The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-12
LAWYERS FEES AND MONEY
SAVED BY REDUCED RATES

1 Railway and other la .-oeISihg Fa4i'
roads BY making a great hue and crS
because IT IL costing North Carolins
money TO hire lawyers 10 fight tbs
states right to regulate the rate one
paper-not OF the subsidized class. but
without reNectlon-says il viii cost
the state more 10 fight the case thar
the saving in the reduced rates. II
this were true. the State ought 70
stlIl fight for the principle involved
and the tax payers would gladly foot
the bin
What are the facts SO far the state
has paid out only a few thousand dol
lars to itr lawyers and the sum Will
not be extravagant when the end
comes. II is we'll to consider. since
the railroad organs have raised me
question. what the people are getting
In rates by reason OF the
legislation and the fight that forced
the Southern and the Atlantic Coast
Line to follow the voluntary example
Of the Sea board. the Norfolk & south
ern and other laW-abiding railroads
The Southern Railway swears that the
new rate win reduce its income in
North Carolina s298.00O a year-or
$4,000 dollars every month. n
rate has been IN effect exactly three
months yesterday, and il has saved to
the people who travel on the Southern
Railway S75.0 900. The saving on all
the other railroads is about equal to
that on the Southern. SO hat the
success of the State in compelling
obedience to the law has kept in the
pockets OF the people of North Caro-
lima in three months $4,000. No
matter what speed the lawyers on
both sideS use to hurry the case. ex-
p]erience has shown that it takes
months to get a final decision from the
Referee, the Judges and the Supreme
Court at Washington. You cannot
hurry Supreme Court judges either at
Raleigh or Washington. The case in
which the Southern Railway was fined
thirty thousand dollars for violating
the law. that went up on appeal from
Judge Long to the Supreme Court of
North Carolina. because of it's impor-
lance was advanced by that court and
the papers hurried TO 1t. And yet two
months have passed since the argu-
ment n no decision has vet been
handed down. If the Supreme Court
is as deliberate when will q final de-
cision in the case be reached? 1t took
them nearly two years to decide the
Selma Connection case. 1t was 50
righteous a decision it was worth
waiting for. If the Supreme Court
,1- -
probable that a decision would be rem
dered before May or June, and every
day that the case is undecided the
North Carolina lower rate is in opera
ton and leaving $4,000 a month in
the pockets of the people-taking the
calculation from the sworn statement
of the Southern Railway. We use
their sworn figures with some reluc-
lance, we admit. because they are
Subject to change without notice"
The only contention they have in the
North Carolina rate case is that their
sworn report was false and that the
court ought to take the guess of rail
road guessers rather than the sworn
statements they furnished the Corpo-
ration Commission. But-accepting
their sworn statement in Judge Prit-
chard's courts-the people are saving
$4,000 every month until the case is
decided, and we estimate that as much
is saved from the other roads, which
would give $4,000 a month to the
people b. reason of the reduced rates.
Even if the courts should hold with
the railroad in the final judgment,
the law and the litigation will save
to the travelling public $500, 900 in the
ten months that the lower rate is in
gives its decision.
Therefore if the State loses in the
end, it has saved to the people $780,
600 during the ten months the Gov
ernor, Judge Long and the states
attorneys compelled obedience to the
law. wouldn't it pay the State to
spend $50, 600 to ave the travelling
$500, 900 in ten months? /
that be o pretty good in
vestment. even if there was nothing
else in the litigation? Those who see
nothing hut the lawyers fees and the
costs in the case are invited to work
out that mathematical saving. Doesn't
it pay? This calculation of s500.O 900
in ten months is based upon the hope
of the railroad and Radical organs
the Southern and the Atlantic
Coast Lin will win their case. Even
in that improbable event. the fight has
saved the people $4,000 at a cost of
very much less than 100000 Isn't
good business?
But the State is not going to lose.
The State has a case that cannot be
successfully resisted if ever the true
facts are all presented before the Su-
preme Cour at Washington. That
court would have to reverse itself in
Alabama case to permit Judge
usurpation of jurisdiction
and who believes it will do that? If
State wins. there viii be a saving
of $4,000 in every month in every
year. Six hundred thousand dollars
a year left in the pockets of the peo-
pie is no small thing. Heretofore that
annually has been carted out of
Carolina TO nav dividends on