1AILR0AD MONOPOLY
LEGISLATIVE DEAL
'he Danger that Menaces the
Western and Atlantic Rail
road is Graphically
Pictured.
cessive freight- and passenger tolls;
by failing to render proper trans
portation service, and by refusing
to connect with or exchange bus
iness with competitive lines of rail
roads or steambo.it means of trans
portation. In short, it is a tre-
j mendously important thing for the
people to lease their railioad prop
erty, even for a few years,
issue It is known to all men that a gi-
ticed injury to Atlanta has hurt
the entire State of Georgia. At
lanta is the capital city of G eor '
gia and is destined to remain so
for all time to come. It is an in
land city, entirely dependent upon
the railroads for ingress and egress
and for all public transportation
purposes,
Therefore, the people of this
City and State are hopelessly at
to- gantic railroad trust and tnonopo- the mercy of the railroad monop-
f
The greatest commercial
before the people of Georgia
day is the Senate bill providing for !y already exists in the United I oly. There is only one saving
a 6o-year lease of the State’s prop- States. There are only a few in- grace from this greedy octopus
'“rty, the Western & Atlantic i dependent and individual lines of that is spriading its fangs about
Railroad. ’ railroads left. Practically all the i the ihroats of the South and es-
This question is transcendent in great systems have been consoli- pecially the people of Georgia,
in its importance. dated into two or three gigantic The one weapon and means of
It involves the welfare of the syndicates. It may be said, in I protection to Georgia is its own
people of Georgia for three quar-j truth, today, that there are, as a railroad, the Western and Atlan-
ters of a century to come. matter of fact, only two or three tic system.
The proposition to lease the important railroad systems operat- When the railroad trust begins
road after the expiration of the ing in the Southern States at this to tighten its grip, as it is already
present lease is mouumental in its time. .doing, on the necks of the people,
effrontery. They are the Southern Railway and when the conditions of the
It is the boldest attempt to rav- system and its innumerable allied railroad trust management become
age the rights of the people since roads, embracing lines from Wash intolerable, then will the real val
the Civil War. The idea of turn ington and Richmond on the east ue of the Western and Atlantic
ing the State’s railroad over to the to Atlanta, Birmingham, Shreve- Railroad be realized by the people
transportation monopoly for 73 port, Memphis and New Orleans of this State.
years trom this date is so prepos- on the west; and the Louisville When the railioad monopoly
terous its conception is almost be- and Nashville system, embracing runs riot in its domination of the
yond comprehension. lines from Cincinnati and St. commercial, political and legisla-
Nothing short of brazen disre- Louis to Nashville, Memphis, tive rights of the people, the State
gard of the rig its and intelligence Chattanooga, Birmingham, Knox- of Georgia will not only use the
of the people could have prompted ville, Mobile and other Southern Western and Atlantic as an outlet
such a scheme as that presented points. There is, of course, the to the West, but this road will be
Atlantic Coast Line system, but it
is generally believed that it is in
close harmony with, it not actual-
to the Georgia Legislature.
The Western and Atlantic Rail
road was built by the people of
Georgia for the purpose of open
ing up a public highway and trans
portation line to the Tennessee
River at Chattanooga, Tenn., a
distance of 138 miles from Atlan
ta. This road was constructed
prior to the Civil War.
It has, therefore, been pronii-
extended to the Atlantic seacoast
traversing the great country lying
between Atlanta and Bruuswick
ly dominated, by the Louisville | and Savannah, and reaching out
and Nashville syndicate. from right to left with tributary
The Seaboard Air Line is prac
tically the only large important
system outside of the two or three
railroad syndicates which already
dominate the Southern States.
It is only a question of time
nent in Southern history, covering until all these great systems will
the past forty years or more, merge into one and the railroad which will be a means of battling
Aside from the enormous financial monopoly in the South will be with the railroad syndicates.
