New-York tribune., 1907-11-11
AL4BiHt.N HPECTAL SESSION.

/ Alabama is going t. have some naw railroad
/ laws and when thc5 All get upon the statute
h0Oks-which il MAS hoped would he I'm week
! or ten days at most-no high priced railroad
president will venture to sit in his office (out-
side the jurisdiction of Alabama of courScJ
and refer to the Chief Executive cf that state as
a "POpulist." If haply he should 90 further
and call him a 'sandbagGcr aud highway
man." the stockholders would he justified in
taking steps TO have him removed for imperi-
ling their property. The question AT issue is
not excessive rates. No Alabaman cares fis
about picayune mills in a schedule It's exccS-
! sive language, language of the kind we quoted
! just now, and the nasty way the railroads have
Of going into the federal courts and taking out
! an injunction against "A sovereign state-these
the reasons for calling the extraordinary
/ session.
! Governor Conner specifies the language in his
message, and he also devotes several hundred
words TO rehearsing the conduct Of one defiant
road in ignoring your state laws placing their
: property different from every other property in
/ .'the state as to legal responsibility and thwart-
ling the will of the people and defying the prin-
! 'ciple Of states rights 80" continues the
/ Governor, lit is evident that the question at
| tissue is not so much freight rates or passenger
| rates" Though this is not the issue we have
vet TO learn of any proposition 10 increase rates
! by law, and in that way assert the states SUI
premacy We suggest it 10 the Governors con-
! Sideration.
The work for the Alabama Legislature has
| been made very simple by the Governor who is
| by nature thoughtful and cOnsiderate and espe-
cially mindful of the fact that lawmakers are
| in hurry at this season and can Ill spare time
| from getting in their crops and ginning their
cotton. Habituated as the legislator is 10 Civ
! ing long and studiOus consideration 10 bills at
the proper time of year, along in the fall he
likes expedition. Rearing this in mind the
Governor has his bills letter perfect in advance
All the legislators have to do is to pass them.
! There will he abundant opportunity to think
about their effect afterward. The Governor as
sures the Legislature that it can safely take
them sight unseen:
I recommend and advise the passage Of GER
tain bills which the states attorneys have
drawn.
And again, moment later:
1 will caution you again that these bills are
prepared by the states attorneys, upon which
the state will go to trial.
And three or four paragraphs further on:
These statutes, then. which 1 advise and which
are recommended by the states attorneys are
framed to be more effective in securing
obedience TO your statutes regulating rates and
regulating the powers OF public service corpora
tions. 1 suggest the passage Of these bills as
drawn.
In the face Of these assurances the pumpkin
picking ought not to be long delayed Still, 1t
is a considerable programme There are mat.
ters requiring attention besides teaching the
railroads their place, and we have counted ten
or dozen railroad bills, OF which "The Mont
gomery Advertiser" says that they involve
"some OF the most Intricate questions in pending
controversies over the regulation Of railroads"
They practically abolish the railroad code
(which he GGovernOr Comerl adopted at the
two previous sessions. The bills az those ses-
"slons were represented as practically perfect
land the acme of human wisdom" Wisdom on
the railroad question multlplies so rapidly that
It cannot be all turned into laws at the regular
sessions.
The first expectation was that the new laws
would go on the statute books In flying style.
1t was confidently hoped, according to 'srhe Ad-