The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-25
NEW LAWS ARE DIRECTED
 TO PREVENT IWUNCTI0NS
Suggestions Adopted From Many
 DHfsrent States.
Forfeiture of Charters, Authori.atioa ss Costly Damage suits, Criminal Procedure Against Employes, ! Disregard of Injunctions
 Are Included.


 The work of the extra session of sthe Alabama Legislature. which adjourn cd Saturday evening, was to provide Governor Conner with a brand ,new code of railroad laws. Except in one minor detail this was done to the Gov ernor's complete satisfaction.
 The minor detail, unsatisfactory to the Governor. was the defeatof the Excess Baggage Bill. On this measure the Governor set no great store, ex- cept that 1t was a measure which would have lharrassed the railroads no little. It was not one of the bills out of which he builds his new code for freight and passenger rate regulation. But 1t would have annoyed the rail- roads. and the Governor was not pleas- cd at, its defeat in the Senate.
 In every respect the wishes of the Governor on railroad legislation were paramount with the Legislature. A railroad measure had only to be pre- scented bearing the Governors 70. K." ---one of his leaders had only to get up and say "It's an administration measure, prepared by the States attor- neys." when the bill would be passed as quickly as the roll could be called.
 This was no surprise to the railroad officials. They were expecting the Leg islature to do whatever the Governor asked. While they expected that the Legislature. affected in some degree by the revulsion of public opinion, would not feel so vindictive toward the rail- roads as at the two previous sessions, they never expected that the Sena- tors and Representatives would refuse to do anything the Governor asked them to do.
 LAWS of Other states,
 The Governor and his attorneys had profited by study of the laws against railroads in other States. The original campaign against the railroads was to adopt the Georgia plan of dealing with them---to ciothe the Railroad Commits sion with plenary powers, .pass q max mum rate DiIl and biff classifyfng she roads and the different commodities.
 Tho Georgia rates. the Georgia plan. was the central feature of Governor Comer's campaign for the Governorship, He started out confidently on this idea: He enlarged it in his first message to the Legislature and he emphasized 1t in his inauguaral address. To carry the Georgia plan into execution he had his attorneys to draw up the bills. and the Legislature. always agreeable, pas- sed them.
 Even then the Governor and ,his ad- visers felt the fear of the Federal court, They passed every bill which came to mind to keep the roads out of court.
 The railroads. as quickly as they could, filed bills enjoining the new rate laws and the entire railroad code. on the specific ground that the rates were confiscatory.
 Temporary injunctions were grant ed. and the State was given all the time it needed to reply to the bills filed in court. The States attorneys for some reason did not wish to hurry the fight in court and the delays that were granted were granted at their request.
 Then the July session came on. The States attorneys had some important amendments to propose to the laws passed at the previous session. It was said that the States attorneys had what the lawyers called bad case'' in court.
 As an example, one of the original acts provided that the Railroad Com mission might lower rates. but under no circumstances should 1t have the power to raise rates. In other words, if a rate was confiscatory and de- structive, 1t could never be changed until the Legislature met again.
 This looked like a bad provision to defend in court. This was changed as soon as the July session assembled. Many other changes were made in the original laws.
 The Southern Episode.
 But the cases were still pending in court. Then suddenly the Southern Road was caught of its base. It transferred a case from the Talladega City Court to the Federal Court at Anniston. Under a minor act which had escaped notice. the charter of the road was declared forfeited. The road was in bad way.
 As a result the new laws were made operative pending the litigation. Later on the Governor made special agree ment with the Southern which gave it a far better show than it would have had, had it operated under the legis- lative acts. The Governor acted for the Legislature and the Railroad Com mission. but nobody doubted that those two bodies would do whatever he wanted done and carried out the agree ment to the letter.
 Other roads followed suit until all of them were enjoying the privileges of the Southern except the Louisville and Nashville and it's allied lines.
 President Smith of the Louisville and Nashville held that the agreement would mean nothing except a tempo rary suspension of the warfare on railroads. Even if the agreement was made, the roads would continue to be the hobby horse of the agitator and the politician.
 The future welfare of the State, the future welfare of the roads. he held depended upon a final adjudication of the question of how far a Legislature could go in the operation of a railroad without trespassing upon the inherent rights of the company. He adopted the policy of carrying the issue for ward in the courts until a final adju- dication was made.
 Feared Adverse Decision.
 The Governar threatened him with an extra session of the Legislature, but still MT. Smith did not come down. The extra session was called. The financial panic came and the Governor was urged to postpone the call, but his mind was made up.
 friend speaking to an administra- tion Senator asked:
 "why did the Governor refuse to postpone his call? Was he afraid pub