The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-21
Maintains that No Discrimina-'
ton Has Been Shown In
Alabama By Road.
GOES INTO DETAILS AND
PRESENTS FIGURES
s,x. Average Rates In Alabama Are
Lower than In Georgia and States
Railroad Cannot Stand Fur
Their Reduction.

Sydney ]. Bowie, counsel for the Louis
VILE and Nashville railroad in the special
rate litigation now in progress In Louis
Vile, has written defense of the rail-
roads contention. Mr.. Bowie goes into
the matter in a detailed way and writes
as follows:
To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
Your editorials commenting on pending
questions are generally so fair and COM
sentative that exceptions thereto need to
be rarely taken. There are some state
ments, however, in the editorial or The
Age-Herald of July under the heading
of mo Railroad Injunction in Alabama
that seem to require comment. 1t Is
usual for newspapers of established repu-
tation to refrain from commenting upon
questions In courts of justice, and thiy
has been generally observed by your
paper, and it Is obviously correct poll
6y, because ordinarily speaking, no news
paper, however well equipped its news
gathering force may be, and however
minded it's editorial policy may be.
can possibly have the opportunity OF be-
ing sufficiently informed as to all the
facts about causes pending in courts TO
make an intelligent or just criticism. Ths
great importance of the pending rate
cases in this state possibly justifies a de-
parture from this rule, ana it Is no doubt
upon that theory that this editorial was
written. The editorial referred to, among
other things, says
This decision by Judge Jones practi-
cally eliminates the preliminary injunc-
ton from the cases brought to declare
the state railroad legislation confiscatory.
Pending a final decision that legislation
will no doubt stand in full effect and OPP
Grafton, and no more confiscation will go
on in this state than has gone on for
many years in Georgia without question
on the part of the railroads"
+ Again 1t is said:
LAS things stand now, it may be years
before the questions involved in the pend
ing suits against the state brought by the
Louisville and Nashville and the Central
of Georgia are fully and finally deter
mined. and when the settlement comes
the probability is that all the changes
wrought by the new rate bill will have
Deen dpplleu dllO dCSCPtCoy oiiO eiio ieAAA
road companies may by that time smile In
recalling that they charged Alabama with
a desire to confiscate their property"
Need For Discussion.
I am perfectly conscious of the advisa-
bilty of counsel employed in case re-
framing from making comments in the
newspapers, but when counsel for the
IL ott n
eral in his recent statement, and when a
great newspaper, as The Age-Herald, In
the editorial above quoted, presents COM
ments on a pending cause. 1t may be
necessary, and 1t certainly seems no more
than fair, that the party assailed should
have an opportunity to reply.
The Age-Herald seems to assert in the
editorial above quoted, and 1t has asserted
in other editorials, the proposition that
the Louisville and Nashville company has
only been required to put in the Georgia
rates. which have been submitted to with
out question In that state. 1t has been
held by the supreme court of the United
States In the case of Smyth VS.. Ames, 1859,
U. S., that a comparison of rates between
different states was of small value and
entitled to little weight. In order that
this point may be made clear, quote
from the opinion as follows:
1.-The volume of business may be greater
in one state per mile, while the cost OF
construction and maintenance is less.
Hence to enforce the same rates in both
states might result in one great injustice
while in the other 1t would only be rea-
sonable and fair. Comparisons, therefore
between the rates of two states are of lit
tie value, unless all the elements that en-
ter into the problem are presented. II
may be true as testified by some of the
witnesses that the existing local rates in
Nebraska are 40 per cent higher than sim
liar rates in the state of Iowa. But 1t Is
also true that the mileage earnings In
Iowa are greater than in Nebraska In
Iowa there are 2SO people to each mile OF
railroad, while in Nebraska there are but
800: and, as a general rule, the more peo-
pie there are the more business there is.
Hence, mere difference between the
rates in two states is of comparatively
little significance"
Not Higher Than Georgia.
But although the test of comparison
with other states has been declared by
the decision of the highest court of
the land to be a spurious one, we can
in this case meet and dispose of 1t
once and for all. The Louisville and
Nashvilles rates in Alabama are not
higher than they are in Georgia, but
they are lower. This may not be true
of every commodity carried in the two
states, but it Is true when applied
to the average of all commodities, by
which test alone fair conclusion can
|ibe reached. The Louisville and Nash
Vville's rates, taken as a whole, are
not only lower in Alabama than they
are in Georgia, but they are lower than
the average of all rates charged by
all railroads in the state of Georgia.
More than that, they are lower than
the average of all rates of any state
in the south. The general rates charged
by the Louisville and Nashville rail-
road, both local and interstate, are the
same in all the states in which 1t does
business, but special commodity rates
have sometimes been granted where a
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