The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-04

Wtll and mercy or said southern Hah- 1 road Company"
 There we have city of Is.o0o in- habitants confessing itself in the pow l CT railroad. What does the rail- l road do with its power? The petition tells. It says that the railroads in agreement established favored points l to which they deliver goods for less | than they demand and receive for the transportation of similar conmodi- | ties under similar conditions to other | points In the through Danville to 1 Lynchburg. the rate on sugar is q 1-2 I cents a hundred weight: to Danvfile 1 aS 1-s cents: on leather. 47 cents to Lynchburg. to Danvil1e. 64 cents. | The President of railroad in the northwest "got mad" at city on his | line once, and he declared that he ' would make the grass grow in the streets of that town, and he came pret- ty near doing 1t before he died. I don | know what Samuel Spencer has against Danville. Citizens of the town say the railroad men +got mad 'at them I for building their independent line and trying to be free This may be imaeis | nation: the true reason for tho dis | crimination against Danyille. may be ! merely a matter of the business con- | venienee of the Southern Railroad. But l that doesn't matter. That doesn't help Danvilie. Danvilfe doesn't want grass I l petition says that the advantage given I by it's common carrier to the rival | cities. 'is depriving it (Danvlle) of It's l trade. cutting down its population. fn~ lcreasing the cost of living to it's peo- 1 pie. diminishing the value of it's real estate. and increasing tine burden of taxation on its citizens. New business enterprses and capitalists seeking in- vestment will not look at Danvi1le on account of the freight discrimination against it." Therefore the city of DaEvflie asks Congress to empower the Interstate Commerce Commission to
 estop the Southern Railroad from building up one community at the expense of another or from ''oppress- ing the inhabitants of one communi- ty with burdens in order that favors
 may be bestowed upon others This, then. is the way this railroad abuses it's power. And this is the way tho railroads are abusing their power in this petition of Danviiie is but one
 of many complaints that. coming from
 all over the country, have made the President undertake to jam through" rate bill of some sort. And some rate bill is going through. But who
 passes 1t? Who decides what sort of a. bill? The representatives of rail-
 roads and other big business. We have followed the bill to the point where 1t disappeared into the secret sessions Of tho Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, to be fixed" Who are the
 members of that committee: who are
 the 'tixers?" Take the majority party (RepnbIican1 members:
 Senator ElIxins is Chairman. We saw last week that he represents the Hog
 Combine of West Virginia, which has
 so corrupted the State that the Govern
 or had to appeal to the Senate to save his little shippers of coal from his railroads. And I said then that El- kins committed as a railroad man, just
 such acts of oppression as the Govern or complained of. Here is a case in point: 4 man named A. c. Fulmer leased from the owner of the Morgan town and Kingswood Railroad a small piece of coal land near that road. The Baltimore and Ohio made 1t hard for the Morgantown and Kingwood tin El- kins bought it: and, later, the land leased to Fulmer. By the terms of the lease Fulmer was bound to ship so much coal a year and he was keeping his contract till Elkins got the road. After that, Fu1mer says fand the case is matter of record) he couldn't get
 cars. He failed to ship as much coal as he should; this was called a breach of contract and. E1kins wanted to take his mine. Fulmer resisted, but Elkins
 ordered the tracks to the mine torn up. and that put that little shipper"
 out of business.
 Did you do that?' I asked Senator
 Elkins.
 "Yes.' he answered. but" and his
 face brightened, T had an order from
 court"
 The System doesn't have to buy FL
 kins. He is in the System. Mir. Elkins
 is a big business man. He says he is
 for "a" bill now; but he was one of
 those that wanted to "fx' our" bill
 by having all rate fixing reviewed by
 the courts!
 Senator CulIom Is the second member
 of "our" committee. He is the head of
 the so-called Federal Bunch that has
 resisted the reform movement out in
 Illinois. But he ,s with the President
 and the party for y"our" rate bill.
 The third member of "our" committee
 is Nelson W. Aldrich. The bought
 voters of Rhode Island sent him here
 to represent that sort of business; The Standard Oil Sugar--al1 the privileged businesses that look upon you and me as consumers. not as citizens. Senator Aldrich can be trusted to stand, with out hitching between the public and the results of nasty and nl-advised leg islation."
 ssnator Kean. the fourth member. cannot be bought. He is q gentleman Gin the American sense). descended from line of privileged business men, he owns about all the public utilities not yet bought up by the Prudential Life Insurance crowd of Jersey. He is not as able as Aldrich. but he repre- sents railroads and big corporate busl- ness, cynically. but honestly Gin the American sense.)
 Deliver, the fifth man. is a big. black politician from Iowa. Iowa is for rate regulation: so is Deliver. At least Deliver is for the Hepburn Deliver bilh Deliver doesn't believe you can reform men by law; he thinks our sole hope lies in the moral regeneration of the race, and he seems to be an "op- timist A few years ago Deliver wasn't against railroads: he was for
 Deliver and, though he listened, he couldn't hear the voters of Iowa clam
 mering for rate Legislation" But when
 Iowa changed, Deliver. like Hepburn,
 changed, and, like Hepburn. he cut his
 name on the bill and now he is for that Hepburn Deliver bill. For it? Why. some of the men who also are Tor rate regulation and who wanted to make few changes in the bill just to perfect if. complained, in my hearing | because Deliver wouldn't let anybody touch it, They had to promise to take the blame in his State before he would consent to verbal correction. You couldn't include express rate 1iscrin nation to save your soul; not in the
 Hepburn-Dolliver bill. Might lose it
 some express company's Senator's vote.
 No, sir Senator Deliver isn't for the
 regulation of rates: he is for his bill.
 fIe has to stand for reelection out in
 his State next winter
 Foraker is number six. Fire AIaRm
 Foraker of Ohio. A "demagogue" i'm
 his younger days. he is now a railroad director and consistent, able repre-