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JOHN A. STEWART COKE S. DAVIS
STEWART & DAVIS
Life, Accident, Casualty and Surety Insurance
504-5 6 PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, .... ATLANTA, GEORGIA
MANAGERS:
THE MARYLAND LIFE INSURANCE CO., of Baltimore; THE GENERAL ACCIDENT, of Perth, Scotland;
THE METROPOLITAN SURETY CO., of New York.
Live Agents in Georgia cities and towns can increase their writing capacity and earnings by communicating with us.
Special Inducements Offered First-Class Men
ARE THE RAILROADS BEING
PERSECUTED?
The railroads are being persecuted,
according to William H. Truesdale,
president of the Delaware, Lackawan
na & Western. Everybody’s hand is
raised against them these days, it
seems. “There exists,” he says, “a
universal and pronounced feeling of
hostility toward these corporations
and their management which is find
ing expression in many states in rad
ical and severely restrictive legisla
tion.” Most of this hostility is due
to “unreasonable prejudice,” arising
from “exaggerated and distorted”
statements regarding such small faults
as the corporations may possibly have
been guilty of. Incidentally Mr.
Truesdale remarks:
“Railroads are the greatest factors
in the upbuilding of the nation. They
are an integral part of our daily life,
the foundation of our commercial pros
perity. They are held to be no longer
private property, but a part of the pub
lic service.”
They never were private property.
From the beginning they have been
in the eye of the law “a part of the
public service” —a function of govern
ment delegated to the operating cor
porations.
In this fact Mr. Truesdale should
find the cause of the hostility of which
he complains. That hostility is not
against railroads, but against their
management as strictly private enter
prises, run exclusively for profit and in
entire indifference to the public wel
fare.
There Is hostility against discrim
ination in freight charges, against
systematic and persistent defiance of
law, against the employment of rail
roads to < build up the trusts and ex
tinguish the small shipper.
Take Mr. Truesdale’s own company.
It suffered a very complete exposure
in the procedings brought by William
Randolph Hearst before the interstate
commerce commission. The Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western is one of the
railroads composing the coal trust.
These corporations forget altogether
that they are common carriers. By
withholding cars from mining compan
ies outside the trust, and using the dis
criminating rate, they have expelled
real independent operators from the
anthracite field. They engage in min
ing in contempt of law. In contempt
of law, also, they combine to fix
the output and the price of coal. They
monopolize a necessary of life, and
periodically engage in private war
with their miners for the purpose of
rendering labor helpless by depriv
ing it of the right to organize in self
defense.
Why should there not be hostility
against the kind of railroad manage
ment which Mr. Truesdale and his
brethren of the coal trust represent?
Had President Roosevelt compelled his
attorney-general to act upon the evi
dence supplied the department of jus
tice by Mr. Hearst, the coal trust
would have been broken up long ago
and its members, including Mr. Trues
dale, criminally prosecuted.
The railroad managers may consider
it politic to cry that they are greatly
“disturbed” by recent legislation, but
they, in common with the leaders in
both houses, know that congress has
seen to it that they will not be hurt.
With some of the state legislation it
is different. Quite likely local rates
may actually be reduced here and
there and discrimination lessened, but
need be no apprehension in
any quarter that the corporations will
die of starvation.
The railroads, in raising the plaint
that they are inoffensive sufferers at
the handK ff a ferocious people, re
call the wolf whoo accounted for the
mutton in his ’possession by explain
ing that the sheep had tried to bite
him. —N. Y. American.
•t
WANTS NATION TO OWN RAIL
ROADS.
Washington, Feb. 27. —Senator Pat
terson, of Colorado, addressing the
senate today, made a plea for govern
ment ownership of railroads. He pre
dicted that such a condition would be
brought about within the lifetime of
the present members of the senate,
but did not anticipate any speedy ac
tion in that direction.
The railroads, he declared, are grow
ing more arrogant each year and as he
saw little or no relief in the new rate
law, government control of the roads
would supply the only remedy. To
show the value of his idea. Mr. Pat
terson presented figures from fifty
nine countries showing the presence
of government ownership in some
form, and he saw a steadily increas
ing sentiment in that direction so far
as the United States is concerned.
American roads are valued at be
tween eleven and twelve billion dol
lars. They could be obtained by con
demnation proceedings, the financial
end being covered by a mortgage back
ed by the government’s guarantee.
