The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-19
BONDS REQUIRED Dr RATE LEoIs-
 LAYTON.


 the rate litigation in the rsdsrai. Court were not, as psactieat proposition. any protection to the average ahfsper or passenger.
 A similar intimation having hereto fore been made by the Gov ernor in an interview in The Birmingham News. we have ta- ken the pains to look carefully into the question. and 1t is evident that Senator Miller is wide of the mark in hts criticism.
 It was not necessary that the bonds required by the Federal Court should be conditioned in the exact terms of the statute. The purpose of all in- junction bonds, is to secure the pay- ment of damages to those persons who might be injured in their property or other rights by the improper suing out of the injunction writ. Judge Jones evidently had this in mind when he prescribed the provisions of the bonds to be given by the railroad com panies for the protection of the trav- cling and shipping public. He evid- entity saw from reading the Act of the Legislature that the bond prescribed by that act would not accomplish the pur |. pose he had in mind; that Is to say, the securing to all passengers and shippers. who were compelled to pay rates higher than those fixed by the statute. the prompt payment of all overcharges in excess of the statutory rates. if the injunction should be dis- solved. Another important fact which Senator Miller evidently overIooks is the fact that the bonds executed by the railroads were first submitted to and ap- proved by the able counsel who repre- sents the State in the litigation. Beyond any question these bonds sb. soiutely secure to passengers and ship peFs the repayment of all excess over the statutory rates. in tho event the railroad companies lose their cases :. Would the statutory bond have se- cured this result? Not by any means except by the grace of the Governor and some subsequent sitting of the Legislature.
 The statute in prescribing the bond and it's conditions. expressly provides "said bond shall be colisetible by suit or otherwise, only by the State of Ala. bama by the direction of the Governor From this it is manifest that If the statutory bond had been given the Governor could, in case the state won the litigation, have the penalty of the bonds collected. or if he saw f1t to dc so. he could have refrained from hav- ing the same collected and thus depriv- ed the passengers and shippers oi all benefits of the bonds. Suppose he did collect it, what provision Is there under his statute for paying it out to the injured passengers and ahippersi Could the Governor draw it out of the Treasury, and distribute 1t as it pIeaset him7 He could not constitutionally do so, for the reason that the Constitu- ton forbids the taking out of the Treasury of any money unless the same is appropriated by law. Under the statutory bond therefore, even if the Governor did collect it's penalties. il would be necessary to have a session oi the Legislature to appropriate the money to the payment of claims of pas sengers and shippers and provide some means for ascertaining what was due to each. On the other hand under the bonds which Judge Jones required the railroads to give, the Passengers and shippefs are absolutely protected. Il was drawn with special reference to the rights of the persons injured and not merely to lodge power in the hands of an official Under it the court could require the penalty to be collected by the clerk of the court and he could as- certain by reference to a master. the amounts due to each shipper and pas senger and have 1t paid to them.
 Is justice a matter of right. or does it rest in the pleasure or grace of a Governor? Evidently Judge Jones thought it a matter of right and not de- pendent upon the pleasure or whim oi any official So thinking and desir- ing to protect the persons who might be injured by the injunction he could not we'll have done otherwise than re- ject the statutory bond and prescribe one which would accomplish protection to passengers and shippers, as he had right to do under the rules of a court of equity.
 The assertion that the bonds given by the railroad companies do not pro. tect because they do not require the railroads to keep an account of all the shipments and passenger tickets is ab- surd. Men do not often forget the debts which are owing to them. and upon the same principle, passengers and shippers would not be apt to for. get the amounts they were charged in excess of statutory rates.
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