The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-10
WOULD N
 HEED eCHORD Kentucky Man and Gov
 ernof Comer. CONFERENCE BETWEEN THEM Tried to Stop Alabama's Extra
 Session. Former President of Railroad Commis- sion Tells of scheme to Adjust
 Rate. Controversy in His
 state.
CONFERENCE BETWEEN THEM

of Hon. c. c. McChord. of this city President of the National Association of Railroad Commissioners. as special counsel to defend the Commonwealth in the injunction suits filed by the railroads, is one of the many things that point to the signal ability of this man who for twelve consecutive years served as Chairman of the Kentucky Railroad Commission.
 Those students of railroad regulation who have been watching the progress of sensational events in Alabama and North Carolina had begun to ask if the executives of those States had ever thought about the ability of Mir. Mc- Chord but they have just now learned that he even attracted these celebri- ties of rate regulation. They had heard of his fame as a legal expert on railroads and to prove 1t they will cite you to conferences which Governor Glenn of North Carolina and Governor Comer of Alabama both held with Mir. McChord before they made their fiual plays in the railroad rate contests.
 Conferred With Conner.
 1t has come to light that Governor Glenn went so far as to offer Mir. Mc- Chord a more handsome fee than that for which he will conduct the Ken lucky case. or S6.00o. He had to de- cline this offer because of the demand on his time at home. Now 1t comes to light also that Governor Conner, evil dently wavering until the last moment on the question of calling the Alabama Legislature into extra session. held one or more conversations with the dis tinguishad Kentuckian over the long. distance telephone. Each time he ask ed for a conference in person but as often Mir. McChord told the Alabama Executive that he would not have time to meet him before the date set for the assembling of the Legislature.
 It is believed here that the Ken- lucky ex-Commissioner rather regrets he did not get chance to talk with Governor Conner as he might have dis- suadac him from carrying out the ex- tra session program. It is known that every time the Alabama Governor asked him. .Would you assemble the Legis1ature? MT. McChcrd replied pos itively, No"
 But Governor Conner asked for the aSvice of Mir. McChord and did not care to heed it when given. Therein lay the difference between the leader in Ala bama andsthe leader in North Carolina. It Is practically certain that Governor Glenn asked for the advice of the Ken lucky lawyer on the question of an extra session of the Tarheels to whip the carriers into line aud that the pa ciic stand taken by him in this mat ter at least saved his people tho ef- pense of an extra sitting of the solons.
 In the battle which the Common wealth is now waging against the rail- roads before United States District Judge Cochran here Mir Mcchord be- Iieves heartily that he has a winning case. He believes there is a way of lighting the question out fairly and squarely in the courts. He is content to let the court adjudge the reason ableness of the rates as lowered by the Commission. It Is not Strange, there fore. that he should advise against the efforts In some States to fasten certain rates on the carriers regardless of a Judicial determination of their justice.
 Caution In Kentucky.
 To this the special counsel of the Commonwealth has moved cautiously and scientifically. benefiting by the knowledge of his own rich experience and study and the numerous court de- cisions of the past. He does not finch at the famous Smith vs Ames case. He does not fly in the face of the teach ings which went forth out of this celebrated litigation. On the other hand he nearly always refers to this case in his answers to the railroad injunction bills He proposes to go farther. how ever, than did the Nebraska fellows. lie WILL CUanko iHG WDOid COInDl6Xh0D of that law precedent by attacking and attacking hard the methods employed by the railroads in determining the relative cost of intra-state business and interstate business. He Is shooting questions at such carriers as the Louisville and Nashville. the Chesa- peake and Ohio, the Illinois railroads, and others lying in Kentucky, which the railroads did not meet in the Ne braska case. And 1t was these very questions that Mir. Chord gave to Gov ernor Glenn for use in his controversy and which weie @ also offered to Govern or Conner for his use. If he cared to combat the railroads in an orderly fashion.
 Tt was apparently contend4d fin inc smith Ames case" said Mir. McChord. Ion behalf of those attacking the Ne braska rates fixed by the Legislature just as 1t is here, that it cost 10 10 o5 per cent. more to conduct the pure ly intra-state business than in did to conduct the average of all business in the State. and that this excess cost proportion of operating expenses to gross receipts for al ltrafio to indi- cate the cost to the carrier for the intra state business. But it does not appear that this contention was se- riously disputed or opposed in any such way as 70 atlrace tne attehtion or the court"
 Comparison of Rates.
 Continuing. MT. McChord points out that 1t Is a mistake to accept such A basis for comparing the cost of intral state and the cost of interstate busi- ness, and adds: We are of the opin : ion that the theory of those acting for the carriers in the Nebraska case as is the theory advanced by counsel i'm the case here, that the percentage of operating expenses to gross receipts represents cost. was. and is wholly un. tenable."
 In order to disprove the science of this "falIacy'' on the part of the rail- roads. the ex-commissioner has pre- nared a formidable set of interrogator- les which he first sought to fire d. rectly at the railroads in the Federal Court, but which were technically over ruled.
 "But this was not unexpected" says Mir. McChord, although the questions were ruled as irrelevant believed down in my heart that they were rele- want and cast about to find a way of