The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-12-13
THE RAILWAY RATE QUESTION.
Regarding the much discussed sub

the feQeTdl court III tuc IdiA~ay iotC
matter. The Durham Herald says
that it does not know that the fed
eral courts should interfere. still We
should feel sorry for the railroads IL
they were completely al the mercy
of our legislatures" and IL might
have added, especially the one which
met in Raleigh last winter.
We opine, from the sentiments OF
The Herald above quoted, that it
would declare the railroads in this
state to be very foolish if they would
agree to a compromise" with Gov
ernor Glenn which would include a
special session of that body in order
that it might have another whack
at them.
They know the feeling of the ma
jority of that body toward them.
They know that they could not do
worse by trusting to a new legis-
lative body and they might find the
new one more inclined to deal fairly
with them.
In a so-called compromise includ-
ing the calling of an extra session
of the present Legislature the rail-
roads have all to lose and nothing
to gain; for they have no assurance
that it would adopt any compromise
suggestions the governor might agree
to make to it. That body is as in
dependent of the governor as is the
supreme court of the state of the
suggestions of any one of our coun-
ty sheriffs.
For weeks there have been sent
out from Raleigh almost daily re-
ports of contemplated compromises,
but none of them could be verified.
The reports were so numerous and
so persistent that there was about
to be some compromise that many
people began to believe there was
some truth in them, although those
| who even to a small degree under
stood the situation and the law gov
erning the case could not under
! stand how the governor or the cor
! poration commission and their re-
| spective counsel could make a COM
promise in these cases in face OF
| the express declaration of the legis-
lature, the act of that body being
| definite and positive and giving no
one any discretionary power, as is
the case with the Alabama statute
on the rate question.
The contest in Alabama on the
/. pending question has been as deter
mined on both sides, if not more
so, than that in this state, and the
governor of that state has taken a
stronger hold-if such a thing were
possible-than has our chief execu-
tive, and Judge Jones, of the federal
court in that state, has stood by
| what we believe he felt to be his du-
ty and the authority of his court
For a while he was apparently de-
fed by some of the state officials
who showed disposition to ignore
his DEGREES. 1t looked for while
like there would be serious conflict
there between his court and the state
authorities, but Judge Jones stood
to what he conceived to be the right
The consequence is that President
Henderson, of the Alabama railroad
commission, according to press dis
patch, has issued an order suspend
ing all cases at issue before the com
mission affecting railroad rates men
toned in Judge Jones order. He
states that sit is better to wait unit
the powers of the commission are
more clearly defined before those
| cases affecting the reduction of rate:
are cleared up"
| In other words, the state official:
of Alabama recognize the right O.
the railroads to apply to the fedora
courts for judicial determination o.
their federal constitutional rights IL
these matters and that if they per
sisted in their course of opposing
the railroads right to seek relief II
| those courts they would be put II
the wrong from a legal standpoint.
The action of Commissioner Hen
derson does not by any means i'm
ply an admission on his part of th'
right of the roads to final judgmen
in their favor on the merits of thos'
cases; but it is, as we see 1t, al
admission on his part that they ha'
a constitutional right to go into tn
federal courts and that he consent
to and advises that the matters II
contention be settled in an orderl
: and constitutional manner by tn
; courts having authority to act ol
such cases, and that is the only thin