lines covering almost f the entire
Stale of Georgia, and thus giving
the people of the Empire State of
the South their only free and in
dependent railroad system—the
only one that will be operated in
the interest of the people, and
and commercial value of the State complete, and then the transpor-
road road, it is closely ana patriot- tation system of all the States
ically associated with the greatest south of the Potomac, Ohio and
period in the history of Georgia. Mississippi rivers will be controll
It has been a source of large rev- j ed from Wall street, New York,
enue to the State for more than a When this day comes, if indeed
tnird of a century. j it is not already here, the people
At the present time it is being lot Georgia will find imperative
operated by the Nashville. Chat- need and necessity for the West-
tanooga and St. Louis Railroad ern and Atlantic Railroad, reach
Co., which is a part of the great ing as it does from Atlanta to
Louisville and Nashville system of I Chattanooga, the latter city lo
railroads. The present rental cated on the banks of the great
paid to the Sta^e is $35,000 per Tennessee River, which river is
month, or $420,000 per year. The destined to become a great trans-
existing lease runs for thirteen portation highway from Chatta-
more years at that rental. During j nooga to the Mississippi River,
this long lease the State has abso- thus connecting Atlanta, via Chat-
lutely no influence in the manage
ment, operation and control of the
property. Under the lease con
tract, the voice of the State in the Western cities and
policy and management of its road ; ping points,
is entirely silenced. 1 The railroad trust is already ar
No matter how monopolistic the rogant and dominating in its pol
tanooga, with St. Louis, Kansas
City, Cairo, Cincinnati, Memphis,
New Orleans and other great
Western ship-
road may become under the man
agement ot the lessees; or how an
tagonistic its public policy mav be
under the corporate control of the
lessees, the people of Georgia are
helpless; even though the lessees
should determine to charge exces
sive and extortionate freight and
passenger rates; and even though
the conditions of management last penny that
should become intolerable in oth- j pockets,
er ways, there is no recourse left to
the people—-the real owners of the
Western and Atlantic Railroad.
Therefore, the railroad monop
oly has it in its power to rob and
plunder the people by levying ex-
icy toward the Southern States.
The railroad monopolies know full
well that they have the people of
this country in their
grasp and there is no question but
that the railroad trust is prepar
ing to turn the people’s heels to
This proposition of extending
the State road to the sea is not ap
proved by the railroads and their
allies.
With the completion of the
Panama canal, which is expected
to be about the time the present
lease of the Western and Atlantic
Railroad expires, Id years hence,
the advantages of and the neces
sity for an extension of the State
road to the Atlantic coast will be
come obvious to the people.
The State road was a strategic
transportation line during the
Civil War, and was of inestimable
value to both the Confederate and
the Federal armies.
As it was important to the arm
ies and to the South in the days of
the great war, it is equally im
portant to the commercial and
business interests of Georgia and
the South at the present day, and
will become more important than
ever in the immediate future.
The value of this road to the
commercial and business interests
of tliis State ten, twenty or thirty
years from this time, positively
can not be calculated.
It is beyond human endeavor to
Wood’s Seeds
roa
FALL SOWING.
Every farmer should
have a copy of our
New Fall Catalogue
It gives best methods of seed-
mgiandifull information about
Crimson Clover
Vetches, Alfalfa
Seed Oats, Rye
Barley, Seed Wheat
Grasses and Clovers
Descriptive Fall Catalogue
mailed free, and prices
quoted on request.
T. W. Wood & Sons,
Seedsmen, -• Richmond, Va.
Our Trade Mark Brand Seeda’are the
best aud cleanest qualities obtainable.
the sky and their heads to the figure out now theenormous worth
ground, and shake them for the | of the State road upon the comple-
jingles in their tion and opening of the Panama
canal, with all of its attendant ad
commerce of the
etc., of the Western and Atlantic
Railroad, which show conclusively
the unwisdom of making a long
lease on the property now. but this
is not a time for figures in discuss
ing tli is problem.
It is a larger question than that
ot earnings, mileage and rental
value.
The News submits that it is en
tirely a question of protecting the
future welfare of the people of
Georgia and maintaining the one
means of forcing fair and reason
able freight and passenger rates at
the haudsofthe railroad monopoly.
The Western and Atlantic rail
road should not be leased at this
time, even at $1(10,000 or $150,000-
per month.
The time is not propitious for re
leasing thi> great property.
The demand of the railroads for
the passage of a lease bill by the
present general assembly is the
strongest possible argument against
such a proposition.
The shrewd railroad managers!
and manipulators know full well
that as the work on the Puuainti
canal advances, and ns their grasp
upon the southern people tightens,
it will become more and more evi-,
dent to the people of Georgia that
they should not only retain control
of the Western and Atlantic rail-1
road, but that it, will be a public
calamity if the road is not extend
ed to the seacoast.
Therefore, the railroad trust is j
seeking to grab this property no\y,
before the people wake up to pro
tect their rights and realize the en- !
urinous advantages of public own- j
ership and control of a railroad
system reaching from Chattanooga
and tile west to Atlanta, and to
the great steamship lines which
will touch at .Savannah and Bruns-'
wick, and opening the ports of the
world to our commerce long before!
the completion of the Panama'
canal.
