The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-23
Letters to The Editor
A SCRAP OF HISTORY.
Which Shows How the People Suffered
 By Unwise Legislation


 Which Shows How the PeopIe Suffered
 By Unwise LeEislatiOns
 Editor The Advertiser:
 It is not generally known to the people of Alabama that the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad was handed over to the nrst mortgage bondholders' by an Actsof the Legislature of Alabama, and this magnificent piece of property, the nnest railroad property in the State, was lost to the citizens or Alabama by an unwise act of it's own Legislature. It was on this same tariff rate question, that Is now the paramount question. and 1t happened in this waY:.
 In the Carpet Bag days there was a rivalry between Selma and Montgom- cry Selma was represented in the House of Representatives by a scala wag member. MT. John Hardy. The Mobile and Montgomery Railroad wish ed to extend their railroad into Mobile. across the marshes between Tensas and Mobile, seventeen miles. and offered to mortgage their road to the State. pro- vided the State of Alabama would en- dorse their bonds. so as to enable them to undertake this expensive piece of work. This was agreed to by the Leg islature. Mir. Hardy amended the Act by incorporating an amendment: "that accepted State aid, they should reduce their freight tariff one-half at the ex- piration of twelve months" which was done At the expiration of the time, lWO yEdIHy ll6 hOUllG anu 4OHlROHtEy Railroad defaulted on the payment of their bonds. The State of Alabama did not lose one cent. But the railroad company under the operation of this penses and was turned over to the first mortgage bondholders' and the road was ultimately sold to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. What was the result? The city of Mobile lost a mil- lion dollars on stock in the road; the people of Baldwin, Escambia and Cone cuh Counties lost one hundred thousand dollars: Butler County citizens fifty thousand; citizens of Lowndes County one hundred thousand; the people of Montgomery County and city three hun dred thousand dollars on stock in the railroad. The Atlanta and West Point the Western of Alabama and the Geor- | gia Railroad lost S500.000 on stock. Now MT. Hardy and that Legislature did not intend to infict such loss on l their fellow citizens. but they were dealing with something they did not understand. The moral Is that future Legislatures should go slow in dealing with other peoples property, even if they did give them "the right of emin- 1 ent domain"
 I know that Governor Conner and his | Legislature are patriotic and sincere in their acts in what they think to be for the best interest Of the State. but in the light of history. see what dtreful results unwise legislation has caused the citi- zens of Alabama:
 | government OY ln1uncLlOn lS ulS' | tasteful and humihating to the people of Alabama, and I know that Judge | Jones has a disagreeable task to per form. but there is no judge better dual- | flied to deal intelligently and justly | than he for his former railroad ex perience eminently fits him for the | task. What other recourse had inc Louisville and Nashville people against \ confiscation in the light of past events? I don't own a dollar of railroad stock directly or indirectly. for the Legisla- ture of Alabama conflscated what once
 owned, but it is an undeniable fact l that the Louisville and Nashville Rail-
 road Company has been public bene- factor to the people of Alabama in ev-
 cry county in which the road runs.
 1owndes IaKe I'F rhe @,pti public roads s of this
 county are the worst in Alabama. The 1 Louisville and Nashville Railroad paid thirty cents per cubic yard for chert in l Birmingham and hauled 1t 117 miles, | free of charge and cost. to put on dirt l road between Letohatchie and Hayne- | vile, seven miles distant. In fact, 1 they have done more to help us than we have done for ourselves. They \ have always helped us to have good government in Alabama, especially in | having white supremacy. They have | hauled material for churches Of all de- | nominations at nominal prices; helped | our Soldiers Home at Mountain Creek, by hauling freight free of charge, and 1 they have helped other enterprises that | were merlIOflOuS. ne fdllIOdu SySttiH Fof Alabama Is not yet developed When l the Panama Canal Is dug there will not be railroads enough to carry coal | to the Gulf, and every railroad running | on parallels of longitude will have to | be double tracked. and new railroads | built through the Warrior coal fields. | notably the Mobile and West Alabama | Railroad from Florence to Mobile. This | road and branches will be 400 miles | long, all in State of Alabama, and under l the control of the Railroad ommisslon l of Alabama. Foreign capital builds | our railroads and they will never ad- vance a dollar whilst the present condi- | tiOn of affairs exist. This railroad with grades of only twenty feet to the mile going South to the Gulf will en" nance the taxable values of Alabama l twentv-five millions of dollars. Tho 1 only way to get it built is to build it to l Pensacola Fla, or to Scranton. Miss, and take it out of the eontToi or thss | Railroad Commission of Alabama, and | put 1t under the Interstate Commerce | Commission. This would inhict many
 more millions of dollars loss to Mo
 bile by the Aet of ths presehI t9siG IS
 roads. In et. Mobile. our only sea. | port seems To be worst hit than any | other city of Alabama we see "a i- | roads from Savannah and Brunswick | Ga. which are twice as far from out coal and iron deposits than Is Mobile i pushing ahead under the Interstate
 Commerce Commission lnto A!aDama ,,f f
 stopped rom development by the act
 of our own Legislature, who are he'p. | ing to develop Georgia and Mississippi l tn etbe Jniurv of Mobile Then why not
 pursue liberaf policy towards the
 railroads as we have in the past. and let the waste places be built up, Le' us give more attention to the i'm movement of our waterways and oul | rivers will regulate railroad tariffs
 more effectuaHy than the Railroad Commission will ever do.
 There are about thirty-six people e
 the square mile in Alabama, and s
 9 cent rate Is a very different prop osition than in States like PennsylvH mia. New York and New Jersey, wher' 1 there are four times as many people to
 the square mile. II would have beer far wiser to let tho railroads keen tn' 3 cent rate and require them to
 appropriate certain per cent or their