The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-09

Assistant General Freight Agent of the Frisco Railroad.
 Jay Smith of Marbury is in attend ance on the meeting. representns the citizens of that station on the Louis vile and Nashville Railroad, in pe- tition for 6 depot. The case will be called at this meeting.
 Mir. Brewdcr is Examined. G. R. Browder, general freight agent of the Southern Railway. took the witt ness stand when the Commission was called to order at Il o'clock yesterday morning. His examination lasted lon- ger than did the officials of all the other roads disposed of during the day. One reason for the exhaustive hearing of the Southern Railway was the fact tirat fnat n ana Iai Mr. Tq Browder VI % was used % to elicit good deal of general informa- tion that did not have to be rehearsed when the otesr roaas ssnsirsd were heard ard th original case as set down on the docket was an inquiry into the specific rate on cotton from. Leighton to the mills ills or general consideration of the rates on all. lines in Alabama upon motion of Associate Commissioner Sanders at a former meeting of the body
 Mir. Browder said in opening his statements that the Southern Railway has recently made number of special cotton rates in connection with other lines from shipping points in Alabama to mills within the State. These rep resent reductions made under the rates that were approved last May by the Commission. The new rates are mostly between productive points in north Alabama and the big supply points of the black belt to mills In north Ala bama. The mills mostly benefited are at Birmingham, Pell City, Florence, Huntsville, Shef1eld, Alexander City and other cities.
 The markets of the State whence the special rates apply to the mills are at Montgomery, Selma. Anniston and oth. CTS, according to MT. Browder
 Reductions Not Justified.
 The witness added that he had, as promised in May, made a careful Analy- sis of the mileage tariff of his lines in the State and found that no other re- auctions would be justified under pres ent conditions. It has been the policy of the Southern Railway also to make some new rates on cotton goods from Alabama mills to New York and the 1 East.
 A question of President Conner brought out that the rate from Leigh ton to Huntsville on cotton--a distance of sixty miles--is 34 cents per 100 pounds. The rate from Leighton to Greenville, s. C., in the lower group, is 46 cents--a distance of 390 miles.
 Figures were produced by MT. Brow der showing that Alabama mills have an advantage over the Carolina mills when shipping before and after the spinning. The combined rate from Selma to Florence and on the cotton goods thence to New York was com pared with the total rate that has to be paid by the Greenvllle (S. C.) mill buying the raw cotton In Alabama. The total rate in the former class is 90 cents per 100 pounds and in the latter case 1t is 92 cents.
 Mir. Browder said he made these comparisons only after the chairman had insisted that the Alabama mills are discriminated against in favor of the Carolina mills, when both are seek ing Alabama-grownc cotton. A letter was read from an officer of the Ashcraft Cotton Mills of Florence, asking the Commission to see if the railroads could not be induced to re- store a rate of 24 cents per hundred pounds which was withdrawn some time ago. applying from Montgomery Selma and Anniston to Florence. Mir. Browder said the Southern Rail- l way had already In force a rato of S5 cents on both compressed and non- compressed cotton between Montgom- cry and Florence and Selma and Flor | ence.
 Answering a question of Mir. Conner, | Mir. Browder said the prevailing Liver | pool and New York quotations deter mine the price of cotton at a given l time and not the sum of any two or more rates By comparison, the chair | man disclosed that the rate for four | miles in Georgia on cotton Is IS cents | and for the same distance in Alabama it Is 25 cents over the same road. l Answering another question of the | chairman, the witness said that the | mileage scale of the Memphis division | of the Southern Railway contains some | slightly higher rates than prevail on | the same lines of the same road in the | State.
 Rate s to Mobile. l Mir. Browder said that to materially | reduce rates from local stations on lis road in Alabama to Mobile would tend | to operate to the disadvantage of the mills as 1t would decrease the through | rate to Liverpool via Mobile.
 The chairman replied that although | 1t would be a disadvantage to the mills to increase the receipts In the port of Mobile would benefit the State a great deal. The witness rejolned that there is already a large movement from territory south of Anniston and Bir- mingham to Mobile.
 The following comparisons of rates on cotton in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, by request of the chair man, were submitted by the witness:
 Ala Geor- S.Caro-
 bama. gia. lima. Distance--Miles. Cents. Cents Cents.