The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-24
BIG WAREHOUSE
 REMAINS IDLE. Shippers Are Too Wary for the
 Contract Offered BIG EVENTS ARE PLANNED Atlanta Will Have a Music Festival In the Spring, With Caruso as an At ' traction, and an Automobile
 Show In November.

l Atlanta, February 23.-(Special )-There 1 is in Atlanta probably the most com- l plete freight warehouse in the south l built of concrete and containing more 1 than 100000 square feet of floor space l four of whose five floors are held for
 leasesto shippers for warehouse purposes
 This structure is equipped with eight elec-
 tric elevators. apparatus Tor steam-heat-
 ing, water gas and every other modern
 requirement..
 Although it has been completed for
 more than year 1t is still without a single tenant. For some reason or other
 the Atlanta shippers and handlers of
 heavy products are fighting shy of it. Built by the Louisville and Nashville
 railroad onland belonging to the Georgia
 Railroad and Banking company, it is con-
 trolled by these two together with the
 Atlanta and West Point The first named
 road owns half the lease of the Georgia
 road and half the stock of the West
 Point.
 Some of the Atlanta shippers among
 whom inquiry was made as to why they
 are not using this structure when ware
 house room is so valuable, state generally 1 that the terms of the contract which the
 railroad companies require them to sign
 are not attractive. They mention es-
 pecially the feature which, it is said, re-
 quires the shipper to give preference to
 these three railroads in making their
 shipments. This, they declare, they will not do, at least they do not propose to 1 bind themselves to 1t.
 l The board of control which has charge. of the big warenouse denies that there is any restraint upon a shipper, though the | conditions are such as to make it more ! convenient and cheaper for shippers to l use one of the three lines in question. They say they are giving themselves
 no worry over the fact that tenants are lacking for the big structure. Atlanta Is
 growing rapidly, and the demand for
 warehouse room will soon take care of
 that feature of the situation. Whatever it is that the shippers object to in the contract it is apparent that the board of control does not intend to mod | fly or change it. The shippers may take the space on the terms fixed by the
 board or leave it. In the latter event the
 board will simply wait, confident that in time the demand will be sufficient to take
 all the space they have to offer. The lower floor of the building is used as regular freight depot for the three rail roads in question.
 Big Future Events. big music festival in April and an extensive automobile show next Novem-
 Der, definitely determined upon are devel-s opments of the current week in Atlanta. In both directions Atlanta has taken decidedly ambitious stand Committees in charge of both enterprises want noth- ing but ''top-notchers'' in both lines With Caruso as the ultima thule in the mus ical fete, they are reaching out for ex- hibits even of modern foreign cars in the November show.
 Atlantans have pledged fund of s20.000 for the musical festival. It costs nearly that much to get Caruso, but they are
 going to have him regardless of the price.
 It is with the music festival that the new auditorium-armory is to be christened about mid-April, before the building com mittee turns the structure over to the city.
 In the meantime the council may have something to say as to whether the com mittee is to be permitted to use the building for this enterprise free of rental, that question having been recently raised, but it is safe to say the project will be pushed regardless of councils action.
 For the auto show a committee of
 seven has been appointed to go to New York to negotiate there with National Association of Automobile Manufacturers and all the other associations represent ing makers of motor cars and their var ous accessories, looking to placing At lanta on the show circuit.
 The Atlanta dealers and promoters of the enterprise have decided Atlanta must have the show as soon after November 1 as possible and negotiations will be
 6o to haf controlling the various aspects of the trade will be asked to give sanction for the Atlanta show and to promote it in every possible direction. This action means in effect that the
 state fair, in so far as Atlanta is con
 cerned, is a back number. The leading
 Atlanta merchants are tired of the state
 fair scheme anyway and welcome any new feature that promises to advertise and attract trade.
 The laboring people and the small deal ers however, welded to the state fair movement and it is not yet appar- ent how they are to be conciliated. They have not yet quite reached the realiza- tion that the state fair business, so far as Atlanta is concerned, has about played
 out. Carries Responsibility. Tn a decision just handed down by the state court of appeals the doctrine or the responsibility of the initial carrier
 is strongly upheld.
 The decision was arendered in the case of the Southern Pacific Railway company vs. Crenshaw Brothers, carried up from the city court of Atlanta, in which Cren-
 shaw Brothers brought suit against the Southern Pacific for damages to a ship
 ment of grapes from California, des- tined for Tampa, Fla. The Southern Pa cfic was sued on the ground that 1t was the initial carrier and therefore respon- | sibIe. The railroad company filed a de-