The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
GOVERNOR BROWN IS
 DELAYING ACTION
Railroad Is Allowed to Con.
 tinue Breaking Contract
PAPERS IN CASE READY
Up Question of Western and At- lantic Rates and Laid It
 Before Governor

| t q
 Atlanta, January a1.-(Speeial) )-Some
 naction on the part of Governor Brown
 in the matter of proceeding against the
 Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis
 Railroad company as lessee of the Vest
 ern and Atlantic, for it's alleged failure to l comply with the terms or the lease con. tract
 | It will be recalled that nearly two months ago the railroad commission, after an Investigation called to the governors attention the fact that in its opinion,
 the lessee was not. complying with that
 provision of the lease which requires that the same rates of freight shall be charged I for hauls between Georgia points and | Chattanooga as for like distances between points wholly within the state. | In other words, the lessee company long
 a go has been and still is charging higher
 rates for the interstate haul than for
 lauls within the state.
 1 The railroad commission, for this req
 son, put it up to the governor to take
 
 force the lessee company to comply with
 the terms of the contract
 l It has been suggested that this might
 be done either through mandatory in 1 junction brought against the lessee in the
 name of the state, or by abrogating the
 lease outright, and letting the lessee com pany make it's own fight. | After the case had been placed in the 1 hands of Governor Brown and he had l given 1t some consideration, he sent it l back to the commission, but for what
 purpose has never been made public l Now the commission has returned the papers to the governor and for the last l ten days or two weeks they have been
 in his hands for the second time. Just what all this passing back and l forth means, 1t is impossible to ascertain directly, because neither the governor nor
 members of the commission will talk
 about it.
 The commission states that the matter
 is in the governors hands. while the gov l ernor simply says he has it under con- | sideration.
 l But gossip around the capitol is to the effect that a decided difference of opn- l ion has arisen between the commission
 and the governor to just how the mat
 ter should be handled.
 It IS reported that the governor IS or l the opinion that the commission should take the initiative in the matter; that it 1 should order into effect the same rates for the interstate traffic on the Western 1 and Atlantic as are charged for haafs | within the state. If then the lessee com | pany should refuse to obey the order of tthe commission, proceedings could be had against it in the usual manner when the | commissions orders are ignored or vio- | lated.
 Es According to the gossip this is the req I son, or one of the reasons, why the gov ernor sent the matter back to- the conn mission. | It is said that the railroad commission, on the other hand takes the view that ! fthis is matter purely for executive ac- l tion that it is an executive function to enforce compliance with the terms of the contract which the lessee company has l.Nith the state. -a. 4 #s#s55.s. .. ,
 For this reason, it is said, the con- mission just as promptly returned the | matter to the governor where it now rests | awaiting his decision.
 The governor, it Is reported has been going over the matter with the attorney general and will probably decide within a few days what course of action he will pursue. ff fA From the status which the matter has assumed, the indications are that any action taken against the lessee is now | up to the governor: and, as has been stated, two courses are open to him. As to which Of them he will take he has as yet given no ntimation.
 Demands of school Teachers Atlanta's school teachers have decided to subside and take what the city conn l ell has given them rather than continue the fight further at this time and, per haps, jeopardize their chances for the future. The city has not been more stirred up in years than over the question of in- creasing the school teachers salaries. Practically the entre city was back of ell. They asked increased salaries which. in the total aggregated $660o0. Council gave them s22OO0, one-third of what they asked, and flat-footedly said that was the best it could do.
 sThe teachers begged, pleaded argued. | threatened, but to no avail. Council said that was the best it could do, and with the matter before i twice, it re- fused to go an inch further. The teachers had appropriated fund to employ an expert to go over the tax books; they had opointed committee to confer with the federation of trades with view to forming regular trades organization; there had even been under ground rumors of strike. It accomplish cd nothing. Councils ac- tion Thursday was final. So seeing the futility of their efforts. the teachers have come around. They have decided to accept the $22O00 which has been handed out to them and wait in pa tience for an opportunity to add too it. This they think can be
 brought about in another year and they have decided to go quietly to work to that end.
 Unique Club Situation
 The club situation in Atlanta has as- ,umed q unique pha.a and it Is said that rather than suppress the clubs, councils recent action will result in their operation on even a more ex- tended scale.
 Atlanta has now about IS or 20 clubs. of course, with locker attachments. Some of then. are legitimate social clubs; others are not. Council recently added four more to the list and appli- cations for some Is or IS more club charters are now pendipg. i Most of them have been organized largely for the purpose. of making money out of liquor sales.
 Now comes council and puts $500 license on them with the additional requirement. that their books and mem bership rolls shall be open to police l inspection upon demand.
 | With state and city license agSregat-
 ing $500, that expense will still be far