The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-07

must pay taxes. They do pay taxes.
 and the States undertake to say what services performed. But it is your
 duty, if you will permit me to say so,
 to protect these large interests. The capital invested in the railways is the aggregate capital of individuals at
 last All such organizations, all large operations, must necessarily be man | aged by agents. employees and bureaus.
 Railways have to be operated by bu-
 reaus. There is nothing wrong about that, except that they have got the
 best men they can who are willing to
 compensation. Now we have a great difficulty in getting men with what we may call the commercial instinct
 the man that wants to buy cheap and sell dear, does not want to work for q monthly salary, to look after our com mercial business. Therefore, we do
 not get the highest talent of that kind.
 Mir Conner. your president, has been a
 not likely that he ever did consider
 working for a monthly or annual sti-
 pend. He can do better. We cannot get. and cannot expect to get, men of
 the highest ability. and, therefore, are at disadvantage-thc railways are at d disadvantage in that respect.
 The State of Alabama has created 8 Bureau. and named 1t the Railroad Commission of Alabama. However. you. Mir. President, are performing the duties of your position, and, I suppose. being remunerated to some extent. but you would not for a moment consider devoting your entire time for the com pensation yCu receive.
 The railways are the servants of the people, as I have said. When MT. Huger meets a customer, he treats him | very politely. The representatives of the railways must do likewise, espe- cially in the Traffic Department All patrons Hook alike" to railway rep resentative. Some look like patrons that arc not. but they may become such, so the only thing to do is hats | off what can I do for you, and for You?" That is the attitude the rail- ways occupy towards their patrons, and in that sense they are the ser wants of the people. They are solicit | ing the patronage of the people,, doing | all they possibly can to secure patron age and increase traffic. They cannot be successful, or If successful cannot continue so unless they can increase their traffic.
 The L. and N. has gotten into diff | ficulty. as stated, by assuming large obll llgations for constructing the South and North Alabama Railroad, there be- bonds of that road outstanding on which t is guarantor. In addition, | the l.. and N paid $S00,000.00 back In | 1S7I-72 for $2,0OO,OOO.0O of preferred I stock. the stock bearing per cent. cumulative interest. The road has never earned it's interest. It is get ting to a point now where it looks as though 1t might, in the future, # enough to pay interest upon the bond ed indebtedness, but there is little or no prospect of ever being able to pay anything on the preferred stock. The accumulated dividends for some thir- tY-two or thirty-three years, at the about $S.50O. 900 10 $4,OOO 900. There does not seem to be any prospect of the l.. and N. Railroad Company re- lceiving anything on this class of se- curities. Notwithstanding large amount of additional capital must nec- essarily be provided for the S. and N. A. Railroad, if the traffic continues to grow. Considerable sums have al ready been expended in reducing the grades and constructing second track. But the country Is so difficult especial ly from OXmoor to Helena, that up to this time the management has not been able to make up its mind that 1t can invest so large a sum as Is necessary to reduce the grades between those two points and construct a second track Surveys have been made, and the cost will be considerably more than a million dollars. the length of the line increased a mile and a half. with a tunnel 1000 feet long. We are now engaged in reducing grades and con structing a second track between Boyles. near Birmingham. and the junction with the Cain Creek branch, previously referred to. at a pretty large expense. The revision of the line be- tween the junction and Decatur has not been undertaken, except for five miles this side of Decatur. where we have second track. l point this out to show that even if the l.. and N. Railroad Company builds no more mile age, no additional agricultural roads in Alabama that large additional sums are going to be needed on the main line. We must also, if possible, reduce the grades and reconstruct the NJ. and M Division. We have got to haul of it. and must have facilities that will enable us to haul 1t very cheaply. Instead of sending an engine over the road, as we have to do over the South and North Alabama Railroad, with twelve or fifteen ears, we must, if pos sible, have a road over which we can haul three or four times as much, in order to reduce the cost of tranSporta- tIon and enable us to increase our traffic, if it is possible to do so. Now, if this Commission enters upon an an tagonistic campaign against the rail- waYs-if it proposes to reduce the rates so as to make the operation still more unprofitable, you will certainly tend to paralyze. if you do not paralyze, the ef- forts to get additional capital, and you will almost render impossible the efforts of the railways to Increase the traffic ana develop the business of the country.
 Now for few words about the real matter before the Commission name ly a reduction in the rate on fertili gers In 1869, l, as General Freight Agent of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, personally, very carefully revised the local tariff of that company. made almost the first book tariff Cthe traffic men will understand thaD that I had ever seen. think there were one or two others in Ehe United States. By book tariff I mean a tariff bound in volume. with rules regulations, Classifcations, etc. in- stead of a sheet tariff which we used to have and paste on the wall along side of the bill clerk, or bill of lading clerk. At that time I made the rates on fertilizers the lowest of all rates in that tariff. my reason being one that your Chairman has advanced so per sistently for the last three days wanted to do everything 1 could to encourage the consumption of fertili- gers. believing that the increased use of fertilizers which you have argued so much about, and which some of the representatives seem to be rather loath to agree to. would increase produc- views on that question. Now, if l am not misinformed, in the local tariffs of the l.. and N. Railroad Company, fer tilizers are placed in the lowest class, with perhaps the exception of brick and stone, upon which it seems a very low rate has been made to encourage the movement for short distances. As usual thing. we do not expect to move Fthe class of brick which is manufac- tured along our lines. or the stone that Is produced along our lines. for long