The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-25
JONES DISCUSSES
 RAILROADS BOND
Claims Governor Conner Made
 a MiSStatement
PREPARE FOR THE SESSION
Montgomery Gets Ready to Receive Members and Visitors at Coming Extra Session-The State
 Soil Tests.

Montgomery, october f.-tspeeial9-ln
 an interview published September 16, Gov
 ernor |. B. Conner is quoted saying Incidentally, l would also like to say l that the bond the Louisville and Nashville 1 railroad has made in these suits is not
 worth the paper 1t is written on.e i The bond alluded to is, as shown by i the interview, the bond given by the 1 Louisville and Nashville Railroad com
 pany for the protection of shippers and i passengers who paid rates for passenger
 fares and for freight service in excess of 1 the rates prescribed by the statutes. this
 bond having been required of the railroad
 companies during the railroad rate litiga7
 ton by Judge Jones.
 George N. Jones, district attorney of
 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
 company says of the statement: 1 "The inference to be drawn from tho
 interview of the governor is necessarily that the Louisville and Nashville Raii-
 road company has given straw bond
 to the people, and that the judge of the
 federal court has approved straw
 bond
 "Nothing could be more unfair than the
 creation of such an impression. am I surprised that the governor has not cor l rected this erroneous statement before l this tlme His attention was directed to l il on September 24 and he was asked to
 correct the statement. He has not done
 so up to this time so far as l have been l able to learn.
 Our bond is formulated like the bonds l given by all of the other railroad com panes that have brought suits In the ieu- 1 eral court which bonds were all submit
 ted to and approved by counsel for the
 railroad commission employed by the state"
 The bond is then quoted by MT. Jones, | who continued.
 "The bond of the South and North Ala
 bama Railroad company is identical With
 the foregoing except that the amount ol
 the bond of the South and North Ala l bama Railroad company Is SloO,0O0
 .'It will be found upon investigation that 1 the United States Fidelity and Guaranty l company of Baltimore, the surety on the ] bonds of the Louisville and NashVilie l Roilroad company, and of the Soutn anu l North Alabama Railroad company, ls l duly qualified under the laws or Aiapaihd l to do business in this state, having con1- piled with all the conditions imposed py
 the state of Alabama upon such corpora
 lions and that ii is one of the leading l institutions doing business of this charac- | ter I am informed that at least one or | our state officials at the capitol IS pondeu | in that company, and, under the laws oi 1 Alabama the official bonds Of state or hcers are approved by the governor Does l the governor mean to question the soi-
 vency of the United States Fidelity ana l Guaranty company If not, what iS .he l trouble with our bonds2
 II would be pleased to have the goVer-
 nor or the attorneys for the state indicate l in what particular the bond ot the Louis | vile ard Nashville Railroad company ana 1 the bond of the South and North Alabama
 Railroad company, or either of them, IS l defective.
 l Wants Explanation. of 1t develops that they are able to show that either of these bonds IS de- l fective in any respect this company VIII cheerfully make the same good both as l to terms and amounts.
 "If the governor and his attorneys upon
 investigation find that the statements in
 the newspaper article alluded to, to the | effect that our bond Is not worth the l pa per it is written on, are In any respect | erroneous is il not fair that the goNer- 1 nor make statement as to the suffl- l ciency of our bond in as public manner
 as he made the charges to their insuffi- l ciency?
 1 "f desire also to say in this connection 1 that the impression which seems to pre- vail in the minds of some people, as indicated by newspaper reports, that thls 1 company provided for the issuance of l claim coupons upon passenger tickets as 1 an attempt to comply with the reduced l messenger rates is erroneous. These cou- | aI heinz 1 for the convenience of passengers ana | for the protection of this company against | fraudulent or fictitious claims which might 1 be presented should 1t become necessary l by an adverse decision of the federal l court in the pending litigation to re- l fund to passengers the excess or ha l cent per mile over the statutory rate. Prepare for Session. With the practical certainty of an ex- 1 ira session of the legislature to deal with l the question of railroad control prepara- ] ton is being made at the capitol Tor the l reception of the members. Clerk of the | House Cyrus Brown is assembling his l documents so that there may be no delay I and Secretary of the Senate ]. A. Kyle | will be early on the ground, 10 have | ready the more sedate side of the house. | The governor and his many advisors 1 are getting d mental line on what will | be suggested Tn the WHY or lcBisidlloil 1 and be prepared to give advice and coun- | cil to those who will make the laws. l The attitude of the recalcitrant rail- 1 roads headed in the main by the presi- l dent of the Louisville and Nashville. is well known now, and it seems not so l much desire to resist the rates and 1 the laws as the principle that the state | has d right to legislate reduction in in- l comes and provide what shall be charged | for certain service for a given length of time Mir Milton II. Smith. head of the | Louisville and Nashville, makes this very | plain He insists that if the state can 1 make laws that will in a sense be con l hscatory of the property Of the rail l roads it is a bad day for all corporate | interests He prefers to let the matter l ge through the courts and have 1t set l tied for all time.
 Both Headstrong.
 Governor Conner is very much the same ! kind of man as Mr Smith. Headstrone | in following his convictions he will cer- | tainlv go the extreme length of his att | thority in trying to make the roads that arc moi now doing so observe the en-