The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-12
TEARING DOWN THE EDIFIcE

Warrior barge service appears to be
that, to complete the edifice so well
begun, it is necessary to tear down
that portion already built. Thus, at
a stroke of the pen, the waterway
management has swept away the care
fully and painstakingly built up bust
ness of the ports intervening between
Birmingham and Mobile, and has bro
ken off trade tentacles with which
s the Warrior was reaching out farther
= and farther into contiguous territory
for tonnage. How are the railroads,
(. by any such method, to be coerced
Z into agreeing to a fair rate division
when the effect of the order is &C
+ tually to increase the tonnage of the
railroads? Far from injuring the rail
+ roads, the order in reality operates
in behalf of the railroads and against
! not only the waterway, but also
against the public that has been pat
ronizing the barge service. In effect,
{ the waterway management has pun
6 ished the railroads much as if IA
Their would say to his Grant SON.
3 "Son, you have been so naughty about
taking jam away from your little
j brother that if you don't behave your
self I'll have to give you piece of
/. pie.''
S 1t has been reported that Mr.. Brent,
manager of the Mississippi Warrior
I barge system, explains that he is try
4 ing both to force the issue on the
Z Warrior fight for fair rate division,
(. and to emphasize the obsolete condi-
+ ton of the barge equipment that has
3 been serving the ports now deprived
: of service. That is very strange way
S and legal method is so plainly indi-
q Gated. The public will not easily be
4 convinced of Mr. Brents eagerness to
end the injustice to the barge lines,
when his apparent record has not been
one of consistent and unremitting eff
fort to compel proper rate division.
1t is known, for example, that the
question was before the Interstate
Commerce Commission for eighteen
months, before the commission rem
dered any opinion, and then because
Alabama's delegation in Washington
and the secretary of war expressed
themselves in no uncertain terms as to
the necessity for prompt decision.
And when, in effect, the commits
sion passed the responsibility for an
equitable rate division back to the
waterway management, the public has
seen evidence of no energetic, positive
Z and determined effort on the part of
the waterway management to oblige
the railroads to accept an equitable
basis, or, failing that, to bring all le-
gitimate pressure to bear upon the
Interstate Commerce Commission to
exercise its retained jurisdiction in the
premises, and to render a decision es-
tablishing the right of the barge SER
8 vice to fair division of the receipts
for joint hauls, and establishing def
mite schedules therefor.
8 Instead of that, the public has
either no record Dat all of the water
way arrangements course in the prem
les, or else has observed the spectacle
If conferences postponed and of other
= impediments to prompt settlement.
Therefore, the public is not now i'm
pressed by Mr.. Brent's alleged pur-
poses in disseminating part of the
barge service, nor will the public be
4 convinced that any alleged effort to
: bring the railroads to terms is sincere,
Z, until there is concrete illustration in
5 the way of an actual and impartial
2 agreement based on the right of the
6 public to well-balanced system of
transportation, and recognizing the
& manifest federal desire for the success
Z of the waterway undertaking. Mil
lions of the public money have been
invested in the waterways, yet the
e chief result of the activities Of those
charged with the administration Of the
waterways has been apparently to con-
fer an added boon to the railways.
The public welfare of the industrial,
commercial and producing sections of
Alabama are in jeopardy, by reason
of such record and such result, and