The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-07
COMMISSION
 TAXES A REST. Hearing of Railroads
 Comes to an End. MEETS AGAIN MAY IS At That Time Lawyers Win
 Argue on Rates. Physical Condition of President Conner Made Early Adjournment Im-
 perative--No Decision as

To the surprise of nearly everybody who has been connected with the in- vestigation of railroad tariffs in this State the Alabama Railroad Commls- sion yesterday afternoon at o'clock completed the hearing of every rail- road. and adjourned until Monday, May 22, On that date the legal phases of the question of tariff revision will be presented by counsels of the railroads and in all probability the revision, If any will be announced.
 The fatigue of President B. B. Co., mer, of the Commission, was directly responsible for a speedy termination Of the heAring. He announced at the be- ginning of the session yesterday morn ing that he was exceedingly unwell, and the strain of work during the in- vestigation prevented him from sleep ing more than two hours Friday night. He said that 1t was directly against the advice of his physician that he had undertaken the investigation. His in- disposition as the result of the April inquiry into fertilizer rates has con- tinued ever since. On this account 1t was deemed proper to hear briefly all the roads that had not been heard be- fore, thereby completing the investiga- tion rather than calling upon the tar if men to reassemble again for exten- sive testimony. The. lines examined
 
 were the Central of Georgia Railway, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, the Seaboard Air Line and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
 Those Last Examined.
 The representative of the Central Railway was w. A. Winburn, Vice President; the Alabama Great Southern A. l.. Sevier, General Freight Agent; the Seaboard Air Line. Col. Augustus Pope, Assistant General Freight Agent, and tho Mobile and Ohio Rail- road, Haiden Miller, General Traffic Manager. They all submitted to a short cross-examination and filed writ ten statements of the earnings of the road. the operating expenses, etc.
 "T am here to win these rates and 1t will be nothing short of the fatigue l have suffered that will stop me" These were the parting words of President Conner of the Commission, and he said them with such dramatic pauses. The rates that he referred to were the rates that he has been contending for all the while he has been in the public eye of Alabama, and are the Georgia class iflcation on the essentials of life.
 If a closer mutual understanding be- tween President Conner and the rail- roads has been the result of the irves- tigation just completed, 1t is not appa- rent to a third party. By catechizing the railroad OmCialS eueTBellCdily SN cry day, the chairman by the nature of his being, was forward and impetuous. He has necessarily, therefore expressed himself repeatedly and each time there is no sign of a concession to the com mon carriers of the State.
 That Campaign Circular.
 Had 1t not been for campaign cir cular alleged to have been used by President Conner. and produced at Fri dav's session, adjournment would have been reached at much earlier hour yesterday. The circular was a list of comparisons of Alabama and Georgia rates which figured in the campaign for the Presidency of the Commission last year and that for an elective Com mission over two years ago. It was brought out by General Traffic Mana ger C. B. Compton, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In bringing out the circular Friday, MT. Compton said he desired to make some correc- tions. declaring there were errors and intimating that the figures employed misled the voters. He alleged the mis- leading influence came in the fact that the comparisons purported to show that Alabama rates are 80 per cent. higher than those of Georgia. The claim was also made that specific articles and commodities were not chosen by the chairman which could not justly represent the average difference be- tween the rates of the two states.
 Rising to q point of personal prlvf- lege, as he did not believe campaign reviews were germane to the issue be- fore the Commission, Chairman Conner replied hotly to the claim of MT. Comp ton as to the chairman's fairness with the electorate of this State. He did not deny that the figures used in the circu- lar were inaccurate or incorrect but related his connection with 1t. He de- clared that the figures were not pro- cured by himself but by a represen- tative committee of citizens before the last Legislature. He did not see the circular, he said, until the committee met for organization in Birmingham. Then after he did use the literature and more for the purpose of infiuenc- ing the voters to a realization of the fact he said, that the Georgia rates on the necessities of life are much lower than In Alabama
 He reproved Mir. Compton for ever adverting to the campaigns of the past and reminded him that there have been more recent happenings in Georgia which he wished to talk over with the railroad men in Alabama. He strongly defended his sincerity in all his politi- cal career. He said he regretted that President Nj H. Smith of the Louis vile and Nashville Railroad had de- parted from the city yesteday before the hearing began. It prevented him from making some pretty caustic state ments, the chairman said, which per haps might not be exactly fair in the absence of the Louisville and Nashville executive officer. He exhumed the criticisms of that road that he had made during the campaign, that 1t had put in a per cent advance on local rates in 1898, when the jobbers of the East were given a reduction in inter state tariff to this and other States. Mir. Compton denied this but the chairman said he could never agree on that point.
 Towards the end of the single ses- sion yesterday Chairman Conner advised the railroads that beginning early in the summer he and his associates would | travel every line in the State to make an investigation of the complaints that have come to the Commission. He ex- pressed the hope that he could get on these trips capable representatives to this proposition, extending invitations of private travelling facilities to the l Commissioners.
 l THE LAST SESSION.
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