The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-17
NEW LAW FOR | COMMISSION Railroad Bills Now in Committee. EACH IS CAREFULLY DRAWN Public Meeting to Be Held Before
 Reaching Decision. Proposed Enactments Fix value of Goods Lost in Transit and Ses
 Present Freight Rate as,
 Maximum.

| dorsed by Mr. Conner and his political | advisers is now in the hands of the | Committed on Commerce and Common | Carriers of the Senate, of which Sen | ator John w. Overton Is chairman. | The bills were ready when the Legls- lature met and no time was lost in | their introduction, so that now the is- sues of the campaign are well on their | way through the Legislature.
 l It Is generally believed and gener- l ally said that these bills represent the
 wishes and sentiment of the adminis- tration on the rate question. It Is pos- l sible that one or two of them may not have the unqualified endorsement of MT. Conner and his close advisers, but | there Is no room to doubt that in the main they were drawn up in accord- ance with the desires of the new Gov
 ernor and his advisers. They have been prepared with extreme care. one look l at them Is sufficient to show this. The
 rate tables in Senate Bill 16 alone re- quires for Its making wide informa- 1 tion and knowledge of rate making and railroad conditions that few mem- | bers of the Legislature. If any. have. Before the bills are reported Sena- | tor Overton has announced that he will have a public meeting of the commit | tee at which the good and the bad in | the bills will be argued. No date for the hearing has yet been set. Senator Overton's committee held a meeting last night at the Glenmore, but 1t was said | that none of the important measures were considered or decided upon.
 Code for CommissiOn.
 The most important bill in the batch Is undoubtedly the bill introduced by Senator Lucien Gardner of Pike. Its title is An act to create the Railroad. Commission of the State of Alabama" The bill plainly supplants the old Rail- road Commission law and carries pro- visions which supplies defects believed by MT. Conner and his advisers to have existed. The bill Is very long. It sup plies a whole code for the government of the Commission. It is not much shorter if any than the Revenue Code of the State.
 The new bill increases the salary of the Secretary of the Commission to $2,400 annually. It provides further for a stenographer to help In the of- flee work. The Commission may fur ther secure the service of an expert on railroad matters, but in no instance must any expert receive more than $1 1000 in one year. The Commission Is expressly given the power to compel the attendance of witnesses who shall bring what books and inforuation they have when commanded to do so by the Commission.
 Value of Goods Lost.
 Another important measure and one In which MT. Corners leading sup porters are interested Is the bill fntro- duced by MT. Lusk under the' title ITO prescribe the measure of damages for loss, destruction or injury to or failure to deliver goods by common Carriers. originating and terminating in Ala bama and to regulate collection there of."
 In the case of a loss of merchandise | or of freight shipment of any nature | the bill declares that the owner shall | be able to recover damage for the | value of the lost goods, together with | the legal interest on that value from | the time they were lost or destroyed, l less the amount of freight that was | to have been paid.
 The owners of the lost or injured goods are, under the terms of the bill | entitled to payment for their damage upon presentation of a verified claim to | the agent of the common carrier at fault The bill provides, further, that | failure to make such verified claim | shall not forfeit the owners right to recover damage from the common car ried. All suits under the law must be | brought year from the sustaining | of the loss. An important provision | of the bill is that when suit is brought | and the owner establishes the justice | or hlS claim, ne VIII De entitled to l damages fourfold of the loss he sus- tained.
 CanOt Refuse Freight.
 Another one of the bills. which is said by the Senators to be an adminis- tration measure, Is the bill introduced | by Senator Overton. which provides a | penalty for the common carrier which | refuses to take freight at the regular | rate fixed by statute or which at- tempts to charge a higher rate than | that fixed by law.
 A second bill of the lot by Senator | Overton Is one which makes the pres
 ent freight rate in Alabama the maxi | mum rate.
 Another important bill is the em- ployers liability bill introduced by | Senator Gardner. This amends the | existing law In the Senate on liability | so that the heirs of a servant of a | corporation killed while at work will i not lose the right to bring an action l on the grounds of contributory negli- | gence whenever that negligence is slight and the negligence of the cor poration is gross