The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-07

| ment, Ambassador Dagama announced, was in complete control and the state | of siege, proclaimed until the end of the month might be raised before that time
 Today's dispatches brought the first official reports concerning the trouble
 in Brazil. The state department sum-
 marized advices In this statement:
 s..ss...........s.s........ .....................". eral million dollars to the good as a re- ] suit of the deal.
 l "In my opinion, it will be only short l time before the people of Alabama will
 wake up to the real significance of this 1 so-called compromised
 Glad It Is Settled 1 Robert Jemson, Sr.. said in reference
 to the compromise: q am glad the rate I war is over. l nave been unable to go 1 into the merits of the proposition and,
 of course, I cannot give an opinion as to what is just or what is wrong. l am
 not going into the merits I will say, l however, that the state will be better off
 if this rate war is effectively ended.' l President w. P. G. Harding declined | to make any comment upon the com-l promise. He said that he had been un- able to obtain official information and
 even then he would not care to make any statement about the proposition. Nesbitt's Statement | W. D. Nesbitt, former state railroad commissioner under Conner, issued the | following during the day | "Of course it is good for business to l bring about a settlement of all eontro- versies provided these settlements are just. l do not like to be in the light 1 of criticizng the action of the commis- l sion until the full import of the com
 promise is known. There are two inn portant questions involved in the pres l ent situation. If the compromise was good for the state, then the credit. must 1 be given to Governor Conner, for it was | the law which was passed by the Conner | administration that the settlement was | made under.
 1 'On the other hand, if the settlement | is found out to be unsatisfactory to the l state and the benefits are not what | they should be, then the commissioners were just bad traders.
 Ut seems to me that the railroads 1 have really gained more than the people 1 by the compromise With the dropping of the litigation the state is out all Of | the costs that have been involved in the contest and the individual passengers and | shippers have lost what rebates they | would have received if the case had been 1 fought to its conclusion and won The railroads have gotten the benefit or the 1 high rates during the litigation The l 2h-cent passenger rate Is in force now, l but the future of the freight rate con | test Is doubtful and uncertain As l un-
 derstand the commission is empowered
 to fix reasonable freight rates This au l thority the commission has had all of l the time. It seems to me that we are l just where we started in 1907 with the | exception of reduction in the passen- ger rate"
 Many industrial leaders yesterday were | cautious in commenting about the rates,
 preferring to await more time before talk ing if they decided to talk at all. James Bowron, president of the Gulf States Steel
 company, defended the compromise on the theory that Milton H. Smith is a great benefactor to this city and added: BOwron Defends Compromise
 q am glad the rate war is over and that the Louisville and Nashville may now l be at peace. It is the greatest benefac-
 tor of this community. Milton H. Smith has done more for Birmingham than any
 southern man God bless him. I think | he is entitled to reasonable rates, and I hope he gets them.'
 | Walter Moore. the well known coal op- I orator, said yesterday:
 | q cannot understand this compromise. | There Is something about it that sur passes my power of understanding. It
 cannot be possible that the railroad com
 missioners were asleep. It is my opinion
 
 derful propositions:
 Cost the citizens at the first dash s2.- GOO GOO
 Cost Charles Henderson every chance he might have ever had to be governor of Alabama.
 Cost Leon MeCord reelection if he ever
 had any chance.
 Cost Frank Julian a chance to suc-
 eede himself
 Elected Gov Braxton Bragg Conner
 world without end.
 "The Louisville and Nashville railroad in this coup has made monkey out of this state. That company has set aside the litigation of seven years which was tremendously costly, and which was won by the state. I cannot imagine what the cost will be so far as state rates are con- cerned."
 Slater Discusses Matter J. T. Slater, for the Merchants and Manufacturers Freight Bureau. dictated the following statement: "The Louisville and Nashville railroad in sworn statement which can be veri- 4 fled by the court records, claims that its : losses from the 2l5-cent passenger rates ! would be $250.o00 per year. This would i make in round figures over S1. .0O0,O00 loss from that source during the four years t If the railroads lost this sum the people must have been the gathers. 'I know of one shipper in Birminc ham who holds rebate coupons to the extent of 5000 on one commodity which claim has been abrogated by or der of the commission. Relative to freight rates we are just where We were when We started. This leaves the commission all the authority to fix | freight rates.
 "A member of the railroad commis- sion claims that he drew the commodity bill. If this bill was a good thing then 1t is certainly good now, If it was req sonable then, it is reasonable now I Then, why should it be turned down? The commodity bill was in fact a copy of the freight rates in Georgia It has been shown that on an average | the rates in Georgia are 40 per cent | lower than they are in Alabama III Another important point involved is what are the several railroads that have | been obeying the law and enforcing the | 110 commodity rate law going to be | given. They have had these rates ir | force for seven years and have beer prospering under them. Now is the com | mission going to annu1 the 110 con- | modity rates on these railroads and proceed to fix reasonable rates as they i propose to do under the compromise?" Harry Jones Glad III Harry Jones, who has travelled many miles since the incipiency of the Ala bama railroad rate war, is glad the wa, lis over. q have heard some mention in the public press" said he, "in regard t, vast sums of money which the people have lost as result of the settlement Ice tbA lon I aVx-v, l s,-.