Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PEOPLE WIN AGAINST ROAD State is Empowered to Control the Schedules of Railways. HIGH COURT DECISION Appeal of Atlantic Coast Line from Ruling of North Carolina Corporation Com mission is Not Sustained. The supreme court of the United States Monday decided, in effect, that the railroad commissioners of North Carolina can compel a railroad com pany operating in that state to so ad just its schedules as to accommodate passengers on other lines from any particular part of the state. The opinion was delivered by Jus tice White, in the case* of the At lantic Coast Line Railroad Company vs. the Corporation Commission of North Carolina. The case arose out of an order issued by the commis sioners, directing the railroad com pany to make connection at Selma, N. C., at 2:50 p. no., with a train on another line running from the eastern part of the state, with the object of accommodating passengers whose des tination was Raleigh. The railroad company resisted the order on the grounds that it could not bo complied with without putting on a special train, which would involve extra expense. This, it was contend ed, amounted to taking property with out due process of law. The commis sion justified its course ou the ground that, compliance with the order was necessary to accommodate a largo part of the public. The supreme court of North Carolina held against the railroad company, and its decision was affirmed by Monday s action of the su preme court of the United States on the ground that the order of the com mission does not aff< ct the rates, but Is a proper act of state regulation. Justice White discuss* and at length the contention of the railroad com pany that the case involved rates in any way, and said, in part: “This case does not involve en forcement by a state of a general scheme of maximum rates, but only whether an exercise of state author ity to compel a carrier to perform a particular and specified duty as so inherently unjust and unreasonable as to amount to the deprivation of prop erty, without due process of law, or a denial of the equal protection of the laws. In a case Involving the validity of an order enforcing a scheme of maximum rates, of course, the find ings that the enforcement of such scheme will not produce an adequate return for the operation of the rail road, In and of itself, demonstrates the unreasonableness of the order. Such, however, is not the case when the question is as to the validity of an order to do a particular act the 2olng of which does not involve the question of the profitableness of the operation of the railroad as an en tirety, “This is so because as the primal duty oT a carrier Is to furnish ade quate facilities to the public, that may well be compelled, although by doing so as an incident, some pecuniary loss from rendering such service may re sult. It follows, therefore, that the mere incurring of a loss from the per formance of such a duty dees not, In Itself, necessarily give rise to the con clusion of the unreasonableness, as would be the case where the whole scheme of rates was unreasonable un der the doctrine of Smyth vs. Ames, or under the concessions made in the two propositions we have stated. Of course, the fact that the furnishing of a necessary facility ordered may oc casion an Incidental pecuniary loss Is an important criterion to be taken into view in determining the reasona bleness of the order, but it is not the only one. As the duty to furnish necessary facilities is eodetermlnous with the powt rs of tho corporation, the obligation to discharge that duty must be considered in connection wi.h the nature and productiveness of the corporate business as a whole, the character of services required, and the public need for its perform fornutnee.'* HEW SECURITIES ARE AUTHORIZED. Merchants’ and Miners’ Line to Issue $6,- 250,000 Bonds and Stocks. The stockholders of the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company , at Blialtimore, Monday, authorized an | issue of $3,250,000 4 per cent twenty* five-year debenture bonds and an in | crease of 13,000,000 in capital stock. TAFT AS A PROPHET. War Secretary Tells Cincinnati Business Men That Canal Will Be Completed Within Eight Years. “If the Panama canal is not com pleted within eight years from now, I shall be greatly disappointed. If it is completed in less time than that, I shall not be greatly surprised.” This statement made Monday night by Secretary of War Taft before the Business Men’s Club of Cincinnati brought forth uproarious cheers, the 600 members of the club who were gathered inside the banquet hall ris ing to their feet and cheering the statement and the speaker with tre mendous enthusiasm. Referring to the rejection of bids by contractors the secretary said: “We advertised for bids on the canal work, and then declined them for the reason that we found that it would be Necessary