The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-21
ATLANTA WANTS
 THE PORT RATES But Present Commission Will
 Not Order Them THERE IS LITTLE HOPE Jobbers Will Probably Lie Low and Wait For Another Chance at the PoIIs-GoVernor-elect Browns
 Position.
THERE IS LITTLE HOPE
BY LAUREN FOREMAN.

BY LAUREN FOREMAN.
 Atlanta, June 20.=(Special)-N that the railroad commission has re- i fused to grant the petitions for re- i duced rates from the ports of Georgia i to Atlanta and other interior points, the port rate issue is a dead one for the present with no prospective re- vival at least for another year when 1t may or may not burst loose in the gubernatorial campaign which~will be launched in the spring of 1910.
 The Atlanta Jobbers and others who want the port rates are not going to drop the matter by any means; they will simply wait until they can get another griphold on politics and they will be at it again.
 It is evident, however that they will stand little change of success until they can change the attitude and as- pect of the railroad commission. which means they will first have to get a railroad commission differently consti- tuted from the present one.
 Even If the legislature this summer reduces the number of members of the railroad commission to three, the re- maining members as now figured out will stand two to one against port rates.
 The members whose terms will first expire will be Commissioner c. M. Candler, who voted for port rates. and Commissioner o. B. Stevens, who voted against them. That will leave Com missioner s. G. McLendon and H. W. Hill against port rates and Commits sioner George Hillyer for them. There Is Little Hope.
 So there will be little hope of pre- liminary action by the commission in favor of port rates until the board completely changes its complexion of which there is little Likelihood for three or four years at earliest.
 Even should the port rate advocate succeed in electing a governor, which Is far cry based on that issue alone, they would still have to bring about change in the railroad commission which is even more difficult task. It would take another political up- h eaval to bring about a situation favor able to port rates, and they are not likely to come so close together.
 The vote by which the port rate pe- tttion was defeated, by the way, three to two, with Chairman McLendon and Commissioner Hill and Stevens voting
 
 yer and Candler for them, Is precise ly the result which was predicted in , these dispatches early in May sh ortly following the hearing at which the tes- timony was taken. It could not have l worked out with more exactness if the
 different commissioners had been elected solely on platforms for and 1 against port rates.
 Action ProbIematic. Just what move the Atlanta job bers and others interested in port rates will make Is problematic They could not be convinced that the commission was going to decide against tn em. Of course the commissions decision fa- vorable to port rates would have been only the beginning in that direction. It would have been followed by court injunction and long litigation which would have lasted perhaps for two or three years.
 That they will go into the political arena again Is not to be doubted; but 1t Is questioned wheth CT they can again bring the voters of Georgia to their support on that proposition alone, An interesting feature of the decision and past history connected with 1t has almost been overlooked. Chairman s. G. McLendon. who voted against the port rate petition, gave almost the same reason for his attitude as that given by Joseph M. Brown four years ago when he was railroad commissioners and who had little notion then that he was ever to become governor of the state.
 Browns Position. As railroad commissioner the present governor-elect voted against port rates Among the reasons he gave for his po- sttion was that the establishment of the principle involved would upset the whole rate fabric throughout eastern | territory.
 When he made his campaign in 1906 l Gov. Hoke Smith stated frequently in | his speeches that if he were governor | and a railroad commissioner gave such a reason as that for refusing to grant 1 these rates he would suspend him from 1 office immediately.
 Now comes Chairman McLendon and puts his vote against port rates on 1 the ground that an interstate rate Is l involved and the Georgia railroad com mission has nothing to do with the l regulation of interstate rates. It will be recalled that Commissioner l Brown was suspended by Governor 1 Smith hortly after he went into office l Other reasons were given for the sus- | pension but over all hung the state ment made by the governor during his 
 l Striking similarity in the reasons for | their attitude will be found in the statements made by Commissioners | Brown and McLendon four years apart. l In ultimate analysis they are the same. | Governor Smiths Chance. l If Governor Smith should decide to l carry out his campaign promise he has l an opportunity to do so in connection with Chairman McLendon, his own ap- | pointee But he has only one week l to do it in.
 Under the law the governor suspends and makes report to the legislature of | his reasons for doing so. The legisla- | ture m"y .tllen declare the governors I i E'easons not well taken and restore the l commissioner, or it may approve them | and declare the office vacant | It is not believed, however, that the | governor will do this, for he has all | ready stated fin response to the sugges- l tion that he might suspend another ] commissioner, that he did not want | to make another incompetent man gov- | ernor."
 whether there will be any further | immediate developments is still prob | lematical, inasmuch as Governor Smith | has declined to discuss the decision.