The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-07-26
SAME UMPIRE
IN EVERY CASE
Is Offered Railroads in Tax Arbi-
tration Proceedings.
CORALLED BY STEVENS
Georgia Railroad Commissioner Says Prop
Osition Must Be Accepted or Let
Governor Appoint.

0VVSAuVl AppO4nl.
81 offer you Judge A. L. Miller of
Macon as umpire in the case of the
tax returns of all the steam railroads
which have not accepted the comptrol-
Ter generals assessments. You may ac-
cept him or let the matter go up to
Governor Smith for the appointment Of
two arbitrators to represent the
state"
Such, in substance was the PROPOSE
ton put by Georgia Railroad Commits
sioner Q. B. Stevens, appointed to rep
resent the state, to the arbitrator for
the three largest railroad systems in
the state at their difference held on
Thursday in the Office Of the railroad
commission in Atlanta.
There was a howl in camp, of course,
but Commissioner Stevens was deter
mined in his purpose, and the railroad
arbitrators, after a discussion pro and
con, in the course of which they found
they were unable to shake the states
representative, retired to think it over
and determine in the course of the
next two or three weeks just what
thav will 40 q bOiIt n
Commissioner Stevens told them if
they would offer any reasonable and
valid reason as to why Judge Miller
should not serve in that capacity, he
would endeavor to select another man;
but, until some good reason was shown
he insisted on his original proposition
and said he proposed to stand by It.
The three railroad arbitrators who
met Commissioner Stevens were Judge
S. b. Adams of Savannah, representing
the Atlantic Coast Line; Hon. Roland
Ellis of Macon, representing the South
ern railway, and Hon. Alex w Smith
Of Atlanta for the Central of Georgia.
The Seaboard Air Line and the At
lanta and West Point tax assessments
are also to be arbitrated, and when
they come up to Commissioner Stevens
he will also offer Judge Miller as UNI
plre, it being his determination, for
the sake Of uniformity as near as It is
possible to get 1t, to have the same
umpire in all cases All other steam
railroads to be arbitrated, therefore,
may count on the same proposition as
was made in the foregoing cases.
Commissioner Stevens reached the
conclusion to take this position sew
eral dago ago. First and foremtst,
it was his desire to have beard
whose conclusions would as yearly as
possible equalize the values of the va
rious railroad properties Of the state.
In order to do this, it is necessary to
have practically the same board in all
cases.
In the next place, 1t was his deter
mination to select "a man who repre-
sented the very essence Of the Macon
platform, and who, he believed, would
carry out the wishes Of the people as
therein expressed. That Judge Miller,
who was chairman Of the Macon con
yention and chairman Of the state
democratic committee, is such a man,
tnere can be no possible question or
doubt.
Again, it is well known that an eff
fort has been made to bring about a
change in the method Of appointing ar
bitrators, and to have a new law eD-
acted at once, as rumor had it, with
the ayowed purpose of dispensing with
the services of Commissioner Stevens
in this connection The bill in eques-
tion, which was introduced by Mr.. AL
exander, of DeKalb, was unfavorably
reported by the committee to which it
was referred, and thus practically
killed