The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-11-19

which will discourage the giving OF
zcessive and oppressive verdicts
gainst railroad companies.
II do not believe that there are
10 opinions among candid and con-
Rerate men as to the injustice that
apt to be visited upon corporation
giants by large verdicts.
II have no doubt that frequently
jury itself is unconscious OF the
kstiee of it's action. It Is difficult
void being Influenced by feeling
5mpathy for an injured Individual.
5 also difficult to escape the feel
iIlg that a railway company IS great
and powerful and rich, and Is entl-
tied to no consideration. And yet
railway companies are not great OF
powerful, for they have little oppor-
tunities Of making friends. In this
Southern country they are not r1ch,
but are still struggling to equip them
selves adequately for the public SER
vice, and to keep pace with the won
derful commercial development OF
our people. They need money Tor
their development and improvements
which they cannot obtain from their
current earnings, and which cannot
be supplied to them by law, but must
come from voluntary investors 10
Get it, they must give assurance OF
constructive and helpful public sentl-
ment and Of just treatment by Ju-
ries and in making Of laws.
"The fact that verdicts are IN
many instances most excessive, ano
shat there is a growing tendency to
make them more so, cannot ta1l to
arrest the attention and to excite the
alarm of thoughtful and patr1otle
men. :,
..It is the desire Of the railway
company entrusted to my manage
ment to settle promptly, and on "a
reasonable and just basis, all proper
claims for personal injury, for the
killing of live stock and for loss or
damage Of freight.
"We wish to settle just claims
without putting the claimants to the
necessity of going into court, and 1t
is our effor to do 5 Where, now
ever, it is believed that claim Is al
together unjust, or that the amount
demanded is excessive, there Is moth
ing for us to do but to permit 1t TO
take the course of litigation. We
ought to be. permitted to do so con- =
fdent Of receiving that measure OF
Justice, and that measure only Whlen
IS meted out to an individual IN MS
controverted cases.
"The fact that at present there ls'
in a. degree, one measure OF Jus1lce
for the corporation and another 1or
the individual is, I think, the result
Of a. certain thoughtlessness on the
part of the public. I am conhden'
that the only thing necessary to cor
rect it is to bring the falr-m1nded
American people 10 a realization Of
the fact that justice is, and Of right
ought to be, the same, whether the IS
sue ba between two individuals or be-
tween an individual on the one side
and a corporation on the other-tne
CORPORATION being but an ASSOCIATION
Of individuals, the property rights OIL
each one Of whom are as sacred as
the property rights Of any other
American citizen.
"It is sometimes suggested tna'
some Of our friends of the legal pro-
fession are, in a measure, responsible
for encouraging the fling of excess
;ve claims. This was the idea con-
viewed by a recent cartoon, in when
man who had fallen from a street
car was represented as saying: l
feel all right, but I can't tell wheth-
ar I'm hurt until see lawyer.
Looking forward into the future
Mr.. Finley expressed the belief that
Southern agricultural and lndustraa,
development would continue. He did i
not view with alarm the tendency OF
Young people to leave tne farm, oo'
believed thai, with the Increased al
tractiveness and proftableness OF
farm life, the tide would turn in the
other direction. Referring to the
GOOD work being done by the agrl-
Cultural press of the South, he spoke
Of a series of articles on how to MAKE
$500 more a year from the farm;
and, showing that an average OF
$500 more year would add S9o4'
7e5.5oO to the annual income OF the
farmers of the South, he SAID:
"To the railway officials these hgo