for the contrac tors to have the help of capitalists and wo would be compelled to allow to the contractors seven per cent interest on the money they would be compelled to borrow from the capitalists. As we could borrow money at 2 per cent, this 7 per cent proposition did not appeal greatly to us. “I wish to pay a high compliment tx Chief Engineer Stevens for his work in connection with the canal and also for his efforts to transfer to the government the entire organiza tion on the isthmus, which he had perfected at such great labor. “To us in responsibility, it is a great comfort to be able to introduce the army engineers upon the work. We have three of them there and if one of them falls out, the continuity of the work will be undisturbed. It is only fair to say of the army en gineers that there will be no graft that they can suppress and there will be no bad work accepted that they can supervise. No doubt engineers from civil life would act In a similar manner, but if any or you gentlemen have ever managed a work of magni tude where everybody had the right to poke in his nose and insist upon this and that, you would know how great is the relief to have that none away with. The record of the army for the last fifty years is a guarantee that the work will be capable and honestly performed.” BETRAYER MEETS JUST DESERTS. Brother Invokes the “Unwritten Law” in Avenging Dishonor of Sister. Charging that he had betrayed his sister, ail eighteen-year-old girl, L. D. Strong, manager for Kessler's dry goods store, shot and killed H. D. Smith, a printer in Macon, Ga., Mon day. The shooting occurred at Smith’s printing office. Four bullets from Strong’s pistol taking effect. Smith was hurried to the hospital, but died shortly after reaching there. He made a statement before his death, but fainted before lie could sign ft. H said in that statement that Strong had shot him about his sister, but that he was innocent of the charge.*. Strong surrendered and was carried to the police station. Strong contends that Smith, who is a married man, and who is survived by his wife and several children, had betrayed his sister. A warrant had been sworn out for Smith aud the trial was to have taken place Mon day morning in a justice court. But owing to the absence of Joe Hill Hall, attorney for Smith, the case was con tinued. Both Stroug aud Smith left the court room a few minutes later, so the report goes, and Strong passed Smith's office. Smith, it is claimed, made some taunting remark, and Stroug thereupon pulled a pistol and fired four times, every shot taking effect At the city hospital Monday after noon, Coroner T. E. Young completed his investigation of the killing. The jury returned a verdict declaring that it was a case of justifiable homicide, and there was no time lost in acquit ting Strong. QUESTION OF CUT RATE PRICES Indulged in By Druggists to Be Passed Upon by High Court. The question whether retail drug gists have a right to sell patent med icines below a price established by the manufacturers is involved in the case of Hartman aud Company, pat ent medicine manufacturers of On;o, against John D. Park and Sons Com puny, of Kentucky, in which a peti tion was presented to the supreme court of the United States Monday asking that court to bring the cast up for review. STEAMER LINE IS ARRANGED To Ply Between Foreign Ports aad Savannah for Immigrants. WORK OF GEORGIANS Messrs. Smith, Jordan and Williamson's European Trip Proving Effective. Prejudice is Removed. A London special says: After ai tour of the continent, during which visits were made to Hamburg, Bre men, Vienna and other places with the object of inducing emigration to Georgia, Governor Hoke Smith and party are making a brief sojourn here. Governor Smith told the Associated Press today that his trip had been successful, and that he had succeeded in removing much prejudice against emigration to the southern states. He said he had been promised that a number of ships would sail direct from European ports to Savannah and that others would make Savannah a port of call. Some good work. had been done in Scotland, whence the stream of emigration to Georgia already had started. Governor Smith said it was his in tention to appoint agents at Hamburg, Bremen, Vienna, Glasgow and other ports to encourage desirable emi grants. The governor and his party will sail for New York tomorrow. The entertainments planned by the Aniex-ican colony were not carried out, owing to the brevity of the visit here, but he met many Americans, and was a guest in the distinguished strangers’ gallery of the house of commons to day, and also visited the house of lords. UNIONS VERSUS RAILROADS. Their Relations are to Be Tested in Case Before the Supreme Court. The constitutionality of the act of congress of June 1, 189.5, prohibiting railroads engaged in interstate com merce from discriminating against members of labor organizations in