The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-02

more prosperous than hope or fancy pictured to us as darkness and seem
 ing hopelessness settled over us at Appamattox.
 Plan to Prevent Monopolies | All railroads doing an interstate postal and common carrier business | should be recharted by Congress=just
 as state banks are transformed into
 national banks. License would not be | effective, as tho present charters of many of the old railroads have exemp-
 tions and advantages that newer rail- | roads have not; so that by recharter- | Ing all railroads would operate under similar laws and no railway would
 have any advantage over another rail- | road.
 Licenses were first suggested by one
 of the great legal lights of one Of the railroads whose charter contains many
 exemptions, and this was done with the hope of educating the people to believe
 In the efficacy of this plan
 | Penalties for wrong doing should be imposed on the officials that were re sponsible for the wrongs committed by | the underlings of the corporation, Fines lievied upon corporations takes from the | treasury funds that should be used Tor betterments or dividends.
 No person should be permitted to be In the directorate of more than one
 
 | tai and common carrier railroad. 1 A physical examination of railroads l should be made by United States gov | ernment engineers annually. All rail- | roads should be taxed as are our citi- zens-on the value of their lands. based on the value of adjoining lands and on I all improvements thereon. The grad ling and ballasting of railway Is ac- lcounted as improvement of the prop erty of the railway.
 Interstate railways should be allowed to issue bonds to the full value of the real estate owned and no more. Term | inal and tunnel bonds might be issued to an amount equalling the real cost or the terminals and tunnels.
 Such railways should have tho right to issue stock to the full value of their I personal property and no more
 The plan suggested would give full and complete publicity-the people | could know the real value of the real and personal property of the corpora | ton; then municipalities. counties and state would receive their just share of | the taxes paid. And not only would the value of the real and personal prop erty be available but the real physical condition would be known to all. Stocks would no longer be playthings | for the stock boards, as the securities | would have a real value and secured | the same as a negotiable promissory lnote, secured by a chattel mortgage. | Such railways should not be allowed 1 in whole or part to own or operate mines or manufacturing plants. or to engage in any business except as com mon carriers, excepting the right to | build and repair any personal property | they used in their business as carriers. | Such railways should not be allowed to purchase any stock in any other rail-
 way or in any mining, manufacturing
 or individual company, nor should rail- | ways or their officials be allowed to &C.,
 cept stock as gift from any corpora ton or from an individual. They should | have the right to sell their railroad, l or buy any connecting railway with the
 view of extending their lines
 Any railroad selling it's stock and | franchise to another railroad should | have the sale and purchase confirmed
 by the stockholders of the railways in l interest. The charter of the purchased | railway should be cancelled and the added mileage should be known by l the name and act under the authority of
 the purchasing railway.
 The ownership or operation of mines | has been the cause of much distrust and dissatisfaction. The price of coal
 at the mines and at selling points has | been determined by magnates before | the coal was dug, and the presidents | of railways have no more right to fix
 the price of coal than they have to fix | the price of labor or what pound of | cotton or bushel of wheat shall sell | for aTa
 The output of coal has been increased kpr diminished at tho will of the coal fbarons-shipments have been irregular for independent miners; and coal bought | and billed to individuals, to dealers,
 has been seized by order of railroad of- | ficials Just as a government would seize | a privateer on the high seas--a1l this in restraint of trade and to the injury of | business and to the detriment of the in-
 dividual. The object of government
 was to do for the individual what the individual could not do for himself-to
 do for the general welfare of the peo- pie"
 | Railways have thus had their ener- | gies and purposes deflected from their | lawful and chartered purposes Tn many cases as may be seen by an ex-
 animation of their detailed reports, large investments have been made in | other railways. so as to secure con- | trolling interest in competing or feed | ing railways and to the injury of the
 stockholders of such railroads. | Instead of using their capital in re- pairing, rebuilding and extending the main line or branches, they have by the | course pursued either lessened or ruined | the revenues and value of competing
 railways by diverting tonnage to their | lines and getting the Hons share and
 not unfrequently securing the railway afterwards at great sacrifce-the original stockholders thus being forced
 to sell at price determined on by
 the major management.
 A railway that has s50,000,o00 in vested Cor any other amount in 5l per cent of the capital stock of a com
 peting or connecting railway has a strangle hold on the stockholders and a lever by which the value of the bonds I of that corporation may have much | of their values squeezed out of them and not only so. but the amount in- vested Is the amount of capital that cannot be used for extensions, for re- | pairs or devices for the better protec l tion of life and limb. We challenge successful contradiction of this propo- sition: That the safety of the travel