The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-10
TEXT OF GOVERNORS MESSAGE TO LEGISLATURE

to the fact that Alabama has been try ing to pass this bill for twenty seven years This is practically the law of every advanced state. and has been used for the protection and safe guard of the people. This law should have been enacted years ago. By the failure of the state to establish an absolute re s.rsining sms1in ssIc power the cupidity of the absentee landlords, all of them,s have held the property and the business of the state at their own discretion and sSssace sassa at fhsr own dssrs this Sy the ly to the people. Freight rates are so arranged that practically every pro duct of the state is shipped out of the state as raw material, and every article of consumption of the state shipped into the state; barbarous, destructive, un- economic condition. void of all true state craft and political economy. In addition to the above. we have the highest local freight rates and most arbitrary conditions of any of our sis- ter states.
 The extent of this bill is for the RaiiroaS Isii a Commission to equalize and vice corporations, and to so arrange freight charges on the productions of the state, between the different parts Of the state. to at least secure for the manufacturers and consumers in the state an equal per mile rate for like distances to other sections; and if secured a most important and valuable right All of the above will give an inadequate idea of the importance of this law, and unstinted credit is due you for the accomplishment of this act.
 Demurrage Bill.
 You have passed demurrage bill. This bill requires that the railroad com panies should pay cost for inadequate service. at the same time making the shipper responsible for detention of the property of the railroad. This bill. taken almost entirely from the Virginia statutes. is not drastic, but secures both the interest of the carrier and the shipper; removes from the farmer the power of making arbitrary and one sided rules; secures prompt service as to his property, and also secures the shipper from the danger of arbitrary and one-sided rules, and secures prompt much needed and Important law.
 Maximum Rate Bill.
 You have passed maximum rate bill, that is. you have made the freight rates of the state, as made and charged by the railroads themselves, the 1st of January. 1907, the maximum rate, not to be increased without process of court or special statute. The wisdom of this is shown by the fact that the day when you were passing the bill the railroads. especially the L. & N railroad. by telegram changed many of their classifications and rates, in creasing some as much as two hundred to six hundred per cent.
 Two and One Half Cent Passenger Rate.
 You have passed a two and one half cent passenger rate. This law taken forbade the railroads to again contri- bute money for the purpose of con- trolling elections. and also forbade the asa of pssss making Ss Sd take in connection with your act that Arkansas. Indiana, Virginia, Missouri West Virginia and Ohio have a two Judge. Mcpherson of Missouri. in a re: cent hearing before his court denied the application for 2 preliminary in junction demanded by the railroads against the putting in of this two cent ing that the measure had sufficient merit to justify the people in having trial of 1t, and refusing. to grant an injunction until a reasonable trial had proven its worth.
 Classification of Freight.
 You have passed an act placing 11O articles of freight of common produc- classification and same rate the same articles are carried by the railroads of Georgia, and have been carried by the railroads in Georgia at this same rate but the Georgia railroads have carried practically every other item and class of freight at a much lower rate. than prevails in Alabama, and which classes fere with, I will state that these same no items Of freight have a lower rate in North Carolina and Virginia than was made by you, and that the general freight lists of these states are lower.
 An injunction has been issued against these three laws in the Federal Court at Montgomery, the railroads claiming that the execution of them would con ka nd fhan1 In a similar case held in Iowa, Judge Brewer on the bench, then a Federal Circuit Judge, now United States Supreme Court Judge. made the fol-
 ''The officers of the railroad company declare that the rates fixed by the com- mission so reduce the income that 1t w n0t of suffice t if g Ss Se on its bonded debt, leaving nothing for dividends for its stockholders. The Railroad Commission asserts that their schedule was formed to produce eight paying cost of maintenance and run ming expenses. Which view Is the cor rect one, 1t is impossible to decide from the evidence submitted. There is however, a conclusive way, and 1t seems to me 1t is the only one by which this controversy can be set tied. and that is & by experiment IIeIdS r,oit It ficers or the railroad commisison-in their view of the effects of the Com missions tariff and rates, by allowing g the tariff to go into operation. Where the effect of the rates Is doubtful, with the probability that they will prove compensatory and the amount of busi- ness to be effected thereby is compara- lively small, I think the courts may well wait for the test of experience. Influenced by these considerations, am led to refuse the preliminary in junction and to set aside the restrain ing order heretofore entered
 It would seem that the above decision of Judge Brewer would fit the case of this legislation has been called nasty and ill-advised, 1t is not true. It has been tried before the railroad commis- sion several times and clearly proven that Alabama was greatly discriminated against; it became a direct component essential of the initiative and referen- dunn has been carried out, and at the last election. where 1t had been dis cussed for an entire year In every part of the state, the verdict confirming the states demand was. practically unanimous. In fact, this statute of yours limiting the reduction of freight to 1l0 items was the most moderate of the two policies and reductions ad- ! vocated before the people and before fully discussed. more fully understood l or so universally demanded.
 Comparison With Other States. Your action was fortified by the ex- 1 perience of Georgia, Carolina and Vir- | glnia. as well other states, as in all of them where the fight for equaliza- | tion of rates was made, & lower rate | than these made by you was accom- | plshed by them The railroads there 1 also claimed that it was drastic and 4h