what they term little picayune jobbing centers." These so- called jobbing centers desire such rate of freight will prevent any other place from reaching what they call their terri tory, and thereby opening up competition against them. They want 'differential" as they term it, which will prevent others form reaching the trade winch they claim legitimately belongs to them.