The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-07
WILL INSPECT THE SEABOARD Railroad Commission to
 Go Over Line. HAD MONTHLY MEETING President COm,r Had More Drastic Resolutions. Associates Declined te Concur In His Measures Appealing to the People
 Passenger Rates on Car
 rollton Line.


 road Commission made several orders and the Commissioners decided to go over the line of the Seaboard Air Line today on an inspection trip between
 Montgomery and the Chattachoochee
 River which Is the boundary line be-
 tween Alabama and Georgia. President B. B. Conner and Commis-
 sioners w. T. Sanders and w. c. Tun-
 stall will leave Montgomery this morn
 ing on train of the Seabord Line.
 They will inspect the tracks and depots
 and will return to Montgomery this evening.
 Morning and afternoon sessions of the Commission were held yesterday
 with its full membership present. Con- trary to other sessions of the Commis
 sion held in recent months there was nothing spectacular about the meet ing. It was held in the office of the Commission on the third floor of the capitol. The outward indications were
 that perfect harmony prevailed. Echo of Rate Revision. The only echo of the recent hearings concerning railroad freight rate revis- ions in Alabama was a series of writ ten motions read to the Commission by President Conner. The motions did
 not receive a second and no action was
 taken upon them. They were in the nature of an appeal to the people to
 elect a Legislature that would bring
 about so~called reforms advocated by
 MT. Conner.
 The Commission at the morning ses sion refused to order reduction of the rate charged for passenger traffic on the Carrollton Short Line from Reform to Aliceville in Ptckens County. Hon.
 M. B. Curry and others of Pickens
 County petitioned the Commission to reduce the fare for passengers from AU0 In nfg mil After hearing from General Manager John T. Cochrane of the Short Line, the Commission made this order: This being a short line only twenty miles in length, comparatively of recent | construction, it's earnings never having yielded dividend. we are of the opin- l ion that the petition for reduction
 of passenger fares should not be allow
 ed"
 MT. Conner did not vote. He said he was in favor of a four cent rate on
 all short lines and three cent rate
 on all branch lines operated by trunk | lines.
 Made Several Orders. Orders were made in other cases as
 follows: B. H. Onderdonk vs. the Tombigbee Valley, petition to have rates of
 freight reduced. Refused. E. O. Bishop vs. Atlantic Coast Line,
 petition for Sunday train to Luverne, abated by notice that the train had
 been allowed.
 Alabama Northern Railway, freight
 and passenger tariffs approved. Robert II. Knox, vs. Southern Rail way, petition for depot at Riderville,
 continued to July term.
 | H. E. Skeggs, Mayor, vs. Southern
 Railway, depot at Decatur. A letter
 was received from the Mayor and Coun- khn hot n
 been made between the people of De- catur and the railroad to erect the depot and to begin at once, and the | Commission was asked to dismiss the petition in this cause. The Commits
 sion was of the opinion, however. that
 the petition should not be dismissed, and 1t was therefore retained on the
 docket.
 Conner Wants Texas Law. As soon as the afternoon session con- vened President Conner without any ex- planation read to the Commission the l following motion:
 "whereas, in the recent investigation | of the freight rates of the State at which comparisons were made of the l following articles of common produc-
 tion and use and of the freight charged | by the same roads and same class roads | in Alabama and Georgia: Lumber and | the products of lumber brick, lime, ce- | ment, marble, fruit trees, shrubbery, | peaches, fruit jars, melons, meat, lard, | soap, potatoes, rice, molasses, cotton, | cotton seed cotton seed meal and hulls, | fertilizer, cotton ties and bagging, do- | mestics, cotton rope, groundpeas, grain, | hay, flour, scrap iron, nails, barbed
 wire, wire fence and fencing, iron pipe. farm wagons, horses and mules, cattle, | sheep and hogs, coffee, sugar, ice, bran | dry goods. boots and shoes. "Whereas, the rates charged in Ala 1 bama on these items are 20 per cent. to
 120 per cent. higher than the sameroads and same class roads charge in Georgia and. whereas, the statement of income
 as shown by the railroads. showed that notwithstanding their high freight tax on the people of Alabama, their total earnings on state or local busi- ness was small; and, whereas, the State has no method of checking and verify ing these statements; and, whereas, l these statements are liable to be biased
 by self interest: and whereas, the valu- ation of their property, as given In for State taxes, Is out of all proportion to | the value given in to the railroad com
 mission for the purpose of taxing the people of the State; and as also shown by the amount of stocks and bonds held against them. on which valuation they claim the right to make interest, these values being from three to four times greater than the amount given in for State tax, and as this is the bias Of self interest against which danger the State should protect the citizens. there
 fore. I move we petition the people of Alabama to elect a Legislature pledged to pass law similar to the Texas law, | requiring the railroads to submit books | and evidence showing income in the State, and a law limiting their stocks 1 and bonds. which may be issued against
 a railroad to a fair valuation" To LeGislate Rates. Upon the conclusion of MT. Corners reading there was a prolonged silence Then he read this motion; Whereas, the railroads of Alabama
 claim that under the Nebraska decision they have the legal right to tax the
 people of Alabama on their local or in | tra-State business a sufficient amount
 to pay interest on the railroads valua- tion of their property. And, whereas,
 in the recent investigation before our
 commission, the railroads admitted that
 in as far as they could. they hauled the | products of the State. cotton, iron. coal,
 lumber, etc, out of the State, making | the product of the State interstate bus
 mess; and, whereas. in he largest meas
 ure, they, the railroads, distribute the consumption of the State, meat, grain' | flour, domestics, etc, from out of the l State, giving that by preferential con | ditions to distributing centers out of
 the State, also interstate business, 1 thus making the very business (the l intra- State. or local freighO with