The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-22
CHAIRMAN FRANK S. WHITES
ADDRESS TO THE DEMOCRATS.
Replies to Statements Made Recently in Card from
CAPTAIN j. N. Falkner-RailrOadS
in Politics.


Southern Wholesale Grocers Association
undertook to obtain a reduction OF freisht
rates from the l. and N. railroad ~.
that time one of our merchants was 81
fered by this company the use OF uhnni
tied capital, and was promised freight
| rates that would drive the other meI-
chants out of business II he would wi,h-
draw from the Association, and JON tne
railroad in its fight against the Associa-
ton When he could not be INDUCED 10
desert his fellow merchants. rival store
was estab ,,shed in Montgomery under the
name of the Alabama Mercantile Com
many which carried on the fight for the
ra,,road against the wholesale merchants
| of Alabama.
Dragooned Employees.
o,,r neonle are besought by the ORA
pooned employees Of this corporation 10
desist from their efforts to obtain rehsi.
pleading that the lowering OF 1reisnt
rates will result In a reduction Oh tneil
wages. Is 1t true that the stock gam Ding
owners of this railroad never yield any
part of their vast profits, never pear any
of the burdens? Can the people only get
| Justice at the expense OF the heipiess
employees of this corporation! MUST tne
burden which they lay down De tahen
IN and borne by It's laborers? Have these
| of right, are they deaf to the appeals OF
hunger? Will the bread be taken from the
children of these toilers? Will not their
p,eading voices be heard, their tearfui
eyes be seen by J. w. Gates and j. PIER
pont Morgan, whose boundless weaith
now startles the world? Instead of with
holding the bread from these children,
in order to further swell their fabulous
fortunes why not use portion OF the
twenty-five million quick assets, when
Gates recently found In the treasury Oh
this road, which SO excited his cupldity
and infiamed his avarice as to cause him
to buy a majority of its stock at enor-
nous prices? Are these means being used
by this railroad considered fair in po-
litical contention? We were promised that
none other should be used. Or, Is this the
method employed by 1t for informing the
people?
People UNIFORMED.
CAPTAIN Falkner in his interview said
that from years of experience ana Cd
servation l say that the people Of Ala
bama will always do the right thing when
they are fully informed" Does he mean
that the people of Alabama are so unin-
formed, so ignorant that they will not do
right, and that it Is necessary to 1uliy
inform them before they can be trusted
10 ulScndTSe lne uutlGS itipOSCu ny shN
ballot? Has 1t come to pass that the peo-
pie of Alabama can be told to their faces
by a railroad corporation that they have
not enough intelligence to vote until they
are fully informed" by 1t? 1t appears
from what he says that this benighted
condition has not suddenly fallen upon
them. that they have peen in need Tor IN
formation for years, for he says he has
reached that conclusion from years OF
experience and observation. Holding this
view / can see why his railroad has had
its employees quit work and open political
kinderga rtens on the streets of Birmlng-
ham for the enlightenment of our busi-
ness men. This want of information on
the paint of the people having been MI
tered through these teachers, accounts
no doubt, for some of the arguments be-
ing used by them. as they would not be
| addressed to people who were informed.
Should Open Schools.
Looking to the future, would it not be
we'll for this road to open permanent
night schools throughout Alabama and
put it's employees in charge of them, for
| 1t may become tired of exercising its po-
| litical functions and want to get out on
! the governing business. and IL 1t should,
the people ought to have some knowledge
| Of the affairs of government, at least
enough to know how to select another
| master! 1t would no doubt be helpful and
| inspiring to these beginners If Captain
| Falkner- himself would attend on some
| public examination occasions and give
them some fancy touches on the science
of running the State government, espe-
cially the Legislature.
What People Would Learn.
If these schools should be made per-
manent feature of the Louisville and
| Nashville Company's business, and have
the people fully informed. they might
be made to understand the justice of
railroads charging a Pickens County far
mer 40 cents per bushel to ship his po-
| tatoes to Birmingham. 100 miles, while
the Michigan farmer is charged only q
cents to ship his to Birmingham, a dis
lance of 900 miles; or Justify a rate that
requires a farmer in South Alabama to
ship his crop to Georgia and then ship 1t
back over the same road in order TO reach
the markets of Alabama; or how Is 1t
fair for the same road to charge 50.
on a carload of brick from Bessemer
to Akron, a distance of seventy miles, and
then charge for shipping the same car
from Akron to Greensboro. distance of
twenty miles. $3.50; or why Is 1t that
carload of oottonseed meal or hulls can
be shipped from Rome, Ga, to Early, Ga.
a
when shipped on in the same car three
miles further to Farrill, Ala. a charge
of SIS is made? Why in Georgia, for the
same distance meat is shipped at cents
pc, 100 pounds and in Alabama II cents Is
charged; or grain in Georgia at liz
cents. in Alabama II cents; or Hour in
Georgia at cents. in Alabama q cents
why cotton can be shipped over the
Southern Railway TO Georgia mills for
forty miles at IS cents a bale. while Ala
bama mills pay $40 per bale for the
same distance, causing Alabama mills
using 20,000 bales to lose each year $1,000;
or why cotton ties can be shipped forty
miles in Georgia over the same road
for 9 cents per 100 pounds. while in Ala
bama II costs 10 cents per 100 pounds.
under which rate an Alabama mill max
ing million ties distributed over ra-
dius of forty miles would lose $4,000
year. Why the people of Oneonta. on ac-
count of unjust rates, were forced last
year to haul 10000 bales OF cotton In
wagons from their depot over rough roads
ten miles to Springville? Why Is ii an ar
bitrary line is drawn around Alabama
towns and the freight rate fixed 80 bust
ness men in them cannot do business be-
yond that line: why are Memphis, Nash
Vile. New Orleans and Atlanta so ia
vored as against these Alabama distrtb-
uting points that their merchants have to
establish depots in the former cities
from which to snip goods to their Gus
toners in Alabama a short distance from
them? All these things. no doubt. can be
made plain to the people when they have
received that higher and broader and