The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-27
GEORGIA RATES.


 but in common with all the conserva- tive citizens of the state. we believe that so far as the railroads are con- corned. there must be a live and let live policy enforced if the State as a who is to derive the fullest benefit from our fine systems of transporta- ton. We do not mean to imply either that those who are just now engaged in efforts after fashion to shackle the roads as at present administered aim in fact at crippling in any way the normal healthy, industrial devel- opnient of Alabama. We do think however. that if the gentlemen in pow CT on the hill, will make haste slowly in dealing with and disposing of the numerous bills directed against rail- roads, they are more likely in the end to bring about the results beneficial sln character, that they undoubtedly aim to accomplish. ReforuNis well enough; more than that. reform is excellent in itself. but we should be sure reforma- tion in their new laws does not spell Reformation. Live and let live Is sound policy always in dealing with the greater agencies of commerce, whether these be railroads Or corpora tions of other kinds Is the Legisla- ture wholly adrift in it's present plans ana p,frposss?
 q Georgia rates and the purely imag- mary line between Alabama an. Geor- gia that male difference in rates absurd-this was the one constant and persistently urged argument on the stump and in the literature circulated by the rate reformers. The Legislature does not appear to attach much inn portance to this argument at the pres ent time. Not bill so far introduced seems to bring Alabama to the Geor- gia basis. On the contrary, the vari- ous bills go upon the idea that the Georgia rates are negotiable, unfair, excessive. The passenger rate in Geor- gia on trunk lines is three cents per mile. It is proposed here to make this two and one-half cents per mile, a reduction wholly arbitrary and to be made regardless of the actual and prospectiye. condition of the passenger traf1c in this State.
 Again in connection with the freight schedule proposed by Senate Bill No. Is. the scale of rates carried in the bill differ widely from the prevailing rates in Georgia. In that State, only nine per cent of the total mileage Is placed on standard rates. In Alabama, the forty-four per cent nearly five times as great as that in, Georgia And yet, again what Is known as a combination of local f&tes in Ssorkta is arrived at by deduetfng ten per cent from the combination. Under the Alabama bill, 1t is proposed to deduct twenty per cent from the combined local rates in this State.
 Let it be asked, too, if the imaginary line is to vanish and Georgia rates are to obtain. where is the consis- tency in providing as Senate Bill No. ! ss1Ssdoss provide! foE one scale of rates for the Louisville and Nashville Rail- road, another scale for the Southern. and yet another for the Union Springs and Northern.s1Iny this bill, the Louis vile and Nashville, the Atlantic Coast Line. the Western and the Alabama Great Southern are designated as first class roads and are required to charge Georgia standard rates upon the ar ticles specified in the bill. The Southern, the Seaboard Air Line and Central of Georgia are designated as second class roads and are permitted to char ges twenty per cent higher than the rates charged by the roads named as first class roads. Other roads are denominated third class and these are permitted to charge rates twenty-fi five per cent higher than those permitted roads in the first class, while still another. the fourth class may charge fifty per cent more. These provisions concede what any student of the rail- road problem must know. that fair rate depends on all the conditions in vesting the road itself. In the mean time, what has. become of the ideal the boon bringing rates of Georgia? The dear old Mother Commonwealth and her ever to be admired perfect rate system has vanished 1t would seem from the vision of our reformers'
 rLo MoDtComarv Advertiser attrl- butes to The New Haven Register cer- tain remarks made by The Evening Post on the character of the negro as displayed to MT. Roosevelts enlight- mert in the Brownsvile case. It is a matter of no consequence to us, but our Montgomery friend is taking a dangerous chance in putting the utter ance of a Southern newspaper In the