The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-27
By VIII r. sheehan.

plafnfng and complaining loudly because her rates are higher than those of the towns which surround her and which may become her rivals. Her business people are convinced of this. To do something about ft they have organized Commercial Club and at the first meeting some of them had long tables of figures relating to Eutaw's rates from western shipping points Compared with the rates enjoyed by other towns along the Southern. Now these figures showed. if they were accurate and they were vouehed for by Eutaws most thoughtful bust ness men that grain and other ner- chandise could be hauled from Mem- phis or St Louis right through Eutaw to towns fifteen and twenty miles 1 away and those towns would pay from three to five cents less hundred than Eutaw would have had to pay if the stuff had been stopped at the Eutaw depot The conclusion of these Eutaw business men as they were presented to the Commercial Club was that each year on the merchandise shipped into Eutaw the town paid more than S40.o0o more than 1t should pay.
 The point bof the whole conclus.on was that the high rates were not hurt | ing Eutaw SO much us the discrimina- ton was hGfting Ehtaw could afford to pay the high rates if the other towns paid them but the Eutsw man can't compete with the Epes man or the Livingston man. if the Eres man ot lthe Livingston man gets his stuff at rates four or five cents lower on the l hundred which Is u proposition so I simple that the wayfaring man even though ne be a fool understands it l In this political year of 1906. there are two ways in Alabama of fisnuns l rate discrimination The first is 70 1 vote for MT Conner. Just vote for MI. 1 Conner and there will be more cakes l and ales and ginger will be hot | the l mouth, too" Freight rates Will sinh | slowly and steadily as the star of MT: l Corner rises slowly and steadiiy. II | roads will throw one fit after another Il and when they have sufiiciently re- II covered they will rush off to scale down all discriminations, yea to ths uttermost parts of the world.
 People Who Believe This.
 There are people in Alabama, plenty of them who honestly believe all this. There are plenty of people who truly believe all that Mr. Conner has to do is to stamp his foot in the Governors office and every freight rate will inn- mediately tumble and every discrinli. .
 nation will vanish like the baseless fabric of John J. Ingalls, '"lrridescent dream" Many of them are voting for Mir. Conner this firm belief and if by mischance he should be elected Gov
 ernor they are going to be siI eereiy and grievously disappointed because all of this does not happen.
 Mr. Conner and his friends have en- couraged this belief They nave talked about enslaving the people. of the slav- cry enforced by the railroad of this
 great fight as a greater question than the one which brought on the civil war and they talk of striking the
 shackles from the limbs of industrial Alabama. It all sounds very fine. Sometimes the patriotic man from the hill country gets so wrought up over the recital of his wrongs that he wants to whip the train conductor on his trip home.
 How are the shackles to be stricken from the limbs of the enslaved people
 of Alabama, how are the minions of the railroad oligarehv to te scourged from the temple how is this continual robbery of Alabama's horny handed
 citizenship to be stopped. how are the \ money barons in Wall Street, where
 they buy a railroad like it was boy
 of candy to be covered with shame ana
 confusion? By giving MT. Conner an-
 other office. By moving him out eos one office where he has something to
 do with railroads and putting him ip
 another office where he has nothing ip
 the world to do with them.
 N That's one way of lowering freight rates and removing the discrimination
 How effective is it? Just as effective
 as the barking of a dog is instopping the progress of the moon across the
 heavens.
 Is An Interstate Matter.
 Mir. Conner as president of the RaIl-
 road Commission. would have nothinS
 in the world to do with the discrimna-
 tion against Eutaw. not even if he haei
 other Commissioners who would lead
 wherever he would follow. The Eutaw
 rate about which so much complaint iS
 made, is an interstate matter. The old doctrine, so dear in the South, the doc-
 Urine of States rights. stands in the
 way. The Alabama Railroad Comnis- | sion could not harm hair on the head Of any interstate rate.
 . These rates of discrimination he within the scope of the power of the ] Interstate Commerce Commission, a
 body which heretof5 ore could do nothing but advise and reason with the rail~ . roads The Interstate Commerce Com
 mission could do no more effective [ work than could the Alabama Cohlmis- l sion under the old law When a town is discrlminated against under th" y present aw governing the Interstate Railroad Commission, all 1t can do is to
 make complaint to the Commission which may investigate It. And havmG investigated it. the Commission cCulG 1 only say to the railroads: Now that
 wrong. You ought not to 1o it.'
 The new rate bill, the one about
 which so much fuss has been raised in Congress remedies all ths. 1t gives
 the Interstate Commission the power
 to break down these dise-ininations
 to lower rates that arc too high But
 the bill has not been finally passeT and signed by the Plesid ant.
 i In the meantime iu.lH 1nd other . towns which suffer as Eutdw has must find other means or securing justice
 And Eutaw Is not adopting the iutlle
 means of voting for @r Conner as
 remedy to existing conditions. Over ID
 Eutaw they are flndinG a remedy thd'
 realIv remedies The Commercial Clur
 and not only the CommeWial Club, bnt
 some of the wealthy planters aoou'
 Iutaw. have gone into t corporation
 to build a trolley line 70 the Wdrllo' lRiver.
 Now that is going to cost some
 money, but the people behind the enter
 priss are not so much worried over the
 cost of the electric road as they are
 worried over their firm belief that high rates and discrimination are cost
 ing Eutaw each year the sum of $4o'-
 oo0. The enterprise is already well un-
 der way. although no work has ac-
 tuaJly begun on the road,
 But the preliminary surveys nave
 been made. The route has been picked V aut < committee has been formed 10