The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-04

rates on fertilizers that now prevail. l The claim was presented that during | the six years that the line has been In | operation it has not yet earned one | dollar of interest on It's indebtedness "Just before the line was built, oe- lciared Mir Taylor. T made horseback survey of the zone through which the lhuIIdinr of the road was contemplated
 The land was so poor that a crow n.y. ling through the region would have had
 to carry his own rations.'
 A Line Losing Money. Nevertheless, after the officers Of the
 road had heard the report Of MT. ray Ilor. 1t was decided to construct the road with the hope that the future develop
 ment might justify the enormous ex- Ipenditure. Some s4,000,000 was put into the enterprise about six years ago. The line was kept and audited as a dis
 ttnctly separate asset of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad system. The operations
 were considered apart from the main lime which runs between Mobile and
 East St. Louis. Not yet, according to MT. Taylor, has the line been able to
 pay from the gross earnings the tn- terest on the indebtedness, even the
 taxes assessed against 1t by the State
 of Alabama.
 | The low fertilizer rate which the
 road made for this line was not adopt
 ed for the general system. It was thought that the reduction might tend
 to the development of the country tra-
 versed and a consequent increase In Tonnage. The unwisdom of the whole
 Investment was admitted by the Gen | eral Manager. It was deplorable
 move on the part of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Had it not been for this extravagant undertaking the road
 would today have a full treasury. Burden on EmplOyes. There have been disappointments In
 the development of the country that
 had been originally counted upon. Six
 years of opeartion have done nothing
 but bored Into the treasury of the main
 system It has led to parsimonious treatment of the men who work on the : line and the men in every department iof the line now are crying for in- creases in their wages and salaries. The general expenses in every way are
 Increasing annually by leaps and bounds.
 It was represented that the fertiii-
 ger rates that now apply on the road
 cannot longer exist They were pro- nounced by Mir. Taylor unreasonably
 and abonrmaily low.
 An eloquent appeal was made to the fairness of the Chairman of the Com mission and confidence In his ability l to appreehnd the conditions described was expressed.
 President Conner upon the conclusion of the speech of Mir. Taylor expressed disappointment at the attitude of the Alabama line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. He had hoped to point their tariff charges out to the other rail- roads as an example of investment In the future development of the coun- try to increase the tonnage. President Conner asked Mir. Taylor If one of the surest ways of develop ing country was not to make low freight rates and especially low rates
 on fertilizers.
 To this 1t was replied that 1t was
 true If the rate was made reasonable. The president referred to the low
 rates that prevail to the furnaces around Birmingham on lime rock. He
 said just as the limestone there is Aux for increased tonnage so the fer tilizers in the agricultural sections of
 the State ought to be considered as
 flux,
 Competition and Commodities. Mir. Taylor contended that there is
 competition between commodities and
 that every commodity is trying ardu- | OuSlY 10 throw OH us SnOulueTS tHe
 burden that 1t should bear in the gen.
 eral distribution of the tariffs. He be- lieved that fertilizers should bear some | of the burden and asked the question | that If such abnormal decreases in fer~ | tilizers as were asked for were made, why should not dcreases be made in the rates on other things. Replying
 to the allusions of the President to the | low rates to the furnaces of the Bir- | minRham district, Mir Taylor asked the President what would happen if 1 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which was cited as one of the roads offering rates to the furnaces, had to
 depend upon the lirflerock business,
 The pertience of the question came
 from the fact that the Mobile and Ohio
 Railroad gets no iron tonnage business | in the State.
 President Conner readverted to the
 theory of low. fertilizer rates as a Aux for increased tonnage and told of the resistance of the roads in Georgia tory. He recalled how his brother as President of the Central of Georgia Railway protested against the reduc- ton and vigorously opposed Colonel Trammell who led the campaign for the reduced fertilizer rates. He said lthat he was sure now that the roads
 or most of them would admit the wis dom of the experiment.
 Mir. Taylor again referred to the Icontinuous losses of the Alabama branch of the Mobile and Ohio Rail road and President Conner answered him that because railroad has made a bad investment 1t is no reason why 1t should hold up the people"
 Being cross-auestioned by Commis- sioner Sanders, Mfr. Taylor stated that the capitalization of entire Mobile and Ohio Railroad is s5l.ao0.O0o and that