the matter of employment, is called into question by the case of William Adair vs. the United States, which wa3 docketed Tuesday in the supreme court of the United States. Ihe case was appealed on a writ of error from the United States district court for the eastern district of Kentucky. Adair is the master mechanic of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, and he was proceeded against on the charge of threatening to discharge from the employ of the company a lo comotive engineer named Coppage be cause the latter was a member or the Order of Locomotive Firemen. The law, which resulted from the Chicago strikes of several years ago, was invoked for Ccppage's protection, and the district court fined Adair SIOO. ONE DEGREE OF RECORD-BREAKER. Month of April the Coldest Experienced in Last Twenty-Six Years. According to the weather bureau records at Washington, the month just closed was the coldest April in the last twenty-six years, and within a degree of the coldest April ever ex perienced. The month was character ized by a succession of cold spells over the entire country east of the Rocky mountains. KILLED HUSBAND, SON AND SELF. Providence, Rhode Island, Woman Runs Amuck With Revolver. At Providence, R. 1., Tuesday night, Mrs. Louisa Holden, aged 40. shot and almost instantly killed her husband, Lee Holden, then turned the revolver on her son, Louis, 15 years old,'" shoot ing him in the head, inflicting a fatal wound. She then shot herself in the head, dying at the hospital. HOSTS OF PRINTERS DISCHARGED. New Law Causes Reduction of Force in Government Print Shop. A large reduction in the force of the government printing office at Washington was made Tuesday, when Public Printer Stillings announced the dismissal of 204 eaiployees.. The pub lic printer slates that he was forced to take this action because of the amendments to the laws governing the printing and binding of government reports and congressional documents enacted at the last session of con : gross causing a falling off of work. EX-GOV. BULLOCK DEAu. Former Georgia Chief Executive, Yalliant Soldier and Erstwhile Premier Citizen Dies in Albion, N. Y. Former Governor Rufus Bullock, oi Georgia, died Saturday at Albion, N. Y., the family homestead. He had been in failing health for some time. He was 73 years of age. Few Georgians, whether by birth or adoption, did more real good for the state than he. Fewer still had a more thrilling, sensational and eventful ca reer or led a life more strenuous, more nerve-racking or more soulstirring. Governor Bullock was born in Beth lehem, Albany county, New York, on March 28, 1834, but when only seven years old his parents moved to Albion, N. Y., where he graduated from Al bion Academy in 1850. At this time the development of the electric telegraph was just begun in New York, and Governor Bullock, though only 17 years of age, soon mastered the art. It is said that he was the first telegraph operator able to read by sound. He installed the printing telegraph systems in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, Albany, Springfield and Philadelphia. He took charge of a rival concern in Philadelphia, which broke down the monopoly and caused more general use of the telegraph for business and social intercourse. in 1857 President Dinsinore of the Adams Express company sent Gov ernor Bullock to Augusta, Ga., to take general charge of the business in the south. Here he caused the construc tion of telegraph lines to interior points, and when the civil war came on this proved most valuable to tne Confedereates, as coast lines aii fell into the hands of the Federate. Over these wires communication was maintained between President Davis and Generals Lee, Beaureguid and Johnston. The Southern Express company transported all contributions of supplies and food to the confed erates without cost. He was appointed acting assistant quartermaster general of the Confed erate army, with the rank of colonel, and as such served to the surrender. At the close of the war he devoted his energies to material development of Georgia. Going to New York, he secured capital to open a national bank in Augusta. Later he became president of the Augusta and Macon ra.lroad, and when he went to New York to se cure funds for improvements was told that Georgia had not yet come into the Union. This caused him to go into politics. A constitutional convention was called and he took a prominent part in it. Atlanta was made the capital and he was elected governor from 1868 to 1871. He recommended the lease of the Western and Atlantic, and it was leased for twenty years, the state realizing $3,000,000 from it. In the election of 1870 it became apparent that the general assembly was overwhelmingly against Governor Bullock, and he resigned. Two in dictments were found against him— one for alleged conspiracy to defraud the state, the other for failure to ac count for certain