The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-09
THE aFRENZIED EFFORTS" OF
 GOVERNOR AND ASSOCIATES
Says Business Paralyzed by Anti
 Railroad Agitation.
Tn spsciae and General Manner Presi- aent of Losi.vilis and NashvilIa RaiIrosd Deals with cen- trover.y over the Recent
 Raise ia Rates.

President Milton H smith of the Louisville 4 Nashville Railroad in a written statement issued yesterday in reply to the open letter of Governor B. B, Conner to tho Alabama Senators and Representatives in Congress pre- sents for the first time the side Of the railroads in the controversy which has arisen over the increased Inter- state rates on certain packing house products. The L. and N. he says faces deficit for the first six months of 1908. There has been a decrease of 20 per cent. in all movements.
 Mir. Smith deals with the question In both specific and a general man ner. Tn one place he says:
 'If the frenzied efforts of Governor Conner and those acting with him. to destroy the railroads render their op- eration unprohtable are successful. the resulting effect upon the general hue- mess of the country will be such that increased transportation facilities will not be created. leaving the exist ing railway lines to struggle as best they may with existing indebtedness" ParaIyning Business. MT Smith declares further that his prophecy made In a statement to the Alabama Railroad Commission when Governor Conner was member of 1t on April $, 1905, had been fulfilled. At
 
 If this commission enters upon a campaign of antagonism against the railroads, if It should reduce the rates so as to make the operations stiIl more unproftable it will certainly tend to paralyze. if 1t does not paralyze the efforts to get additional capital and render futile the efforts of the raii- ways to increase the trafEic and de- velop the business of the state and tha country"
 As an illustration of this Adr. smith points out that Tn May. 1908, the Louisville and Nashville bought A.- S92.l0e feet of yellow pine lumber mostly in Alabama fes which Y paid over s25 . thousand feet, Km May. 1908. ths Loutsviila and Nashville bought only f7.es4 feet of yellow pine lumber let t bought the lumber for tho small price Of f1449 a thousand feet Tn 1907 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company bought 42.ooo tons of steel rails from the mills at Ensley. For the year of 1908 the road will purchase 10000 tons Of steel rails.
 Mfr. Smith presents a table of figures showing the steady decrease In earn ings of the Louisville and NaehVtile. Under conditions existing the road faces for the six months ending June 30. deficit of s177.44o. Ills state-
 
 Louisville. Ky,
 August 6, 1908. Editor Advertiser:
 In a communication addressed 10 tho Alabama representatives in Congress. the Hon. B. B. Conner. as usual when discussing matters pertaining Co rail- road transportation, indulges in recx- less statements-mere affirmaticns-- which, on their face. show that he hes made no effort to obtain accurate in formation.
 He says: You have only to go back a year and a half and sec what pro- portion their earnings have increased under the rates" in effect many years.
 That i've all know that they have cut every price of labor In this coun~ try that they could cut"
 That the increased rates which bee came effective on August first on pack ing house products and grain and grain products will tax "the consufn- CTS of the state a militcn ! dollars year."
 That this increased charge A will come directly out of the poorest labor on earth. that which produces cotton, and also out of the vast claaa | of other .laborers of our state. wheth- | CT ln mine or manufacture" That the increase in the transpor- tation charges upon packing house products. grain and grain products; cf | one million dollars a year. eS per cent. of which is to be paid by the labor CTS, is for the purpose of paying "the interest on their watered securities.T Figures Are Given.
 The following comparative statement of results of operations of the Loufs- vile and Nashville Railroad Company (entire system) is signincant and apropos: