The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-06

\
 other mills in the State do not consume as much coal as the furnaces or nearly so much. The mills at Talladega and other manufacturers average as good | a rate on coal as the same industries do in any part of the State. | The complication was described by Mir. Smith that would follow If the 50 cent rates on coal were allowed on oth- CT industries thar furnaces. People | would buy the coal on this rate and di- vert 1t to domestic purposes and this would be discrimination against those who purchase for domestic pur- 1 poses alone.
 MT. Smith referred to the charge on l the first day that the Louisville and Nashville Road and the Southern Rail- way were worried" into giving the 50 cent rate to Anniston. He said the 1 roads are always worried, being att | tackled from all sides by shrewd men. Will Increase Rates on Coal. Mir. Smith announced that the Louis- vile and Nashville road will, in few days, increase the rate on all coal from the Birmingham district to Gadsden. Anniston and Alabama City from 50 to | 70 cents. except the coal used for fur mace purposes. He said it was a mis- | take for his road to have made the-fe- auctions to Annistn, Gadsden and Ala | bama City on all coalA In the same statement, he said he would not reduce the rates to Talladega as petitioned. There was long discussion between | the chairman and Mir. Smith on the | comparisons of iron and coal tonnage | with cotton mill freight. MT. Smith insisted that the roads do not discrim- | mate between small and big furnaces, | and the chairman, lauded the high-class | freight into and out of the cotton mills.
 oAn aat1 An hAer hn roads not to increase the coal rates to te cotton mills in Anniston and Gads- den, repeating that they are in hard straits.
 Mir. Smith diiated on the difficulties of making rates and adjusting them to the difficulties and prosperity of the cotton mill men. The difficulties are greater than in the case of cottof mills, which the Louisville and Nashville | Road is also trying to foster. r Mir. Smith said he considered the 10- | cent rate on coal fo rdomestic and steam purposes as very reasonable. He said he used to make discrimination between domestic and steam coal MT. Smith and MT. Culp of the South- ern, Railway were asked by the, chair man to consider more maturely the pe- | tition for lower rates on coal into An- niston, Gadsden and Alabama City. | Mir. Compton took the stand. The | chairman said he considered the Louis- vile and Nashville Railroad as the best in the State, and that 1t was not unralr to make comparisons on the road be- | tween rates In the States of Georgia | and Alabama.
 l Mir. Compton said the Georgia tariff | applies only over 9.3 per cent or the Louisville and Nashville Road. He said the method of comparisons of rates by the chairman is improper and in- | correct"
 The chairman said his method Is the same as that used by other Commis- sioners in other States. | A series of arguments followed on the question of whether the Louisville and Nashville Road is going to base It's showing on a comparison of averages or the chairman's selection of less than 100 commodities, which were called necessaries to the people Of the coun- try
 The chairman said he was willing to have the Georgia tariff substituted for the present l.. and N. rates in Ala i bama He ventured the belief that 1t would be a less change for the Louis vile and Nashville Road than any | other.
 Mir. Smith of the Louisville and Nashville gave Q brief review of the lease of the Georgia properties of that road operated as first-class roads. He told of losses on all the lines and said that 1t was never clear to him that the Georgia Commission has named as Class A roads only the properties Tn which the Louisville and Nashville l Road is interested.
 Financial History of l.. and N. | MT. smith discussed the financial his tory of the road and showed that be- tween 1856, when the history began. and June, 1904, the company has paid out in operation expenses and taxes $373,S47,314S3, and in interest, $lzf'- 2s1,S91.l2 The dividends for that pe- riod were $31, ,137. 959.96, being less than l2 1-2 per cent per annum. He answered the chairman that the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the road IS S113.342.5O and the cost of the road was $l33.472, ,240.S3.
 The stock history of the road was | gone into briefly by the Chairman ana | MT. Smith. The latter told of how the
 majority stock of the Louisville and
 Nashville was acquired by the Atlan-
 tic Coast Line in April of l9Oz
 The Chairman, who had charged that
 there was $3O,000.000 in the Louisville
 and Nashville treasury at the time or
 this deal said that inasmuch as he (Mf.
 Smith) had denied the statement, that
 he had, since the last meeting. tried 10
 find the Atlantic Coast Line circular which was LnG Chhii hhelh D
 on the matter He could not find the
 circular but said he had read the cir-
 cular in a competitive debate with the E ex- President of the Alabama Commis-
 sion. Hon. John V. Smith.
 Mir. Smith repeated that the state
 ment of the full treasury Is erroneous.
 He said just about the time ofthe ac-
 uuisition by the Coast Line the Louis-
 vile and Nashville management had
 been careless with healthy amount of
 money on hand and had busicd itself too much with accommodating securities
 and accumulated them to the extent of
 S2O, 900. .O0O. He said there was big | debt hoated by the road to make ex-
 tensive improvements. most of which were to be in Alabama.
 The Louisville and Nashville, also, according to MT. Smith. had been com pelIed to sell its sterling bonds On the South and North Alabama road on the London market at a discount of from s7 to S4 He repeated that the alleged | Coast Line circular could not be trna ! when, at the time of the acquisition.