It is a shrewd trick to attempt
to grab this property for three-
quarters of a century from 11)011,
The scheme does credit to the j
master minds which control the
transportation lines of this country.
It is far seeing and far reaching
in its purpose.
It is a stealthy move to rob the
people of their own great public
highway.
It is a bold faced attempt to con-,
fiscatc a public property.
Wake up, people of Georgia,and
thwart this outrageous conspiracy
to plunder your rights and welfare!
The railroad magnates are grab
bing at your throat!
Arouse yourselves and defeat
this public highway robbery!
The greatest crime that has ever
been committed upon an unsus
pecting and innocent public is be
ing attempted in tin* State of Geor
gia!
Shame upon tin* railroad allies
in the Georgia Senate who have
voted this infamous lull to passage
through that body; shame upon
their ignorance of the enormous
value of tli is property or their
criminal disregard of the rights
and welfare of a sovereign State
and its people!—Atlanta News.
$15-PRIZE-$15|
not mtide
they
can
write
they
can,
but
but t
hose
who
•<1 wo
rk is
the
• nine
years to
Flegy in
Tradition says (hat “Poets are horn,
There tire lots of people who believe
poetry, and ninny who don’t know
could if they tried.
Some poetry comes by inspiration,
have achieved success know that Inn
basis o! the best verse. It took Gray
write liis masterpiece of elegance, the
Country Churchyard.”
It may be hard work for von to write a poem, but
surely it is worth vonr while to try. Yon may think
little of your effort-, but it may win you the* prize.
Somebody will get it. Why not you?
We know that a poem-writing contest, is rather odd
and extraordinary, and that is just, the reason we
have chosen it as a means to advertise our magazine,
“The Mocking Hird.” This is our olfer: For the
best poem written about or to that prince of Southern
songsters for whom our magazine is named, we will
pay the writer a prize of $10; for the second best., $5.
Write today for conditions of contest to
THE MOCKING BIRD,
P. O. Box 16 NEWNAN, CA.
A Thought for Each Day of
the Week.
What France needs is mothers.—
Napoleon.
First Day—For this child I
prayed; and the Lord hath given
me my petition which I asked of
Mini. I Sam. 1:27.
“Marks't thou the strange, sweet
radiance in her eye?
She has been near to heaven’s
shining portal:
And there, while Death and Life
stood watching by,
Gathered with trembling hand,
a flower immortal.”
Are weary now;
And time has set the seal of care
Upon her brow.
But, 'mid Mis gems, who show
ers gifts
As shining sands,
I count her days as pearls that
fall
From His kind hands.”
Seventh Day.—Ye devour wid
ows' houses and for a pretence
make long prayers; therefore ye
shall receive the greater damna
tion. Matt. 23:14.
The water which had been re
fused to the cry of the aged and
dying, is unholy, though it had
Second Day—A joyful mother of been blessed by every saint in
children, l’sa. 11319- | heaven, and the water which is
"She gave the best years of her j found in the vessel of mercy is
l'f e holy, though it had been defiled
With joy for me, with corpses.—Buskin.
And robbed herself with loving "Stars may burn out, nor moun-
heurt, j tain walls endure,
Unstintingly. But God is true, His promises are
For me, with willing hands she! sure. Amen." N. L. C.
toiled j Newnan, Ga.
From day to day, -
For me she prayed, when head
strong youth
Would have its way."
Third Day.—Despise not thy
mother when she is old. Prov.
23:22.
"I sit in the chimney corner and
hear the young folks say:
The world is weary of her—she is
old and in the way;
And a vacant chair were better—a
solitary place—
Than the palsied, wrinkled hands
of her and the tear-wet, fur
rowed face!’ ”
Shrine Holds Session
Philippine Jurist.
for
Fourth Day—He that wasteth
his father and chaseth away his
mother, is a son that causeth
shame and bringeth reproach.
Prov. 19:26.
“I nursed ’em at my bosom ere
Life’s sun went down in the I M!C ^ t° return to the Philippines
A special session of Varnal) Tem
ple, Mystic .Shrine, was held Wed
nesday night in the Masonic Tem
ple, at South Forsyth and Mitchell
streets, in order that Judge John
Stephen Powell, of Newnan, a
Federal jurist in the Philippine
Islands, might, be enabled to cross
the hot sands of the desert.
Judge Powell is at present on a
visit to bis old borne in Newnan,
and desired to enter the Shrine
before be returns to the Orient.