Mr. Patterson ridiculed the idea that
a vast political machine would be built
up through federal operation of roads.
As a matter of fact, he declared, rail
road politics would be abolished.
Among the benefits to be gained
through ownership Mr. Patterson men
tioned extension of the postal system,
a postal express and equitable rates.
The people are surely getting rich
loaning money to the national banks
at one-half of one per cent and bor
rowing it back at bank rates. —Missou-
ri World.
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
HERE’S TO TOM WATSON.
Tom Watson, about a year ago, in
conjunction with Col. Mann, the fam
ous Town Topics publisher, launched
a virile and vigorous magazine, known
as Tom Watson’s Magazine. The
union between Watson and Mann did
not last long. Trouble soon began to
brew, which terminated in an eruption
and Tom Watson withdrew. Col. Mann
and a subordinate associate make a vig
orous effort to continue the publica
tion of Tom Watson’s Magazine. The
effort, however, seems to have failed,
as Tom Watson’s Magazine is not mak
ing its appearance, since Tom’s with
drawal. This is a marked tribute to
the vigor and intellectual vitality of
Tom Watson. It is evidence that Tom
Watson was the life and sooi and
spirit of Tom Watson’s Magazine, for
when he withdrew the Magazine died.
This is the best proof that Watson
was the life and soul of the New
York publication. The friends of Tom
Watson and of reform regretted the
short and untimely career of Tom
Watson’s Magazine. All earnest, sin
sere men recognized Tom Wat
son’s Magazine, as a publication of
unusual vigor and ability, and a
marked addition to the reform litera
ture of the times. This regret, how
ever, has turned into joy, by the an
nouncement and the subsequent publi
cation of a weekly paper and a month
ly periodical. These publications,
know as Watson’s Jeffersonian and
Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine, are
up to the high standard for which Mr.
Watson is noted. Both publications
are a distinct contribution to the re
form cause, and the sincere wish of
The Commoner is that they may both
live long and prosper.—The Beaver
(Pa.) Commoner.
•t
THE ATLANTA SCHOOL OF TELEG
RAPHY.
Elsewhere will be found the adver
tisement of the School of Telegra
phy which Mr. F. P. Johnson has re
cently opened in Atlanta.
It is to be hoped that he will meet
with success. I knew Mr. Johnson
well when he was depot agent in
Thomson many years ago, and formed
the highest opinion of him.
He is in every respect a most esti
mable gentleman.
The Japanese government has re
cently cabled an order to the
United States Steel Corporation
for 50,000 tons of steel rails. Large
contracts for locomotives, cars,
bridges, etc., will be placed in the
United States. The rails will be
used for laying the first sections of a
network of railways to be built in
Manchuria.
Our Price
Retailer's
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consistent with good cooking; and baking can be done on
oven bottom and oven rack at the same time.
We give a wriien guarantee with every Range; and if
it is not perfectly satisfactory, return it at our expense,
and we will refund your money.
Our catalogue showt a full line of Stovet and
Range* from $4.50 up. Sent free on application.
JOHN FOSTER CO.,
265-7 Decatur Street, Cor. Moor*,
ATLANTA, GA.
OLD VIRGINIA FARMS
K !•<>« Prices, Mild Climate. Free Illustrated
Catalog. Largest list Farms in State. This
'x * s the country for the Northern Farmer.
We want to hear from every man
who desires to better his condition.
AWW/ Casselman Co., Richmond, Va.
Lurence Casselmao, Former Auditor McLean County, Ji.D.
IDLEWILD PROLIFIC COTTON ha*
captured the south. Two bales per
acre sure. Seed limited. Price cheap.
Selling fast. Home grown, guaran
teed garden and flower seeds, cheap.
Sole owners of Siberian Lettuce,
grows outdoors all winter. Planted
now brings 10c per head. Pkg. seed
10c. Write us. IDLEWILD FLORAL
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Light Draft Manure Spreaders
FOR TWO HORSES
Dunn Machinery Company
54 Marietta Street - ATLANTA. GA.
-GOLD WATCH for
Only 12 Subscribers
to this Paper.”
REAL ESTATE.
Those desiring to move to South
Georgia, the most prosperous section
of the state, can secure bargains in
city property, farm lands, saw mill or
turpentine sites, by writing to
C. C. TYLER,
•ox 271, Moultrie, Ga.
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