The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-03

bling enter. As TO Statesyille hc lad
never heard OF a. What cN-
claimed Mr Thorn, never heard heard
Of Statesville
Mr.. Thorn proceeded. p~eering into a
green book built in the fashion Of a
wall paper for a Turkish bath-a
green background With darker green
stripes.
II hold in my hand. said he. "a
beautiful book about Greensboro.
y C
Mr.. Justice. descriptive Of the en-
ergy Of its people despite the ran
roads,
represents in part one Mr.. r. J
Justice. Wherever Mr. Justice l.. is
a center. whether il 4 jobbing center
or not Listen 10 what he says IN one
little short paragraph, which = but
typical of one Of the warmest books 1
ever read"
Greensboro II the central shipping
point for twenty or more toNns and
cities within 80 miles Of Greensboro.
with an aggregate population of $50
000 persons
on the pamphlet were marginal
notes in red. among which were such
expressions as: Watch US grow a real
live town: Cotton Mill Center: Where
re Excel; Welcome. stranger. Revo-
lut!onary Fame; Yet we are not Hay
seeds. 4 great place for Automo-
biles."
After this. contended Mr.. Thorn, no
one could say that Greensboro was not
a jobbfng center.
Getting down to business, however.
the witness explained that the differ
ence between a jobbing center and a
distributing point was that the former
sent out its goods in car load lots to
the latter and that the latter sold them
70 nc atJEtnr,ny c IN Sp1ollar anncfnn-
mems.
Mr.. Thorn wanted to know whether
Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh were
not jobbing centers.
Raleigh, MIR. Hillman thought. did
more business than Durham and MIR.
Thom-after looking to see whether
any representative Of the Chamber Of
Commerce was present-took issue
with him on the point.
Mr.. Hillman asserted that Durham
dealt in the one commodity of to-
bacco-and that there was nothing
else to it.
After this diversion Mr.. Thorn ap-
preached Mr.. Hillman stealthily. ask
ing him to calculate what it would
cost to earn 9 mills if the average rev
enue per ton per mile were conceded
to be . mills and the cost to earn a
dollar 71.35.
Mr.. Hillman replied that it Would
cost 6.42 mills.
Under these conditions, he admitted.
if there was gotten > cents per ton
on local freight it would cost 1.g3
cents per ton to handle it.
That. on this basis. the cost of earn
ing a dollar would be SO cents.
Then, said Mr.. Thorn, if it costs
three times as much to earn a dollar
on local business as on all business. IL
ought to be easy to work out now
much should be added to ascertain
such cos t.
Mr.. Hillman repeated that that po-
sition was not a tenable one.
Did you ever hear" asked Mr..
Thorn. of the old lady who got into
the controversy about the scissors and
sank with her fingers crossed
On redirect Mr.. Hillman made il
clear that his to Mr.. rheni's
questions We're based on the hypo-
theses that the latter a assumed in
framing them. Taking two examples
of road that earned respectively )
per cent on local and 90 per cent on
through business and 80 of local and
20 of through business. he estimated
tina with operating expenses of the
whole system at 10 cents to earn a
dollar the cost of interstate business
in the one instance by adding Mr..
Plants Il per cent. would be reduced
state business would be reduced to
TO 69.2 and, II the other to $50. the
HISHtf expense Tor the lntraStdtP bus
ines being used to lower the expense
charged to the interstate business.
On further crOsS-examination by
Mr.. Thorn. the witness stated that
while it was possible that Mr.. Plant
may have struck the right result. he
did 50 BY the wrong method and that
if he had struck it. it would be a CO.
incidence, if not an accident.
Mr.. Moncure Testifies.
~ -rv.a -
Hillman stated that "ail good rail-
roads referred to the supreme Court
decision Of Smythe VS.. Ames."
At the afternoon session the state
introduced Mr.. William Moncure. for
merly of the S. A. L.. who testified
that the cost OF local passenger bust
ness was less than that Of through
business and that the number Of pas
sengers carried did not increase the
cost Of operation.
Mr.. Brown Recalled.
On cross-examination he stated that
he had not been with the
since 1900. did not know present oper-
atng conditions and had been mainIy
concerned during his service IS sun
~erintendent with matters other than
operation except in its physical
aspects
Mr. II. G. Brown. who was recalled
by the State. read into the record the
oi the southern Tor various
years on passenger recount and other
statistical matter.
on cioss-exa minati0n Mr.. Thorn in
sisted that the Letter Mr. Brown had
written Mr.. Plant asked for an an
p~roxlination. and stated A belief bv
MI Brown that interstate expenses
were higher than interstate.
MI Brown commended tina the re-
mark In his letter was pr dictated
upon his knowledge that Mr.. Plant
would report what he had been re-
porting and that il was no indication
OF what ne himself believed Az t0 hts
OPINION i that matter. the study Of
the last year had not caused him H.
change his opinion but to Strengthen