bonds said to have been delivered to the executive de partment by the city of Atlanta. For seven years he renounced himseli ready and tried to secure trial. He was finally vindicated by formal ver dict of a jury. In 1893 Governor Bullock took up his permanent residence in Albion N. Y., where he resided uniil the day of his death. His wife died two years ago. He leaves one daughter, Mrs. Leonard Kendall of Greenwich, Ga., and two sons, Freeman Bullock of Omaha, Neb., and V. V. Bullock, as sistant postmaster of Atlanta. Governor Terrell of Georgia, upon the receipt of news of Governor Bul lock’s death, issu.q a proclamation ordering the state flag at half mast and that the executive offices be cl: sea during the hours set apart for the funeral, v BIG SUIT FINALLY SETTLED. More Than Half a Million Dollars Paid to Paine, Webster & Cos. The $3,000,000 suit in equity brought by Paine, Webster & Cos., against Albert C. Burrage, Thomas W. Lawson and others, to recover on a contract involving 70,000 shares of stock in the Copper Range Consoli dated Mining company has been brought to a settlement out of court at Boston. The case was settled by A. C. Bur rage paying substantially the Tri- Mountain debt. The ameunt cf this debt was $540,000. STOP AT THE ZETTLER HOUSE. The best SI.OO a day house in the city. £5,3 FOURTH ST., MACON, G<L, Mrs. A. L. Zettler, Proprietress. PROBE HITS GRAFTERS. Wholesale Bribery Brought to Light‘in Investigation of Pennsylvania State House Contract Scandal. Testimony of a sensational charac ter involving the names of prominent Pennsylvania politicians, was adduced Tuesday afternoon, during the exam ination by the capitol investigating commission at Harrisburg of ex-Rep resentative S. Marshall Williams of Pittsburg, who is alleged to have ac cepted SIO,OOO to keep quiet after he had been refused by John H. Sander son of Philadelphia, general contrac tor for the capitol furnishings, a snare of the $2,000,000 award for electrical fixtures for the building. Senator Dewalt asked Williams if he had not instructed the Pennsylva nia state board of trade, of which he is secretary, to pay Congressman Cas sell $425, the amount of money that had been previously referred to as se cured by witness from the unknown party. Williams admitted that it was true as to the $425. “Is Congressman Cassell the man who advanced you the $10,000?” asked the senator. “I refuse to answer,” replied the 'wit ness. “But it was a national official who did so, was it not?” “Yes.” “Will you deny that it was Congress man Cassell who did so?’ “I refuse to answer.” In no way could the commission get Williams to admit that Cassell was the party in question. H. Burd Cassell is a member of congress from the Lancaster district and is president of the Pennsylvania Construction company of Marietta, which furnished the $2,000,000 worth oi metallic furniture for the capitol. Under further examination about the SIO,OOO transaction, Williams de clared the money was secured for use in the campaign by the board of trade and the “homeless twenty-six,” of which he is also secretary, organ izations that were interested in the fight for the two-cent fare and trolley freight legislation. NEGRO MURDERS AGED COUPLE. Heinous Crime Committed by Heartless Brute Near Fernandina, Fla. Thomas Johnson and his wife were murdered at Italia, Fla., a small set tlement near Fernandina, Tuesday af ternoon about 2 o’clock, by a negro. When the aged couple were shot down at their home there were two small negro children nearby, and they hastened to give the information to the home nearest by. They slate that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were in the house when they were shot down by the negro, and that both of them cried for help. Observing the two children, the negro reloaded his shotgun and gave pursuit. The children state that they outran him, and got away. TEMPTING REWARD OFFERED By Brownsville People for Confession in i That “Shooting Up” Affair. A movement has been started in Brownsville, Texas, towards raising, by popular subscription, SI,OOO to be paid as a reward to any soldier or officer of the twenty-fifth infantry who will confess to having participated in the raid on Brownsville in August last, or will give the name and pro duce the necessary evidence to con vict those who are guilty. FLAMES DESTROY ENTIRE BLOCK. Little Town in Louisiana Suffers Heavily From Conflagration. Fire broke out early Tuesday morn ing in Regal hotel at Leesville, La., and spread rapidly, destroying 18 buildings, in which were located 25 business firms, including the First Na tional bank and Leesville National bank buildings. Loss estimated between $75,000 and SIOO,OOO with insurance of about $50,- 000. Speed is inevitable; it must be made tate, demands the New York World. The way to make it safe is for Ameri can railroad managers to get out of Wall street into the car-shop and on the track.