The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-05
COMER IS STILL PROBING
 INTO RAIL FREIGHT RATES

| charges. The railroad involved. he said, acknowledged the errors in the bill of lading. and said they were due | to inexperienced clerks. The over |. charges amounted to about 50 per cent. The railroads were also given a rep rimand by President Conner for alleged inaccuracies in the Southern Weighing and Inspection Bureau and that this was created by the railroads and they were responsible for their errors. The president also produced a set of plans for a depot that was proposed to be built in the near future. The depot called for waiting rooms no longer than sx12 feet The president said such a depot might be suitable for a steer," but was not large enough for humans.
 c. B. Compton, Freight Traffic Mana ger, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company was the first to be heard on the question of fertilizer rates. He asked the chairman for the privilege to correct his (Mr. Comer's) comparisons of Monday on cotton rates in Alabama and Georgia. He claimed that the rate for fifty miles in Ala bama is 29 cents instead of 30 cents as stated in the address of the President Monday.
 MT. Compton also told President Conner that for forty-one miles In Georgia he (Mr. Comer) had stated the rate on cotton is 15 cents, but that 1t Is really 19 cents. The witness be- lieved the chairman was willing to understand the facts and correct figures.
 President Conner said he had taken the figures he used in his address from the statement two years ago of MT. 1 Nesbit, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, when he appeared before the Railroad Commission.
 MT. Compton said that what Mir. Nes- bit testified two years ago was not pertinent on this occasion. MT. Compton regretted that the ad- dress of the President Monday in quot ing rates. on drygoods did not follow the basis of the Louisville and Nash vile Railroad of forty and forty-five miles instead of for forty-one miles as was used.
 Rates Reduced by l.. and N. MT. Compton in beginning his testi- l mony said that recently the Louisville and Nashville Railroad voluntarily re- duced the rates on fertilizers below | what they. were as approved by the Alabama Commission. He said that the reduction amounted to 22 1-2 per
 
 same for all distances In Alabama. Mir Compton represented that 1t was unfair to make the Mississippi rates | apply in Alabama for fertilizers either | on the Louisville and Nashville or any other line. He claimed that the gen. eral average of rates on all classes
 and commodities is less in Alabama | than in Mississippi. He claimed the average is 29 per cent less on the T No I1rrilI Dot o11d | 10 1-2 per cent for the other lines. l Mir. Compton gave lengthy array of figures which attempted to show | that the proportion of the net earnings
 on interstate and intra- state traffic for 1903 and 1904 and other comparisons do not Justify a reduction in fertilizer rates. The gross earnings of the
 Louisville and Nashville Railroad for 1 the fiscal year of 1904 were $10.3S3.- 143.52 for Alabama on both intra-
 state and interstate business. The operating expenses and taxes were S7.67I914.77. The total mileage in Alabama for 1904 was 1,557.24 and the l main line mileage was 1.179.93. Answered NIT. Sanders. Answering Commissioner Sanders, l MT. Compton said the operating ex- penses are decidedly greater for do- | mestic business than for through bus mess. He told of how the full capac- ity of lomotives is rarely used in go- ing from one place to another, talk ing on car after car, 1t often being
 the case that the full load Is not taken ! on before the destination is reached. Also, the great number of switch ings that have to be done, the con- sumption of fuel during slow traffic
 and other delays in transportation ga to put the cost of interstate business
 over that of interstate operations Mir. Compton criticized the theory of
 President Conner that the roads should
 make minimum rate to increase ton mage. He did not agree with the
 roseate attitude of the President. He
 said the increase in consumption of fertilizers in Alabama has been 400 per cent in the last fifteen years.
 This ne attributed to the clearing of timber lands by rapid cutting which led to the cultivation of the prairie lands.
 The witness also called the atten-
 tion of the chairman to the fact that the recent cotton movement to use
 less fertilizers this year should be an
 influence of no little moment in con-
 sidering the fairness of reducing fer tilizer rates.
 MT. Compton said that the fertili- ger rate for 390 miles in Georgia was
 only one per cent less than in Ala bama on the Louisville and Nashville
 Railroad. He also said the general
 average of fertilizer rates is less in
 Florida, North and South Carolina and
 Virginia than in Alabama.
 MT. Compton said the rates for all
 roads .n Georgia are not the same.
 Some roads in Georgia have plus rates
 and the Louisville and Nashville Rail-
 road rates in Alabama are less in some
 instances than in Georgia. The wit
 ness said he did not believe the roads
 could prosper in Georgia under the eX-
 isting rates.
 Mir Compton accused the Chairman
 of singling out commodity on fer
 tilizer when he should consider the
 general average of rates in Alabama
 as compared with other State.
 Questioned q Statement.
 President Conner called Mir. Compton
 to task on his obJecting to the theory
 that the increase of tonnage follows
 the decrease in fertilizer rates. The
 Chairman said that the science of ag-
 riculture is gradually advocating in
 crease in the use of fertilizers. He
 claimed that the consequent increase
 in tonnage to railroads was the ex-
 perience of ages
 MT. Compton asked the President
 if the farmers or shippers would re-
 nay the actual loss to the railroads
 by decreasing the fertilizer rates.
 The President alluded to the friend ship between the Birmingham District and President Milton H. Smith. of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and charged that the farmers of Alabama
 have been overlooked. MT. Compton