The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-11
Blind Tigers Need Less
 Light Than the Saloons

nishing the electricity.
 Secret service employee of the com. pany have photographed the meter and surrounding wffes In the Common Mans current was short -cirsuifed and there by diverted from the meter in the place. By this device 1t is alleged. the club was consuming without cost e large amount Of current nightly. 1t is . literary club. or rather was . lit. erary club before the intrusion of the shsrif's deputies. Now it is vacant. found more evidence of drink and gambling than the> did of ancient or modern writers.
 Tea ~Literatteur..v
 The raiders were 50 impressed. with the scholarly. attachments of the club members that no less than ten of them were ya1ked to the county jail and there made bond to recite the ancients before jury of their peers. It Is said that many were caught doing the Fall stan in the alcoves of the club and others showed an intimate knowledge of parts of both Burns and Byron. The management of the B. R. l.. and F. CO. is wondering If the scores of blind tigers in the district are
 sponging' for light on their currents. The removal of more than 200 saloons which were big consumers of light was q heavy blow to this department Of the company. Can it be that straw is to break the eamers back and the blind tigers with which the district teems are to entail further loss. If it were certain that they were paying for their current there would be no need for concern, but the management Is not lost to the theory that if pro- prietors of blind tigers win violate the law in one way they might not have scruples in other directions
 Having this in mind, the secret ser- vice men are taking on new life. They will keep alert for stealage of electric of enormous losses in q dozen differ ent ways. For now they have law, plain and inscrutabie. by which the manipuIators of the current may be punished. Heretofore, only the stat ute Of larceny could be Invoked for whipping. the thief, and 1t Is under stood that not single case is on re- cord whereby current larceny has been punished in Alabama.
 Another leakage that gives trouble to the B. R. L. 6 F. Co. Is in the gas department. The writer was aston isiled to see Che various spurious coins that are used by gas consumers to pay for the product. They are placed in the meter box without hesitation ey- anywhere in the city they go and. says Manager Sloan, they are always on the "go." That is what makes 1t so try ing on the detectives to get next The defraudars are tenants of houses with differenE names when they apply to the company for gas connections.
 But the greatest leakage of B. n. L. < P. is In the. ciaiyns department. The Sums paid out by this corporation du. ring year on account of damage suits nmka A. than $200,00o were paid out during 1908. This was less than 1907, and herein comes prohibition for some credit, according to c. N. Cory, Treas- urer and Auditor.
 Less Damage CIafma
 The latter officer is dispOsed to give prohibition credit for the shkinkage in damage claims. While he is liberal in his attitude towards prohibition. Busi- ness Manager Sloan thinks more of the publicity campaign of the corporation In this particular than of prohibition.
 T believe the reduction of claims is due more to the plan of education inc stituted by Mir. Ford (President) than to prohibati tion. said Mfr. Sloan. There was Jess business done by the company last year than during 1907. believe there were fewer deaths and injuries among the negroes than before But k&&G pany has waged and is still waging e campaign for a better mutual under standing between the people and the company. The damage suits that were piling up against the company were alarming.
 "You have perhaps noticed that in our cars are pamphIeta appealing to the Deople for co-cperation rather than preJudice and opposition. We show where tiio company ts doing more for the district than is commonly believed. We try to educate the passenRers to avoid 9ccident and ask that witnesses of all accidents give us their namea In this way more justice should be | done the company in the suits that fol- | low. In this campaign of education we are spending more than 97,0OO c 1 year in newspaper advertising. In ad- dttion we are undergoing big expense | In our little publication which circu. lates on the street cars and in the tracts which we send through the mails We are circularizing 10000 l people today for e better understand 1 ing"
 It is an expsasive undertaking. this advertising of the company to abate | the appalling stream of damage suits | that has eaten huge punches Of profits | in tine past. But President Ford is ad- | herring to 1t as faithfully as in it's in- | ception. Really his faith Is increas- | Ing in the project as there Is more out 1 lay now than was contemplated. What | ts slO,O00 a year in educational pr0pa. l ganda if it results iR' saving si0O, ,O00 | in unjust damage cIainisf Or if it brings ahoat a reduction of even HI1. .000? The | dollar goes as far with the corporation | as with the individual. no matter how large or how small.
 For Better JuRaem.
 The corporation is also appealing for | better Juries.i The campaign of odu- | cation is an indirect eEgort to bring this | about. But the purging of the jury system must be drought about by more radical efforts and ell trifllng suits for | damages cannot be eliminated until a | transcendental wave of reform strikes | the country and the State.
 Until such wave comes, however, it | would seem the part of wisdom to re. Iieve the conditions in all the minor | methods possible. if the hate of cor porations is planted in the breasts of some men, if 1t cannot be eradIcated in modern days, 1t may be appeased a bit and every little bit helps. That is what B. R. L C P. Is counting on | They realize that they must do some. | thing to this end. They cannot afford | to wait until some superhuman impulse comes to strike the germ from the heart and head of the people. They | have got to earn dividends in the in. definite Interim; they must. operate to 1 hold their franchises and they must | keep the stockholders and bondholdsrs |