The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-17
FIGHT FOR REDUCTION OF FREIGHT RATES
 RESUMED BEFORE RAILROAD COMMISSION


 event he did not arrive he should be per mitted to file brief
 President Smith said the Commission saw no reason why the request should not be granted.
 The Rearing Opens.
 Under an agreement Mir. Conner opened the hearing. There was nothing personal, he said. in the fight that he and his asso- ciates were making. He assured his hearers that in his remarks he would not have the intention of rehecting on any man or upon the representative of any railroad. He made this explanation he said. because he was not accustomed to public speaking and his earnestness might lead him too fai.
 The prosperity of the railroads. he said. depended upon the merchants and farm CTS.
 We are making this fight" said Mir. Conner. "on the principle that public util- ities must be controlled by the public. We h>ust control them for self preser- walton. In making the fight we assume that freight rates in Alabama are too high and 1t Is our purpose to prove It." We are not attempting confscation." continued Mir. Conner. We are not try ing to throw impediments In the way of public utilities. Rates are made In three ways, first. by competitoin; second. by classification. and third, by law. We are here trying 10 have the freight rates of Alabama fixed by law. the only way in which they can be justly or equitably fixed"
 No Railroad Competition.
 Mir. Conner contended that there was no competition among the Alabama rail- orads. Combination, he said. had taken the place of competition. The freight rates of Alabama. he said, were made by classification. They were made. he con tinued, by experts. men of intelligence who had made a life time study of the subject and they were made in the in- terests of the railroads.
 The farmers, the merchants and even the members of the Railroad Commission Mir. Conner declared. were at disadvan- tage when pitted against these experts in the making of rates.
 T tell you" said MT. Conner. signifi. cantly. that this will not be the last hearing on this subject. If there is any injustice or any inequality in the rates that are to be fixed there will be another hearing and the hearing will be In an- other room of this building. the Supreme Court room. And If 1t Is necessary we will go to the Supreme Court of the Uni ted States"
 His friends. Mir Conner said. did not ask for any experiment. The experiment had been asked for by the men who wanted rates made in private interests. They wanted, he said, the Georgia rates. Georgia like Alabama. was a farming State with conditions practically the same. The rates they asked for. said MT. Conner, had been in operation for twenty two years. In that time. declared MT. Conner. Georgia had shown a wonderful improvement. a marked improvement over her sister State of Alabama.
 Treatment of Farmers.
 ''The experiment of continued rates- one sided and uncontrolled" Mir. Conner declared, lis dangerous, very dangerous. So far as have been able to ascertain Alabama is the only State and turns the farmer 'bodaciously' over to the oth- CT fellow"
 Mir. Conner had with him 6 table of rates charged on railroads operating In Alabama and in other States. The table showed that the Alabama rates were higher than those charged in other States. He compared first the different rates South Carolina. Georgia and Alabama. On a certain class of freight the South Carolina rate per 100 pounds was 9 cents the Georgia rates. II cents, and the Ala bama rates 13 cents. On another class the South Carolina rate was Is cents. the Georgia rate ls,4 cents and the Alabama rate lS cents. On all rates quoted the Alabama rate was higher than that charged in the two other States.
 Mir. Conner also submitted figures to show that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad charged a lower rate in all the States it operated in than in Alabama.
 The farmers of Alabama, MT. Conner contended. were especially discriminated against in the Alabama rates.
 A liberal commission with legal powers was, in the opinion of MT. Conner. largely responsible for the splendid prosperity of the people of Kansas. The people of Texas, he thought, owed a great deal of their prosperity to the Railroad Commis- sion of that State, of which a prominent citizen had said: Tt Is a blessing"
 The Commission adjourned at o'clock for dinner.