The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-25

. ;. ;. ... 1.2t4.s5 1.306.6s
 So that you see that every year for these i've years. the Georgia rates av- eraged practically ten per cent more net revenue than in Alabama, and the reason for that is. if you would take Its most important city. the great city Of Atlanta, and always take off my hat whenever I think of that wonder full city. the creation of the bone and sinew and energy and enterprise of splendid State .you take one r load of shoes. or hats, or clothing. or high class furniture out of the City of At lanta. nd yau will get more revenue out of 1t than you will out of a train load of coal, iron ore,l or lime rock that
 Cd,s furnaces to make our State great.
 The great bulk of Georgia freights are of high class material from the point of revenue as compared with what .t Is in Alabama and coming right down to the concrete proposton. T want to show you statement--they say that this whole bspiness is aimed at the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company because its offio 5 have dared to go into court to defend their right to a voice In the control of their own
 property, and for the receipt of what
 they think. Is reasonable compensa-
 ton. W
 l.. and N. Tonnage in Alabama.
 want to show you what that road
 has done in Alabama. and give you
 the official figures. for the year end ing June 30. 1a07a The Louisville and Nashville. although only one-fourth of it's mileage Is in this State, handled in the State of Alabama total of 1295s,-
 sSs tons of freight. or practically 13,-
 100000 tons. The total number of
 tons moved by the Louisville and Nash
 xr9IIA In a1 f.f n foi1 xxybt it passes was 26,s30,79s tons; thus 1t
 will be seen with out-fourth of its
 mileage in this State. that 49 & per cent
 or practically one-half of the total ton-
 mage carried by the Louisville and Nashville was carried in the State of
 Alabama. Now let us see further.
 What was the revenue7 The freight
 revenue derived from tonnage origin ating in Alabama was ss,s27,o0o. The
 gross freight revenue of the entire Louisville and Nashville system was ss5.235.7s7. .o2, therefore 1t will be
 seen that there was earned fn4 Alabama
 but 24. i-2 per cent of the entire freight
 earnings, notwithstanding the freight
 tonnage carried in the State. was.
 very nearly fifty per cent of all the
 tonnage carried. They carried one
 half of their tonnage in Alabama and
 obtained only one-fourth of their rev.
 enue, from this State. and yet IS
 helQ up neEC Ao 1 PhoAtS CAtShsJ'
 Presdident Milton s. Smith in a let published in the press q day or two ago asserted that for one corporation in this State they had handled last year over 100000 tons of freight, and carried 1t at II cents ton. and Mr. Nesbitt, one of the Railroad Commits sioners. of this State. said In answer to a question or, the floor of the Senate Chamber last Saturday that 1t was his
 understanding that the railroads of this State assembled the raw material for our furnaces at lower rates than at any other place on the civilized globe. And that not even excepting
 Pittsburg with its myriad railroads and millions, upon millions of tonnage, twenty times greater than the State of Alabama, yet that great city, the centre of the iron and steel industry of the world, has not as favorable freight rates for the assembling of its raw materials as has the State Of Alabama. ts
 Now just one more, thought. and am through. I made an examination and I found out this fact. and 1t was borne
 ont by the statement recently made by one of the Railroad Commissioners in which he said that ynotwithstand- ing the Louisville and Nashville Rail- roads rates were fixed 20 per cent. lower than the Southern Railway rates.
 
 by the statute. there was an allowed difference of 20 per cent. in favor of the Southern as against the Louisville and Nashville that the reduction of the Louisville and Nashville was less than the reduction or the Southern, which means that for all the years of | the past the Louisville and Nashville, | according to the statement of one of | lAlabama's Railroad Commissioners, has been giving the people of Alabama | freight rates more than 20 per cent. cheaper than the Southern Railway. The Question of Service. That has been the case all the time. and yet, notwithstanding It's rates for all of these years upon local business l has been more than 20 per cent. below the Southern, and lower than any oth- er railroad within the State. I found upon examination of the reports of | the Alabama Car Service Association. that the Louisville and Nashville with one fifth of the mileage in this State, | handled two-ffths of the cars Forty | per cent. of the cars of this State were l handled upon this great system with only 20 per cent. of the mileage.
 | then applied the figures to the two principal railroa5s in this State. and found that taking the total number of cars handled by the Louisville and | Ma sh ville. between the months of Jan uary and october of this year. and di- yiding them by the total number of miles owned by the railroad. that upon that calculation the Louisville and Nashville Railroad handled 225 cars | to every mile within that period of time and I then went to It's next greatest competitor which has 20 per cent. greater mileage. and found | that they had handled during that time eighty mine cars per mile by the same test In other words. the Lou | isville and Nashville had handled over two and a half times the number of cars per mile unit than the number l handled by the Southern.
 | I enter no complaint against the. Southern. There Is not a particle of doubt that they would have been glad l to handle more. They were handling every car that their rolling stock and locomotive service would allow, but the Louisville and Nashville putting its earnings for years into locomotives, into cars and into high-grade men, has been able to reach that state of effi-- ciency in Alabama at which 1t handles two and one-half times as many cars ner mile as it's next most important competitor, and they have been ham dled at rates more than 20 per cent.