The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-06
tcontinusd from Page One,
go on; that this brought us up to some time in 1871.
 U. & M Eufera State.

some time in 1871.
 |. & N. Enters state.
 At that time the Louisville and
 Nashville Railroad was operating a
 railroad from Louisville to Nashville, and from Memphis Junction. or a point
 near Bowling Green to Memphis. with pany found with it's large investment that 1t was necessary to secure through traffic. or interstate traffic--to active- points in and beyond the Ohio river. Chattanooga. Atlanta and beyond To do this they had to interchange traf-
 flc with the Nashville & Chattapooga nooga Railroad was also interested in
 what 7 was known as the Nash vile & Northwestern, the
 line extending from Nashville to. that company deemed that the interest they represented would be promoted by diverting traffic. so far as they could isviIle and Nashville. to St. Louis and other points. In other words, 1t was claimed by the Louisville and Nash
 nooga was discriminating against 1t by
 from Nashville to Chattanooga,
 and that it had no trafftc & coming abto to and ana
 Northwestern Road. This made the management of the Louisville and
 Nashville exceedingly restless. They wanted an outlet, and they were in duced to enter into a contract with Sam Tate and associates, and the South and North Alabama Railroad practtt.
 cally assuming all of the obligations or the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company to complete the South and North Alabama Railroad and equip IT, | ties that would, under the contract, have gone to Sam Tate and associates: | that the Louisville and Nashville Rail, | road carried out It's contract, completed At that time, MT. Smith continued, there was a good deal of activity, | though we would not consider 1t much at this time: but that they then thought | it pretty good business, more tramc l than we could move, and we received
 rates from 100 per cent to i5o per cent | on provisions than at present which
 was quite good item then. Louisville | at that time was very important pork do, and we had good deal of dificulty | in operating the new road. The panic
 of fs7S came along the very next @
 spring. and we had no busii,scs, Ine s
 North Alabama Railroad was very | great not like other roads that had | been constructed; not like the Alabama
 Great Southern running through a val | ley all the way from Chattanooga prac.
 ticaiIv to Meridian; it runs between tho | ridges, while the South and Nortn Alabama Railroad was built across the
 ridges and mountains, which ruW east | and west, at an enormous cost. .. | President Smith continued at length with most interesting review or tne
 early history ana Ss s.rugsiesa spa ot tconcluded | by asking the Commission, In view or ail the facts stated by him as to the
 of 3fbae the ngteEssts of the State, whether the railroads were not | the friends of the farmers and all other classes of citizens. . .o2,,a He deplored in the strongest terms inc efforts which, he said, MT. Conner | had made to array the people Of the State against the railroads Of the state.
 He appealed to the Commission TOT eo operation and fair-play. in order that might be obtained. not only for the peo- pls but for the railroads.
 Conner Answers Smith.
 MT. Conner stated in substance that he had the very highest regard TOT MT, !. smith and for his wisdom. and that ne
 had the very gs1,o highess1f, regdir1 Rgsiiroaa tp Com pany; that he recognized fully wnat | the road had done towards deveiopihs | this State, and that he thought IL tne is | fullest measure it had been equal to, II not exceeding, what MT. Smith had | stated. but that he very much re- gretted that MT. Smith had made some l personal remarks apout tHS
 commission. .L -o
 Continuing Mir Conner said those re- | marks called for an explanation rom | the chairman of the commission be- cause 1t was directed to him; that ne understood from MT. Smiths statement | | in which he quoted from what he had read to the assembled railroad people at the beginning of this meeting that | he had called the attention of the rall- roads that the public had been very kind to them; that they had been very | liberal in giving their employees posi- | lions of trust and honor in this state l in the largest measure; and for many years allowed them to make their own | rules of government. and to make | their own tax rates; that he stated from this they had become In meas ure Russianized, Cubanized; that they | had in a measure became autocratlc
 was but natural; and that the State should have in measure become alarmed was also natural; that 1t was not his purpose to have gone any fur | ther than that, and that he very much | regretted that he felt the necessity of saving in defense of the State, and in defense of the chairman of the commiS- | sion that 1t was a common report that | the agent of the road represented by | President Smith had sat in the lobby | between the House of Representatives | and the Senate and practically dictated | the Legislation of Alabama for num- | Der of years; that the State became