The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-16
GREAT WORK DONE
 BY THE RAILROADS.
BY ". ". SCREWS, yR.

MeSxS*SxSxSxSxSxSxSxS&SxSae:
 1t Is possiole and in fact very propa- Die tnas tue brA4niest. ionEesl-hsaueo class oI men in lne Onlecu Ssaees are .lle oliiclals at me mead or the pis rali-
 wAy syslsms. nese men tnlnk long lime before they make move anu Wnsn Illey oo' take a s.sp II Is py no ineahs in lne uafk-Lney Have catetuily nSuteu out lv the noSI inillil .esllnai lfaglnSnt tnak Ine move will ue peneiicial to tne cofpo- satioliss of wnicn they are tne eAecuuss neAa. A 'e
 an this respect thore than in any other is me loseae giow oI the future painleo
 ,y tue kl ls.iAAsst ot All arusts-nalure- sllown Ivr ene IucIre or Aiaoama. waen sacn men As 4aIlton ii. Smitn or the AouIsvliie ana ASAsnvlLe, Jonn ShSitou | N i.iiaIns ot the seaooara Ar Aine. ana soun M. kagan o1 the Central of Geor- gia, show lnelr taitn by tnelc Works in .Ae future or Ataoama then IL ought 70 make some ot Ine Douplink lnvmascs among the citizens of the state speedily get themselves into very small noie ana uuii the hole in after them. One or the biggest biunuels ever maoe is Tor even a sugnt semblance of credibiiity to De placed in the theory advanced Dy certain more or less misguIdeo-people that there is an antagonism existing between the railroads and the interests or the public. True there are often ruptures pe- tween the two, right here In MontSom- cry has this friction shown itself m tne past, but day by day the beneficial e1- fects of railroads is becoming more anu more apparent to the cOmmunluea through which they operate. m one re- specI railroads are nor dissim1lar to the average individual. As rule individuals are not running over each other in order to set in position to get the snort eno ol things. Just so 1t is with railroads. They do not propose to get the worst of things if they can help 1t and like the individ- be had. Level-headed railroad men have long since seen that the better terms they are on with the communities on
 which they depend for existence the more profitable 1t Is for them. In other
 words railroads exert every effort 10 build up the country that they run through. This may be policy on the part of the railroads, but all the same the country as well as the reads are bsne-
 fitted.
 There is no question of the fact that
 the railroads centerins nere have very
 materially aided in the advancement and
 of Montgomery. While there has been
 no radical reduction of rates since be- coming the railroad center that 1t Is, yet Montgomery is as well on In this respect
 country. The practical stability of the rates is big thing for the local mer- chants, ana now business man in Mont- honery knows that he Is on the same
 bssis as regards freight tariffs as the
 merchants of other places. In former years a Montgomery merchant spent most of his time watching rates in order to see that some other towns were not getting
 lower quotations than he was. Now 1t Is different Perhaps the Alabama ltail- road Commission has had good deal to
 do with this, that organization being vastly more active In regard to the in- terests of the people of Alabama than
 in former years. By that same token, however, the Commission Is not unjust to the railroads, for when complaint is filed the railroads interested are noti-' fled and day set when both sides to the controversy are heard. There was time in the history of Alabama politics when the popular idea of Railroad Commis- sion was 5unketing trip In private car stocked with champagne and other things made that tour over the different railroad lines in Alabama. This theory now, however, is becoming iconoclastic. The Alabama Railroad Commission is become a working body and the people Of the State are realizing and appreciat- ing that fact.
 Something over fourteen years ago the Interstate Commerce Commission was formed at Washington. It was during the first administration of President Cleve- ing appointed President of the Commis- sion, and Captain Walter l.. Bragg of this city one of the Associate Commfs- sioners. Captain Bragg being reappointed
 
 flee. The purpose of the Commission was to regulate the railroads of the United States and secure publicity Of rates, as far asFpossible. Since that tipe there has been frequent cutting of rates in this section of the country. but with very few exceptions the Interstate Commis- sion has taken no notice Of the fact, ex- cept when aggrieved parties reported the case to them, The result has been. how ever. to make tariffs more uniform. There is something like 5,000 fine and an im- prisonment clause for the offender as we'll as the person who receives the cut rate This has never been enforced in this country and looks like a mere matter of form. like some of the ordinances In the Montgomery city code It Is there, how ever, on the books of the Interstate Commission, and has a restraining effect on the railroads. something like sword of Damocles which may fall on some- body's head any moment
 Several years ago the railroads D or @ this and Steamship Association with Major E. B. Stahlman Commissioner, and there was probably more liberties taken With rates then than at any time before or since. Long ago that institution was abandoned and two offshoots were born, one East and one West. One was the Southeastern Freight Association, with S. F. Parrot chairman and w. l.. McGill Secretary. the headquarters being in Att lanta. In this association are the Att lanta and West Point and Western; Att lanta, Knoxville and Northern; Atlantic Coast Line; Atlantic. Valdosta and Vest ern: Central of Georgia; Charleston and Western North Carolina: Chesapeake Steamship Company; Clyde Lines; Co., lumbia. Newberry and Laurens; Florida East Coast: Georgia Railroad; Georgia Southern and Florida: Jacksonville and Southwestern; Macon and Birmingham; Merchants and Miners Transportation Company New York and Texas Steam ship Company: Norfolk and Western; J Ocean Steamship Company fo Savannah; Old Dominion Steamship Company; Plant System;, Southern Railroad; Triton and Moutrie: Virginia and Southwest ern; Western and Atlantic; Wrfghtsville and Tennille. The Western offshoot Is the Southeastern Mississippi Valley As sociat ton. NJ. r. Washburn of Louisville being chairman. The members of this are: Alabama Great Southern; Alabama and Vicksburg; Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific; Illinois Central Gn- City, Memphis and Birmingham: Louis vile and Nashville: Mobile and Ohio: Nashville. Chattanooga and St, Louis; New Orleans and Northeastern; South ern; Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. This latter association was in session last week in Birmingham, iron and steel rates being the, subject of discussion. controlled by a Cotton Committee com posed of the initial lines-L. and N. Western, Seaboard, M. and O., Plant and Central-Colonel A. B. Garland being chairman.
 Now as to how Montgomery has been benefited by the railroads one can see at glance the far-reachlng effects, and to look at the Montgomery of today and the Montgomery of several years ago hn irf1np hnan Oit fh.t