The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-17
FERTILIZER RATE
 HEARING ENDED
Both Sides Given To Fifteenth
 s Of March To Submit s,.s~@ea Briefs
fSTATE CAPITAL BUREAU)

x MONTGOMERY, Ala, Feb. It, The Alabama public service commits sion today completed the general fer tilizer rate hearing, involving fertilizers rate all over Alabama. Tho carriers offered rebuttal testimony today, the shippers and farmers representatives having presented their side of the case some weeks ago. The railroads were represented by R. J. Doss, Wilmington, NC, assistant general freight agent < of the Atlantic Coast Line, who spoke forsl carriers, and Henry Thurtell, At lanB .E Representing the farmers was M. Af& Caskie, traffic manager of the Alabama Farm Bureau federation; C.. D. Cotterell of Atlanta, representing the fertilizer interests.
 Both sides were given to March 15 toaeubmit briefs in the case, which is on6Sofs much importance, affecting all { fertilizer rates in Alabama. The car riers end shippers were far apart in their views as to what rate should be applied, the difference between their re- spective programs being on an average fully % per cent, it was stated.
 MT. Caskie contended that the rate scale applied in the southwest by the interstate commerce commission in
 
 western case should be applied to Ala bama, minus 15 per cent. He held that operating expenses are less in Alabama than in the southwest, the volume of fertilizer movement greater and denser, and that the fertilizer scale should be at least 15 per cent lower in the south- east than in the southwest. The rail- roads are seeking to apply what is known as the Royster scale, which is now in force in North Carolina.
 Child Labor sI Issue
 The daily interstate movement of child. labor from Alabama homes across tho eGhattahoochee river into Colum- bus, Ga, is an argument being used by advocates of federal regulation of the child labor law. While the Alabama child labor law is one of the best of any state in the union, that of Georgia ia, one of the worst, according to au- thorities. Alabama is, of course, unable to control working conditions in Geor- gias There is daily flow of child workers back and forth across the Chat tahooche, many of these Alabama chli- dren working at an age and for q number of hours per day, in Georgia mills, which would not be tolerated by Alabama law.
 Alabama limits the work of children under 16 years of age to eight hours, while Georgia permits boys and girls above 14 and a half years of age to work 10 hours a day and at night. It is claimed that overwork brings disease and that overworked boys and girls be- come dull men and women, and if this is true, Alabama pays bill in Hitter acy and sickness as a result of Georgia's s failure to provide a standard of child :. care equal to that of this state.
 Nurserymen To Attend
 The Alabama Nurserymens associa- Ion la eTteult' an invitation to the st ata boaro o2 lculture to attend the 1924 convention of the nurserymen, to be. hAld at Hunts, z, ir.'May. The in= vifation will he t oNEhs before t.e board at it's next meeting by it's chair ran Commissioner of Agriculture I. VI. Moore
 Dairymen, farmers, and proprietors q 5fLfni2ry ana ice cream manufactur- ing plants will be especially interested in the announcement by Commissioner of Agriculture J M. Moore of the ap- potntment of W. R. Anderson of Selma as state creamery inspector. The ap- pofntment was made under the proyi- sions of the 1923 agricultural code.
 Mir. Anderson's qualifications for the position to which h ehas been appoint ed deare said to be exceptional. He has been a practical dairy farmer and at the time of his appointment was super antendent of the Selma creamery.