The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-04
WHAT WILL nE nnxrs

gentleman In SpeAkinE or the weeks work of the Legislature and the rapid progress made towards the disposition of what is called "The Ad- ministration Measures" said it seem ed that everybody who had an axe to grind was taking advantage of the ap- parent hostility to the railroads to get in his work, and unless a halt were called, the consequences might be se- rious in its results to the pet measure of Governor Conner. He said that there is hardly anything which could be con- eeived of which would tend to emoar- ass, annoy and injure the railroads in the efficient and proper transaction of their business, which has not been brought forward, and is being urged for passage. They are to be harrieo | and harassed internally and externally in all sorts of ways; they are to pc directed and compelled to operate their | trains in such and such way; where they shall publish their time taoles' 1 that an outside board shall be the judge, not acquainted with the rail- | road telegraph business. of the aualif- ications of those who attend to the railroad telegraph business; the num- Der of hours each man shall work and the minimum age of such man; the fixed maximum rate for the carriage of passengers and freights; that In case of loss or damage of freight in transit, the railroad must, within very limited time pay the owner. upon the owners own statement, the value of his loss or damage, or suffer disas- trous consequences; that in case of in- jury or partial loss of goods in trans 1t, the carrier at the end of the line must collect only partial charges, the amount of which Is an open dispute between him and the consignee, and then settle with the connecting car riers in any way such delivering car rier can; to remove depots across side streets whether heretofore authoriz- ed by law or not; to practically abol- ish the rule of contributory negligence in damage suits in cases of negligence of employees; to abolish the defense Of contributory negligence in all cases, except in cases of employees, even though the negligence of the injured person may be gross in comparison with that of the employees of the rail- road company which may have caused the injury; to compel railroad com panies to bring their witnesses from any other state. where the trans action or injury occurred, to defend -uit in this state, brought by a person residing elsewhere; to prevent freight trains from running on the Sabbath; to give negroes sleeping, dining and parlor cars of their own; to do, or not to do. all sorts of things, under all sorts of penalties, civil and criminal.
 Added to all this is a great cry that the railroad is not taxed according to the value of its property. as shown by Wall Street transactions. in which the fight of the bulls and the bears some times runs the stock up and down to a fanciful extent in attempting to get control of the road.
 He said that it did not seem to occur to those, who desired railway rate re- form, that every one of these measures, if carried into effect, would either in crease the expense or decrease the earnings of the railroads, and that the thing might be carried so far that the railroads could prove to the courts, on account of such increased expenditures l and lessening of earnings, that the 1 principal measures of the administra- | tion. upon which MT Conner was elect cd, could not be enforced; because the courts are certain to decide when the question comes up, that railroad com- pany is entitled to a fair return upon its properties. The Legislature could not deprive the railroads of this inher- ent right, and the Judges of the high est courts would be sure to see that they were adequately protected. The people in the last election were anil mated by the desire to obtain cheaper railroad rates, and not by a disposition | to give the railroad ambulance chas- CT" fiddle to play while Rome burns. He thought 1t time for those who were In sympathy with the underlying prin- ciples which placed MT. Conner in pow CT, to take care to see that the rail- roads were encouraged and assisted in making enough money to stand the re- duced rates on freight and passenger
 traffic, and that the railroads should
 be given full opportunity to manage
 their own affairs and exert themselvei
 in an economical and efficient trans,
 action of their business so as to makG
 good the assertions of the administra
 ton that they can stand the rate leg.
 islation Mir. Conner is advocating ant
 using his influence to pass through the
 two houses
 The talk of an immense movement
 of citizens of the United States to the