The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-02
SAYS MEASURE WOULD CUT
 SALARIES $40 A MONTH
President Forbes Speaks Against
 Proposed Measure.
nm would Hurt Business of Entire ssate--Haif Hunared Crowd senate Chamber at Afterneon
 Hearing. .

A delegation of half hundred bus mess and railroad men appeared yes- ferday before the Senate Committee on Commerce and Common Carriers and entered vigorous plea and protest against the bill forbidding freight trains running on Sunday. Resolu- fions signed by the various industrial and commercial bodies of the States and petitions signed by thousands of trainmen and business men were handed the committee.
 Captain T. g. Pounds. Birmingham engineer. delivered one of the most elo- quent and one of the wittiest speech es that has been heard in the Senate Chamber during this session. His fell low railroad men and the spectators who had been drawn to the Senate chamber by the hearing, frequently applauded him.
 The committee yesterday took no action on the bill. It is understood other Interested parties desire to ap- near before the committee before final disposition is made. 1t was 'rumored af the Capitol that at present the committee favored the bill, and unless d change was wrought in it's senti- inent, the bill would be given favor able report.
 Georgia is no Comparison.
 The fact that Georgia has such a law was several times alluded toSyes- ferday Senator Lusk asked Captain Pounds if such a law did not exist in Georgia, and If any trainmen were starving in that State.
 No they are not starving" was the response, but they spend their time cussing the men who made the law
 A second allusion was made to the Georgia law. while Captain Pounds was speaking, when he said.
 ssFor the Lords sake don't compare Georgia with Alabama. Why Jeffer- son county alone has more tonnage than the whole State of Georgia"
 Captain Forbes, president of the Montgomery Commercial Club. arrang- ed the hearing, and made the first short address. He presented. too. strong resolutions which had passed \ Ine COnlInerCldl DOuleS DI MOnLBOHleTN, Mobile and Birmingham. protesting against the bill to stop freight trains from running on Sunday. The resolu- tions declared the passage of the pending measure would be a serious blow to the business of Alabama.
 ''Our State needs today more than it needs any other single thing adequate railroad facilities said Captain Forbes. "The railroads Of Alabama are today physically incapable of hand ling the business entrusted to them with any degree of promptness But this bill which you have proposed to cut down their facilities one-seventh of the whole. The railroads now cannot find time in a week of seven days to do the business of Alabama. But the bill proposes to cut their time one seventh !"
 Roads COngeated With Freight.
 q was in Cincinnati a few days ago and I saw a notice posted on the freight depot there. that no freight would be received in twenty-four hours under any circumstances, be- cause of the congestion of the road The same sort of condition exists right here in Alabama. And it is not a car shortage, either It is a shortage of railroads. a shortage of trackaEe and of siding. Don't put this additional handicap on the business of the State.
 Senator Lusk told of a railroad man informing him that for more than