The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-27
fcommnnicated1

(Communicated)
 The following is a copy of some inter- esting correspondence which has recently passed between Mir. E. Wilkinson. repre- senfing Mr. B. B. Conner, and Mir. w. E. Knox. superintendent of the Alabama Mineral Railroad:
 COPY.
 FARMERS, MERCHANTS AND LA
 B0RERs' ASSOCIATION.
 OF ALABAMA.
 Birmingham, Ala, March 5. 1904. Mr. W. E. Knox. Supt. L. and N. R. R.,
 Anniston. Ala:
 Dear Sir-I am advised by friends in Gadsden that you are circulating the re- port that Mir. Conner shipped out flour from his miils, billing 1t as meal. thereby making cents per hundred pounds diff ference in freight.
 II cannot believe that man of your reputation and In your position would wiIlfully circulate an erroneous report of this character, and therefore conclude that your information Is incorrect. I will give you the facts in this case showing that Mir. Conner was in no way at fault in the matter, and 1 trust that you will take as much pains to correct this wrong as you have in circulating the report.
 In the first place the flour was not billed by Mir. Conner. nor shipped by him. I was the man who went to the Louis- vile and Nashville Railroad here and called their attention to the circumstance and know all of the details.
 Mir. Conner bought from a mill of Ten nessee some flour in bulk which he de- sired to pack in Birmingham under his own brand; this is done by flour jobbers all over the country. To save the ex- pense of buying Jute bags in which to have the Nlour shipped to Birmingham. Mir. Conner sent empty meal sacks to the mill in Tennessee. The flour was sold to him at certain price delivered at Birmingham, and he had no interest in the freight.
 The miller in Tennessee billed the flour to the railroad as meal and thereby saw cd himself cents per barrel on the freight After T represented the facts to the railroad company here, they went to Mir. Conner, who showed them his telegrams purchasing the flour his in- voices showing that the miller in Tennes- see got the benefit of the cents per bar rel In freight and told the Louisville and Nashville representative that he owed the miller for a car of flour, and If they desired it. would pay them the cents per barrel on all of the shipments and charge 1t back to the shipper, which he did.
 Mir. Conner also took the pains to show the Louisville and Nashville representa- tive in Birmingham the copy of his let ter in which he charged back the amount paid the Louisville and Nashville to the shipper, clearly establishing the fact that he reaped no benefit by the false billing whatever. or had any interest in it.
 Mir. Conner is at present out of the city. and being interested in his success, am desirous of stopping this erroneous state ment as quickly as possible. Very truly yours.
 CslsneO E. WILKINSON. LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAIL ROAD COMPANY, ALABAMA MIN
 ERAL DIVISION. OFFICE OF
 THE SUPERINTENDENT.
 Anniston. Ala, March 21, 1904. Mfr. E. wilkerson, Member Campaign
 Committee, Birmingham, Ala.
 Dear Sir-Your favor of March reach cd me at Anniston on the 7th and has been carefully noted.
 The first paragraph of your letter mis- quotes me. did not say that Mir. Conner himself shipped flour from HIS mill, bill } ing 1t as meal, thereby making a diff ference of cents in freight. What l did say, was that he bought FLOUR in bulk at Carter's Creek Tenn, and that HE shipped from hls Birmingham mill HIS OWN MEAL SACKS to the mill at Carter's Creek. Tenn. and that these MEAL SACKS were branded as follows
 Birmingham Mills.
 ''B. B. Conner.
 Brand. Jim Dandy
 MEAL. Un very large letters.)
 Birmingham. Ala
 further stated that the FLOUR which Mfr. Conner had bought in bulk at Car ter's Creek. Tenn, was placed in these MEAL SACKS branded as above, and shipped over the Louisville and Nash vills to Birmingham. billed as MEAL at the MEAL rate. and with ono exception at the weight usually applied to MEAL viz. e2 pounds per sack. In the one ex- 0eptlon referred to the weight given was equivalent to 9s pounds per sack. In every case, however. the weight at which the shipment was billed was less than the weight usually applied to flour. viz 100 pounds per sack. I further stated that the rate on meal from Carter's Creek. Tenn. to Birmingham, Ala, was 4 cents per 100 pounds. or cents per barrel lower than on flour. and that, therefore, the rate was cut cents per barrel by this manipulation. besides an additional cut by reason of the fact that one of these meal sacks filled with flour would weigh six to eight pounds more than fl 1t had been filled with meal.
 We have undisputable evidence that this misrepresentation was practiced on nine cars. seven of which were consigned to Mir. B. B. Conner himself and the other two fo the Birmingham Mills which were being operated at the time by Mir. Conner The details of each transaction ara sci out below.
 On or about September 1. 1892 NIT. B. B. Conner received from Carter's Creek. Tenn, Louisville and Nashville car No. 6ZI4 The contents of this car were repre- scented to be 2l7 sacks Of MEAL, weighing 20.ss2 pounds. The MEAL rate at that time of is cents per 100 pounds was as- sessed on said weight, making the total freight charges sSS.33. When the investi- gation was instituted at your instance. it was discovered that the shipment actu- ally consisted of 217 sacks of flour, weigh ing 21,700 pounds and that the correct freight charges at the flour rate at that time, of 90 cents, per 100 pounds. should have been $43.4 .40. The undercharges re- suiting from false classification and false weight in this case amounted 10 Sl007. equivalent to 64-1c0 cents per hundred pounds. or g 2s-1OO cents per barrel of four
 On or about September 6. 1892, the Bir- minkham Mills received fkom Cartefs Greek, Louisville and Nash9ille car 46ss SerseseDtseg @ contain Sla of