The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-05
ICOMER TELLS PETITIONERS
 TO TRIMMER" RAILROADS

peiied to file it's passenger and freight taf1ffs for approval
 | These views of Commissioner San. ders were put into motion and 1t was passed.
 Argument of MT. Jemison. Mr. Jemison said yesterday at the opening of the meeting, that he had no serious objections to the Birmingham ! Railway. Light and Power Company being put under Stato regulation. He lapppealed to the Commissioners to give him the benefit of a doubt If a doubt existed as to their Jurisdiction. He told Of extensive ve~improvements that have been made by the traction com pany in its inereasins inter-srean pa company is $e,oo0,0oo but the direc- tors had been authorized to issue In all SIG, ,o0o. 900 of bonds for continued development of the various lines in and out from Birmingham through the largo environs. For the Commission to intervene at this moment and change the category of the company iron, that of a stres. railway to a regular railroad might interfere with a plan of Mr. Jcn,ison: he said, to float about S2,SOe,O0V or bonds between now and January l. he would not say that such move on tne mart of the commission would mitigate against the loan but hc believed nc could foresce such q possibility. he has always found that the nnanc.a. agents in New York and elsewhere are quick to perceive or imagine the least flaw in securities such as he has oc- casion to handle. For this reason ne asked that any action Of the com, mission about the matter be postponed at least.
 Accommodation of Patrons.
 ..nA CTS that if his company did treign. business it was very small. It derives no net revenue whatever from the It, tie traffic and 1t was done more as an accommodation to tho people along the suburban lines, of the company than anything else. If the people Wsfe willing he would immediateiy put
 ston to the freight end of the com nany,s business. The freight charges. MT. Jemison testified. arc all rouno lower than the regular railroad ireish. ia riffs for the same distance.
 MT. Tillman said that he could see whv the Commission was induced " make the Birmingham corporatoh show cause why 1t should not DO class ed as a common carrier. He declared. hcwever. that this idea Is only suggest cd by reading one charter of the com pany. This is the charter that was re- ferred to by Commissioner SandeIs. There are nearly a dozen charters m nossession of the company granted III different years Mir. Tillman insisted, that a review of these charters ana inc many consultations that have taken place with tho Birmingham kaii. way Light and Power Company wouio convince the Commissioners that they have no just Jurisdiction over the cor poration. He admitted that one or these charters gave the company the right to haul persons ani property, put he said he could produce charter also which gave the company tho district rights of a street railway.
 The territory traversed by the lines of the Birmingham Company is mostly the streets of Birmingham, Bessemer, Ensley and the other incorporated clues and tov in the Birmingham environs. The lines of tho company were. most of them, laid first and afterwards the country pierced by them were incor- porated. He pointed out that the coun- try between the towns Is accommo- dated by frequent stops at cross roads and little stations just as if It were at the corner of a street. The workings of the corporations in all the depart naents are on the same order as those of any other street railway.
 It was shown that the line between Birmingham and East Lake is six and u haH miles long and that the interme- diate ground has been always laid of just as combinations of streets and they are numbered and stope are made just as If 1t was one single corpora ton. Besides, the company has daily iron, six to fifteen accident reports and it would be cumbrous to have to report