The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
HARAHAN'S SPEECH
EXECUTIVE OF ILLINOIS CENTRAL
 ANNOUNCES POLICY.
Relieves That Tide of Commerce is Con- ntmntIy Flowing More Strongly Through the south and
 lEe win Aid.

Harahan by the New Orleans progress i've union, a notable gathering of Southern railroad men were present. in. cludlng Milton H. Smith, President of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. [. MT. Smith was one of the speakers.
 Mir. Harahan said in part:
 T believe that the tide of commerce is constantly flowing moro strongly through the South, and 1t is our inten- tion to do all we can to concentrate that tide, both incoming and outgoing, at. the port of New orleans. I wish to speak about the trade with South Amer ica and particularly the Panama Zone. Tn the territory lying south of the Missouri and Ohio Rivers must come the great industry expansion of our { country and the tfena of commerce from that territory ought to be along the lines or least resistance, according to natural law, this direction is south. As the topography of the country win | show.
 we have been handicapped by the ' action of the Government which has placed five ships on. regular schedule I between Colon and New York city, and nine between New Orleans ana Colon. Every pressure ought to be brought to bear to induce the Government to dkvi- : dend the proportions so that the Gulf ports would not be placed at this great disadvantage At least 75, If not 30 per cent of the Panama traffic should pass i through New Orleans.
 l ITO my mind 1t Is not right to haul l a large quantity oi goods which are manufactured or grown in the section have mentioned all the way to the i East when this traffic. could be brought | to New Orleans and shipped from here f with great saving m point of time X and distance. I am confident the peo- pie in the South and In that territory, \ when they realize all of these facts xafx. fVS fKls sible effort to induce the Government to properly and promptly recognize our K just claims."
 Mr. Harahan summarized the re- II n1arkable development of the Missls- sippi River valley lying north of Jack son. Miss. and known as the Yazoo Valley. He said that in 1884 only about 5o0,ooo acres of this land were under cultivation while today 1,309,e0O acres are cultivated and additional land is opening to cultivation as fast as labor can be found to work It.
 He spoke also of the Illinois Gen. traPs efforts to bring a good class of white immigration into the South, say t'ng that an immigration bureau with representatives in Europe was at work uksn this problem.
 President smith speaking on the great railroads of the South. said in part;
 Tn view of the existing prosperous eonditiops. a pesslmistic note will, I fear, sound discordant, and yet to those whose duties and responsibilities cause them to look ahead, and especially those who have struggled through the panics and depression of the past,-who, perhaps, have lived too long,--the fu- Lure, especially for railway transporta- tion interests, Is not free from anxiety. The cost of operating and maintaining
 
 leaps and bounds Already many cor ! operations, while their receipts from traffic are largely increasing, net re- Eceipts are not, and in some cases are decreasing.
 \ ITO add to the anxiety. the owners , of railway properties are threatened with loss. possible confiscation, by the people. not that the people as whole are antaRonistic to vested property
 rights but are to an extent, debauchsd iby the leaders who, for selfish reasons
 vociferously denounee corporations. es- 1 pecially railway corporations, falsely charging them with ruining the coun- try.
 To particularlze somewhat: In she neighboring state of Alabama, a gev- ernor will, within a few days, be inauguEated and legislature convened pledged to increase the burdens of the railways by largely increased taxation and to reduce revenues by reducing rates It is alleged that, in some in- stances, the current rates for transpor- ting property are greater than the rates for similar service in the state of Georgia.
 Tn the last named state the condl- tions are somewhat similar. gover- nor is to be inaugurated and a 1eglsla- ture convened, pledged to enact and en- force extreme anti-railway corporation laws.
 The attitude of the government, I through its administrators. is distinct fly antagonistic to railway interests. It must be conceded that the railroads do bear their portion of the burdens of the government. Millions of dollars derived from direct or indirect taxa tion are expended annually to improve and maintain improvements of water ways. with the faIlaciOus intention of creating or intenslfylng competition with the railway lines. Government re- ports show. at least in one instance, where after having expended several Suillions of dollars to improve a water way the cost of supervising and main- tening such improvement per annum. exceeded the value of all of the prop arty transported via such improved wa terway.
 president Roosevelt has. in two an nual messages to Congress. sharply icriticized two of the federal judges. a coordinate department of government because they have in the performance of their duties. rendered decisions not satisfactory to him, He and the de- pertinent of justice have in effect pur sued course of intimidation not here tofore attempted.
 When 1t Is considered that the President appoints the judges which in cludes their promotion it is not too much to characterize his conduct as dastardly His plaint is that the gov ernlnent has not the right of appeal and that the decisions which he de- nounces were final. NAre the judges at fault because the laws of the country do not provide for an appeal in crimi- nal cases9 As am advised, since the creation of the government the law has been that a man accused of crime and acquitted cannot be again tried for the same offense--hts iifo and liberty may not again be jeopardized. The justice of such d law will not, I think be denied"
 Beautiful Flowers beautifully ar- rNuwAn.