Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-20
CONVENTION To
DECIDE v. IA.
DISPOSAL
Chamber of Commerce Will Have
Statewide Representation at
Meeting in July,

be appointed by President Wilmer L.
Moore within a week to arrange for
a State convention to consider the
future of the Western and Atlantic
Railroad the States property, and to
make suggestions to the State Leg
islature for its disposal 1t is pro-
posed to invite representatives of
every city in Georgia to attend the
convention. as well as representatives
Of all lines of industries affected.
The Chambers plans call for the
convention while the Legislature is
in session. possibly the first or second
week in July. It will be held in At
lanta.
Authority for the appointment of
the arrangement committee was given
to President Moore at a meeting of
members of the Chamber at Taft
Hall Thursday night
Suggestions for the disposal of the
property were contained in addresses
delivered by four men who have given
considerable time and thought to the
matter-W A. Wimbish chairman of
the w. and A. committee of the
Chamber of Commerce; Murphey
Gambler. chairman Of the State Rail-
road Commission; James r. Gray,
editor Of The Atlanta Journal, and
Hon. Hooper Alexander, who has been
fighting for ten years for an extern
sion of the road to the sea.
Politics Plays Part.
The great question" Mr.. Wimbish
declared, lis whether the State shall
regard the road as an investment or
as a great transportation facility. The
question Of the future of the road is
political in its nature but, at the same
time. it is essentially economic. If
the road is leased by the State to an
other railroad, It must be regarded
solely as an investment, and not as a
State institution 1t can not be used
by the State to control rates, not even
by contract, the Supreme Court of
Georgia having recently held that a
contract such as is even now in force
with the N. c. and st. L., the lessees
Of the road, is an attempt to control
interstate commerce"
Mr. Wimbish intimated that the
State is not now getting a fair finan-
cial return from the road. The N,
c. and St. L. pays the State $420,012
year for the use Of the property"
he said, and the net earnings for the
year 1910 were S72S5 a mile, more
than the majority Of the big railroad
systems of the country No taxes,
State or municipal, are paid on the
property.
The State operation of the road
before the war was fairly successful,
but political dlssension resulted in
incoherent business methods, and the
last years of the State handling of
the property were not as successful
as they might have been. Unless a
fair financial return can be obtained,
based on the value of the property, it
would perhaps be wise to sell the
road. | do not think the State can
operate the road successfully as a
local line between Chattanooga and
Atlanta. II the road Is run by the
State. II must be extended to the sea,
a line of steamships established to
bring business from the Northern
ports, and a connection must be made
with inland waterways at Chatta-
nooga to bring business from the
West and Central North"
Gambler Wants State Operation.
Murphey Gambler, chairman of the
State Railroad Commission, thinks
the State should operate the road and
use 1t as a freight regulator to force
other Georgia railroads to establish
a nd ms 4 TOD 20 ~ II !, 10
He declared the State could make
money operating the road, and cited
figures to show that the business
which must come to the w. & A. ex-
elusive of purely interstate commerce,
would result in earnings of $4,000 a
mile, $1,000 more than the average
earnings of all other Georgia rail-
roads.
Calls Leasing Mistake.
The leasing Of the road was the
mistake of our political existence"
Mr.. Gambler declared. The road
should be owned and operated as a
State institution and a State high
way. 1t should be extended to the
sea, and then used as a power in the
hands of the State of Georgia to
compel other roads to maintain rates
that are fair and just"
James r. Gray declared II Mr.. Can
dlers plan were adopted and the road
used as a regulator of freight rates,
It might bankrupt every other rail-
road in the State. I'VE must be fair
to the railroads" he said. They are
our greatest civilizers and our great
est means for progress"
He declared the road should be
leased for ninety-nin years, with an
ascending scale of rentals that
would insure a fair return, and de-
Clared also that the lease should pro-
vide for improvements to the prop
erty, including the extension to the
sea. Mr.. Gray also advanced a plan
for the State to include in its long
lease the provision that a new Union
Station be built just west Of the
Forsyth Street viaduct, and lease the
property from Forsyth Street TO Cen
trail Avenue to the city or to bust
ness enterprises. The city" he
said, could use the property for a
great union market or for the per-
manent exhibition of Atlanta
made articles, or for both"
Hon. Hooper Alexander declared
the people were capable of operating
their own road, and said the road
should be extended to the sea and
operated by the State. state opera
ton of the road is the only way that
freight rates in Georgia can ever be
reduced to a fair and reasonable
figure" he said Mr.. Alexander ad-
mitted there was a possibility of the
road sshaNorra5pr rnN1iticnI