Although regular sessions of the
Shrine are abandoned during the
summer months, the special cere
monial was held in order to accom
modate Judge Powell.
Judge Powell and his family ex-
Wiih brazen indifference to the vantages to the
rights of the people, they boldly ' South.
refuse to remove unfair and unjust And when the day comes for the
discrimination in freight rates and railroad monopoly to grind down
passenger tolls. With high hand- upon the people, as this trust is
ed nerve they demand and grab; surely preparing to do, it is pre
public franchises and invaluable posterousjit is ridiculously absurd;
rights of way. They escape just it is inconceivably beyond com pre
taxation wherever possible. hension; it is arithmetically impos-
They ignore the laws wherever sible to say at this time what the
and whenever it suits their conven- rental value, or the control and
That Negro Circular.
west,
I sang love’s sweetest song
ience or makes to their profit.
They have no regard for the pub
lic wish and public convenience.
Their policy is for revenue only
and they grab and grasp to earn
excessive interest on oceans of wa
tered stock, held, of course, in
Wall street, New York. The rail
roads dominate and control legis
latures, and encroach upon the
manipulation of the Western and
Atlantic Railroad will be worth,
even as early as thirteen years from
the good year of I»0(>, when the
present lease expires on this road.
To propose leasing this invalu
able property for sixty years be
yond the present lease, thus turn
ing it over, lock, stock and barrel
to the railroad trust for seventy-
rights of the people from the Po ' three years—more than the aver-
tomac to the Mississippi. age life of the ordinary citizen—is
The city of Atlanta has been the nothing more nor less than high
especial target and victim of the I handed plunder, robbery and con-
radroad monopoly. The growth ot i fiscation of the public rights and
this city has been retarded by the of the public property,
discrimination practiced against The editor of The News has be-
Atlanta by the levying of exces-1 fore him an array of facts and fig-
sive and discrimnatory freight j ures relating to the earnings, ren-
rates. This wilful and long prac-1 tal, expenses, mileage,worth,value,
The dirty and disgraceful negro
circular gotten out by Clark 11 iw-
ell to try and deceive honest men,
who may not know that it is ut
terly false and has been pr -ven so
by the records and by the most
reputable men in G orgia and oth
er Southern states, is being secret
ly circulated by Russell men as
treely as by Clark Howell men.
This is one of the dirtiest things
out, and how any self-respecting
man can handle them is beyond
the comprehension of decency.
They try to distribute them quiet
ly and on the sly, but the people
are to intelligent to read such
stuff and have a contempt for men
little enough to scatter them.—
Winder Economist.
, within a short time,
to! A large number ofHhrinerH were
them and rocked their hearts present Wednesday night and a
to rest; splendid session was had. A num-
And now, that the sad time !her business matters were given
hastens—the closing of Life’s attention, alter which the cere-
sad day inonial session was held.
I am only a useless woman—I am I" addition to Judge Powell,
old and in the way!” lourteen other candidates joined
— the caravan aud crossed the desert.
Fifth Day.—The rod and re-1 The ceremonial was greatly enjoy-
proof give wisdom; but a child left led.—Saturday’s Atlanta Georgian,
to himself bringeth his mother to —- ■
Have your mules and horses in
sured in the Mutual Life Stock In
surance Company of Georgia. Full
j face value of all policies will be
paid. For information and terms,
call on or write to J. W. Will
coxon, agent for Coweta and Car-
roll counties, Newnan, Ga. tf
shame. Rrov. 29:15.
"A picture memory brings to me;
I look across the years and see
Myself beside niy mother’s knee.
I feel her gentle hand restrain
My selfish moods and know again
A child’s blind sense of wrong and
pain.
But, wiser now— a man gray
> grown
My childhood’s deeds are better
known;
My mother’s chastening love I
own.”
Hot Weather Trips via Central
of Georgia Railway.
Summer excursion tickets to the
Seashore, Mountain arid Lake Re
sorts in the North, South, East
and West,
A trip by rail and sail to New
York, Boston, Baltimore, Phila
delphia and points in the East via
Savannah and steamship lines, is
to he considered at this season.
Tickets are on sale at all coupon
ticket offices. For rates, schedules,
etc., apply to any Agent or rep
resentative of the Central of Geor-
a | gia Railroad
Sixth Day—As one whom
mother comforteth, so will i com — ■—.. 1 ■■■—
fort you. Isa. 66:13. We carry the latest magazines
“Her gentle arms, my cradle once, and periodicals.—Peniston & Lee.
