The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-07
RAILROAD
 COMMISSION
ACTION ON IMPORTANT MATTERS
 WE'RE P0sTP0NED.
Members of Body Will Inspect Lipes of fhe Southern Railway-Depots Wanted Ut Marbury und
 yiuemepf.

ent, went straight ahead with docket of miscellaneous business and accom- plished a good deal in the four hours of sitting from F o'clock until o'clock in the afternoon.
 Little importance is Nattached to the doings of the Commission except that the members unanimously determined to begin on March % general inspec- ton tour of the Southern Railway lines. This inspection will probably last up- wards of a week The starting point will be Birmingham. and the members. with the high officials of the railroad company, will leave at convenient time on the morning Of Tuesday, March 20. The Commission decided to insist on the company of General Manager Spencer of the Southern Railway, on the trip It is urged in numerous com
 plaints before the Commission that
 some rnaterial improvements in the lines lying in Alabama, especially that
 between Mobile and Marion Junction,
 are badly needed.
 Cotton Rates to Mills.
 George R. Browder, General Freight Agent Of the Southern Railway, was present yesterday and submitted some new local rates on cotton for the ap- proya1 of the Commission. The rates were approved All are reductions ana appIy on the Memphis Division of the southern Railway. The reductions place the cotton rates on the same level with those Of all other lines or
 the same road in Alabama. It iookeo for A time as if the Commission would pass over the proposition until the next regular meeting inasmuch as the gen eral inquiry into cotton rates rom Alabama producing points to Alabama mill points was yesterday continued
 another month. It was argued, how ever. that few shippers could get benefit out of the reductions this late in the season and that the rates ought to go into force.
 The rates were approved by unanl- mous vote. including President B. B.. Csorner and Associate Commissioners w. T. Sanders and w c. Tunstall. me President. however, explained that he wished it clearly understood that m voting for the new rates he did not favor them for all time as he believed the cotton rates generally in Aiapaha are too high. ii was on account of the inability of the stenographers at the January meeting to transcribe the testimony or the general cotton rate investigatlon in time for the Commissioners to reao it that the hearing was continued until | the March meeting. There IS no ihch- nation on the part of the Commission to rush this inquiry,in view of the tact that whatever changes may be effected | in the rates would not this late operate | to any material advantage or cotton shjnpers or mill men. The oesire 's | to give It mature consideration anu | come to a conclusion in ample time TOT another season.
 Birmingham Street Railway. Rv request of John P. Tillman, coun- ,g,,, .l,aY lai ilUaW Light | and Power Company, the Commission | also continued the hearing instituted | some weeks ago whereby that corpor- ation will be required to show why 1t | should not file copies of its passenger
 and freight tariffs with the Commits | sion. It had been originally suggested by the chairman of the Commission ! that since the Birmingham inter-urban | traction lines haul freight as well as messengers by charter provisions the | company might be classed as com mon carrier and therefore made obedi- ent to the Commission. Commissioner Sanders motion later prevailed sum moning the president of the company to appear and make whatever showing t | could. Capt. A. c. Sexton, representing the
 peopie of Vinemont, Cullman County. where d depot is sought of the Louis vile and Nashville Railroad, was the first complainant to be heard yester- day when the Commission was called | to order at 12 o'clock by President Co., | mer. Captain Sexton recalled the or | der of the Commission several weeks ago requiring the road to build shed at Vinemont for the protection of freight against weather and depreda- tions. He wished to call the attention | of the Commission to recent confer ences with officers of the road wherein promises to build a depot were made | to the people of the town provided the | fruit raising colony will furnish a site | and the company finds 1t is justifable | The depot would be located at a point | midway between Vinemont and the 1 spot where the order of the Commission | applied.
 | A request that the petition filed some | time ago resulting in the order of the 1 Commission for she'd be withdrawn
 was allowed and the order will, there | fore, be held up until the outcome of | the new proposition of tho railroad can | be awaited.
 Complaint for Marbury. l Considerable time was taken up in | hearing evidence in the case of the | people of Marbury on the Louisville and | Nashville Railroad pettioning for a | depot at that point The petition of | the people set out the fact that the ! | with all other business going out of | the town amounts annually to about l S36O. .O00 Counsel for the road, Hon. | John " Smith. admitted that some $60,- l 900 of freight is derived at Marbury | What he sought to prove by figures | of the road and by witnesses whom he l introduced was that the citizenship of | Marbury is not permanent, It was tes- | tified by one witness, who now lives at
 Mountain Creek, and used to look after 1 the logging interests of the lumber | company, 4hat the timber at the present
 rate of cutting will not last more than
 four years For this reason it was
 urged that no depot is justifiable as it Is strictly a lumber town. Besides,
 it was argued that the commissary of
 the lumber company is the only store
 in the place.
 Further efforts were made to show
 that the present depot at Mountain
 Creek about mile from Marbury, is
 sufficient accommodation for the peo-
 pie ot both towns.
 The petition. on the other hand es-
 timated that there is enough timber
 to last twenty-five or thirty years and
 that it is proposed to build a cotton
 factory at Marbury in the near future
 l II was shown that there is consider
 able passenger business which origin
 ates at Marbury and it is a town of
 ] 500 population, The hardships that
 waiting passengers and receivers oi
 freight have to endure under the pres
 cnt arrangement were also painted.
 The Commission thought it was wise
 to postpone action until a personal triI
 could be made and so voted
 The case of H c. Fulton ct al vs
 Southern Railway, which Is petition
 for depot accommodations at Gurne'