The Columbus commercial., 1916-05-11
rHE RAILROAD SITUATION

Il has long been o. generally recognized fael that
the lack Of proper railroad facilities Is seriously re-.
taraiar The rrowih and prosperity Of Columbus and
information brought ou, At inquiry into pernieiou
practices on me part the Louisville ana Nashville
railroad which took place IN Washington last week,
shows conclusiyey that II these practices i'm
proved must be entirely through local effort.
must not only DO without aid or cooperation the
part OF officials Of railway lines in operation but
must expect studied and concerted opposition their
part
At the inquiry in question attorneys for the gov
ernment produced transcript Of a stenographc report
Of conversation which took place number Of years
ago between Milton H. Smith, president Of the Louisville
and Nashville, and the late Samuel Spencer, who was
at that time president of the Southern in which they
kened themselves unto Cortez and Pizzaro, and taking
the south the newly conquered world agreed to
divide the territory Each promising not only to refrain
from entering the domain of the other but to do every
thing in his power to prevent the construction of
lines and try his utmost to bring financial ruin upon any
independent line that might be constructed.
Fairfax Harrison the present chief executive of
the Southern, has since issued statement to the effect
that he knew nothing of the existence of any such
agreement; but whether he knew it not the
ant was made and documentry evidence that effect
introduced at the hearing in Washington.
The existence of this agreement furnishes final
and conclusive evidence of the fact that if the local
railroad situation is improved it must be done
trey through local effort and we believe that the best
solution of the problem is for local merchants and
mess to get together and organize stock company
for the purpose of constructing independent line
The building of railroad is by no means such diff
cult task it in ante bellum days. as capital is
now much easier to that II then. Many sue
cessfu roads have been constructed by building one
mile, then mortgagng the property for sufficient money
to build another mile and repeating the transaction un
til the line is completed and there is good reason
why this scheme should be put into practice here
The Tombigbee valley is entirely without railroad
facilities and Of the greatest local needs is line
running from Pickensve, via Columbus, to Winfield
Ala, point the Frisco between Birmingham
and Amory. There evidence to show that the
Frisco was party to the agreement entered into be
tween representatives of the Southern and Louisville
and Nashville, and it may therefore be properly re
garded as competing line By securing connection
with this system Columbus would be practically indie
pendent and the resultant saving freight rates would
probably pay the interest on the money required t
build the road suggested, thus giving the stockhode
the difference between the gross earnings and upkeeI
and operating expenses clear profit
Columbus has plenty of brains and plenty of cap
tal to push the above outlined project to successful
completion, and the Commercial hopes soon to see SOM
enterprsing citizen make the initial move in the under
taking