The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-05-19

| Dca1S, OuIlA
State Commerce Commission APP
pellant versus Southern Railway
Appellee, in the appeal from the
Circuit Court of the United States
for h Western District of Vir-
ginia, at Danvil1e. furnishes sworn
testimony as to the true value OF
the Southern Railway property. W.
published a few days ago In full
the testimony of MI. Josiah f. Hill
Secretary of the Southern Railway
Company. Here is the gist of his
testimony:
I'm MY JUDGMENT $4,000
PER MILE WOULD BE A MIN
IMUM FIGURE FOR AN ESTI-
MATE OR JUDGMENT. IT
WOULD PROBABLY EXCEED
$4,000 RATHER THAN GO UN-
DER THAT AMOUNT"
In the very year $500 that Sec
rotary Hill, whose business it is to
know the true value of h prop
erty of the Southern Railway, testi-
fed that the Southern had earned
four per cent. on a OF
$4,000, that property was assessed
for taxation by the Corporation
at $13,55S.OS per mile-just one
third of what Secretary Hill swore
was it, minimum value"
Ihe transcript, from which MI
Hills testimony was obtained, con-
tains cumulative testimony in cor
roboration of ny. Hills estimate.
Mr.. Culp, Fourth Vice-President of
the Southern Railway, does indeed
swear that the property is worth
$4,000 per mile. He ought to
know if anybody does. But MI.
Hill and the other witnesses all
swear that the true value is mot
less than $4,000 a mile" This
does not conflict with the testimony
of MT. Culp, showing that Mr.. Hill
and the others hesitated at wear
ing to the real value, p~referring
simply to swear that the property
is worth mot less than $4,000 per
mile"
Inasmuch as North Carolina is
taxing this property at the absurd
valuation Of $13,55S.O8 per mile
when it's own officers and experts of
nearly every other road in the
South swear thai 10000 is the
minimum value we give below the
gist of the sworn testimony of
many railroad experts, al sum-
1noned by the Southern Ra44way, as
to the true value Of the property of
the Southern Railway:
MI. ]. T. Poe, of Mobile, Ala, who
has been connected with the rail-
road traffic department. Ior nearly
thirty-one years. testified that the
less than $4,000 per mile" He
testified that the total average cap
italization of all the railroads in
the United States is about 100000
per mile. The Southern Railway
has funded and guaranteed debt of
$4,000 per mile; preferred stock
stock $4,000 per mile. He thinks
it would cost mot less than $4O,-
900 per mile to reproduce a rail
road equal to the Southern Rail
way" and he says: 1.-The lines Of
the Southern Railway, taking them
as a whole, have probably cost as
much, as the era OF all the rail-
roads in the United States That
road makes AZ per cent. on $4O,-
900 a mile.
The testimony of Mr.. r.. e. Lutz
of Montgomery, Alabama, traffic
manager of the Atlanta & West
Point and Western Railway Of
Alabama, testified that the value
of the Southern Railway is not less
than 100000 per mile of road
and it earns a dividend of 81 pei
| cent. upon a OF u
per mile"
Mr.. Thomas X. Scott. General
Manager of the Georgia Railroad
testified that it would cost to re-
produce a railroad equal to ths
Southern Railway, with it's i'm
provenents, additions, terminals
established traffic, and good will
not less than $4,000 per mile"
Mr. A. w. Graham, First Vice.
President of the Louisville & Nash
willie Railroad, testified that the
Southern Railway is worth not les:
than $4,000 a mile.
MI. George r. Knox, Genera.
Freight Agent Of the N. G. & st. L.
and w. & A. roads, testified thai
1.-The true value of the Southern
Railway IS not less than $4,000
n mile"
Mr.. G.. \. BiIes, General Freigh1
A~onk of kI,o n N n p Toxoz D.