The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-07

had not rested well during the preced-
 ing night, and his indisposition had
 grown worse. He said that he had
 started the work of the investigation
 entirely against the advice of his phy-
 sician, who wanted him to take two months vacation.
 few rate questions were put to MT. Miller and he left the stand. L. Sevier, General Freight Agent of
 the Alabama Great Southern Railroad,
 was next called to the stand. He was
 examined first by A. G. Smith, counsel
 for the Alabama Great Southern Rall- road.
 Mir Sevier said that. for the fiscal year ending June 1. 1904, the gross earnings of his road were $3,099,445. Alabama's proportion of this amount
 was $2,474,3GS, figured by dividing the gross earnings by the total mileage Of
 the road and multiplying the quotient by the Alabama mileage of 2S5. The operating expenses of the Ala bama Great Southern for the fiscal year
 named were $2,474.520 and Alabama | portion was $2,026,9S8. The bonded in- debtcdness of the road is $4,916,25O, ot which $3,326,6 SOP Is Alabama's share on the proportion of mileage. The net earnings of the road were for 1904 s626,52S. Alabama's portion | being $447,379. The road has, accord | lnk lO MT. ctNitT, HCNOL PoiN "AJ | dend on the common stock. It has paid | 6 per cent On the preferred stock and per cent arrears on preferred cumu- | lative stock.
 The Alabama Great Southern Rail- road has a uniform tariff which, MT
 Sevier says, is applied alike in Ala
 bama, Georgia and Mississippi. The
 population per mile in Georgia on the
 Alabama Great Southern is 356 and in Alabama 1t is 322. The operating ex- penses of the road in Georgia are less | than in Alabama, owing to the high
 terminal charges in this State. | The physical status of the road, MT Sevier would put up against any line
 in the State.
 The present work of developing the truck farming industries in Alabama
 was told of by MT. Sevier. The employees per month of the Ala | bama Great Southern amount to 1,116 The average wage per capital Is $l.SS per day.
 No combinations of Rates. Counsel Smith referred to the charge ! of the chairman Friday that two men fixed the rates In Alabama, and asked MT. Sevier If he eyer consulted with | the Southern Railway or the Louisville
 and Nashville Railroad fin determining | Alabama rates. Mir Sevier said he had
 no consultation whatever with these roads in fixing rates.
 Asked by Commissioner Sanders, Mir Sevier said the minimum cost of repro ductton per mile of the Alabama Great | Southern in Alabama would be $49,- | OS2S3 He told of a recent reduction | of grade in Alabama at the rate of S23,- | 900 per mile.
 | Asked by the chairman. Counsel Smith answered the Southern Railway
 as a corporation does not own shar' l of stock of the Alabama Great South
 ern, but he said 1t IS the understand | ing that stockholders of the Southern
 Railway own a majority of the Alabama 1 Great Southern stock. The roads are
 however. distinctly separate corpora 1 tions.
 The chairman said they are allied
 roads and there must be an underlying
 management of them pretty much the | same.
 The chairman referred to the history l of commissions in other States which brought about reductions in rates un' | der protest of the railroads and there was subsequent prosperity He was not possessed of a comparison between rates on the Alabama Great Southern l in Alabama and Georgia but recognized 1 that the road has done more to gel ! nearer to the producer, possibly, thar | any other road in the State He saic 1 the rates on the average are lower | than on the Louisville and Nashville and added that there are radical dis 1 crlminations, pure and simple"
 Mir. Sevier, answering the chairman repeated the elements that make uT the reason the handling of lntra- State business Is more expensive than inter- | State business.
 Answering the chairman. Mir. Seviel said that the Alabama Great Southern | has put in the rate of 50 cents ton on coal to Gadsden and Anniston- but