The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-21
 NO FRANCHISE WITHOUT PAY Council IS Inexorable in
 Its Position. AN ORDINANCE IS REJECTED Counsel for Traction Company Will
 Not Accept It. Large Majority of Montgomery Alder men stand With Mayor for Taxing Street Railway. for Right
 to Connect Tracks.

The Montgomery Traction Company is no nearer connecting with the lines of the recently acquired Montgomery Street Railway than it was eight weeks ago.
 The City Council of Montgomery, at It's regular semi-weekly meeting last night, adopted an ordinance which Ray Rushton. counsel for the Traction Com pany. declared would not be accepted by the people who own the corpora ton he represents.
 After several weeks of waiting, un- less Mayor Teague -interferes with his power of veto, the incident seems to be closed and the Montgomery street Rail- way will be operated independently. of the Montgomery Traction Company
 The joint Committee on Franchises and Privileges and Streets reported the same ordinance back to the Coun- ell save that instead of the 1 per cent feature for the first ten years, the com mittee provided that the consolidated company should pay annually Into the city treasury $2.500 for ten years and s5,0o0 for each year thereafter. But the clause was adopted that this should not be considered in lieu of any license that the Council might see fit to put on the company over and above these amounts.
 The ordinance also, provided that $7,500 should be paid for the privilege of allowing the tracks of the Traction Company to remain on Dexter Avenue and on Montgomery Street
 Mir. Rushton on the Floor.
 The ordinance was considered in Committee of the Whole. No trouble was had until the money clause was reached. Ray Rushton of the Traction Company was granted the privileges of the floor to explain the position of the Traction. Company in the matter.
 MT. Rushton said that he was unfa- miliar with this part of the ordinance. It had been his understanding that on- ly the S7.569 clause would be inserted and his people had reluctantly con- scented to accept this He said, how ever, that it was entirely useless for the Council to proceed further If the aldermen adopted the second clause because this would not be accepted by the people who own the Traction Com pany.
 He referred to the amount of taxes paid by the Traction Company and said that it was out of proportion to the amount of taxes paid by other insti- tutions that do twice the amount of business done by his company. He de- clared that if they were allowed the privilege of connecting the two lines the Traction Company would give Montgomery something that Montgom- cry had never had, a first class street railway service. But he said that the demands being made on the company were utterly unreasonable and were such as no good business men would accept. Montgomery. he declared, to be a poor street railway town. Mont gomery is congested. There is little suburban traffic and the street railways have to depend largely on the amuse- ments for making money. He declared that the Traction Company lost money on baseball last year but only on ac- count of the poor showing of the club during the early season.
 We are going to give Montgomery a pennant winning team. this year." he said. and we don't expect to lose mon ey."
 Mir. Rushton declared that the ordi- nance left it open to the Council to put any amount of taxation on the compa- ny He urged that the Council take off the $2,500 stipulation and allow the taxes to be fixed as the taxes of any other company.
 Alderman Gunter defended the com mittee's report. He spoke of the value of the franchise and the stipulation that the company must pay in certain amount to protect the city against hav- ing a corporation continually In poli- ties He spoke of the benefits the company received from the clty ana declared that If the people who own it are good business men they will give the city good service for he said good service pays.
 MT. Sullivan Defends Company.
 Alderman Sullivan defended the Fraction Company's position. He said that the people as a whole wanted tho lines connected without charge; that the Council was acting contrary to tn" citys interest, to the interest of tho working classes, who were robbed of the privelege of transfers.
 There is an organization here" he said known as the Commercial Club. Its main object is to induce foreign to invest their money in Montgomery This purpose is lauda- ble But isn't this a fine way for the City Council to treat foreign capitalists after they get them here?'
 Alderman Foster defended the report of the committee. He cited various amounts charged by other cities and re- viewed the entire situation.
 Alderman Hudson said that the peo ple were under the impression that the Traction Company is being held up" and he agreed with the people. He thought that the Traction Company is wiling to serve Montgomery and it is the solemn duty of the Traction