The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-03
.COMER GETS ANSWER
 FROM MIR. WILSON Attorney General Says Railroad
 Commission is Legal RENDERS LONG OPINION
Sanders and Conner Have Different Views as to Propriety of an Att tack on Validity of Law
 Creating Commission.

LdCk on NdllulIy or Law
 Creating Commission.
 Montgomery. July 2.-tSpeciaL)-Rep ing to d quest ton of B. B. Conner. presi- dent of the state railroad commission, At torney General Massey Wilson says, speaking of the validity of the present railroad commission law: II am of the opinion that the entry referred to above is part of the house journal, and that the act was eonstitutlonally passed, so far as the point above discussed is con cerned."
 This opinion was given the president of the railroad commission on request, and followed the making public of an opinion by former Attorney General w. L. Mar tin of Montgomery by MT. Conner in a speech at Selma on June 14 which held that the law Is invalid because the action of the legislative bodies through which it passed ito become law was not in every case properly shown The opinion of Mir Wilson, therefore, Is the opposite of that of MT. Martin and contrary to the idea that the law is unconstitutional.
 The matter of the validity of the law was brought up at the regular monthly meeting of the commission today with President Conner and Associates TunstalI and Sanders in attendance. President Conner, after the disposal of regular busi- ness, made q statement covering the ac- tion that he had taken in the premises. He said that a MT. Perdue of Montgomery had said to him that the law was invalid because not properly engrossed He, MT. Conner, then submitted the question to MT Martin. former attorney general, for his opinion, believing that 1t was of the greatest importance that there should not only be certainty about the situation but that the people should have a chance to be informed upon the doubt that had arisen
 Sanders Speaks Up.
 Associate Commissioner Sanders then spoke up and said he considered it the duty of the commission to uphold the law tha( authorizes it's actions and should staSd as supporters of 1t until some court of last resort had declared there was no right.
 President Conner desired that there should be no mistake about his position He had fought for some time for a better commission law and the law which had been questioned was the one accepted as a compromise at the last session of the legislature. He and his friends in the fight for different regulations had de- sired the Texas law but failed to get it. With his record in the fight along this
 line he thought he would be derelict in duty If he did not attract the attention of the people to the question that had come up as to the validity of the act. He thought the people ought to know it so that prior to the meeting of the legis- lature they might have the situation thought out and be ready to make law that will hold. He asked MT. Sanders his opinion, having mailed, as he said, a copy of the Martin letter to the latter at Athens
 Mr. Sanders was of the opinion that the commission should not do anything to dis credit its own authority, believing that the result of such thing would be to cause the people to have contempt for its orders. 'I do not think it proper for a member of the commission to say whether the law is invalid or not, the duty of the commission being to sustain its authority, unless the law should be declared invalid by the courts"
 Mr. Conner insisted that 1t was his duty to bring the doubt cast upon the law to the attention of the public. MT. San ders took the ground that it was the duty of the commission to uphold and protect its own law until the courts decided it invalid at the instance of some person resisting an order of the commission. This, he did not think, would be done. as he stated that the Montgomery case against Gaston was in his opinion, strong ly pursuasive of the validity of the act This case is cited by both Mir Martin and the attorney general.
 Mr. Sanders further stated that he thought 1t was the duty of the president of the commission to call the attention of the legislature to the fact that he had been advised that the act was invalid; but that he should not proclaim throughout Alabama on an ex parte opinion that the commission was without authority; that his recommendation should have been con- fined to the legislature; that 1t was the duty of all tribunals to sustain their own authority.
 Work Accomplished.
 The commission took up most of the day in hearing petitions for new depots. Ridervllle citizens asserted that. the Jack son Lumber company shut them off from service by the Southern road there, and though they had five stores there they had to go to Plantersville for their goods It @as finally agreed to continue to the next meeting in order for all concern ed to confer on the matter.
 Requests for depots at Piper, Dogwood and Mulberry Tank on the Southern, and Carpenters on the Nashville, Chattanooga and St Louis, were continued to the next meeting; also at Jonesboro, on the Ala bama Great Southern. It was reported that depots are going up now at Sunny south, Fulton and Gastonburg. on the Southern.
 S. A. Craig, having made complaint of connection at Decatur, 1t was agreed that the Louisville and Nashville train from Nashville leaving Decatur at 5:1O a. m, would wait twenty-five minutes on re- quest for the Memphis and Charleston. at 5:15. MT. Craig had also asked that the meeting point of certain trains on the Memphis and Charleston be changed, but there was no action taken by the commission.
 The complaint of the Lillie Milling com- pany of Franklin. Tenn. on rate on flour from that point to Greensboro was con tnued.
 The freight tariffs of the Oak Grove and Georgetown railroad were not en- dorsed because they run little too high. They were continued until next meeting in order that they may be modified This road runs from Oak Grove. in Mobile county, to Gibson. Miss, distance Of twentv-folr miles