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7 Id 1 JEFFERSONIAN W Map edited by '* , l;|Z l| THOS. E. WATSON !l 0 Vol. 11. A * - S'-1 ' /w^ll, v DRAWN BY GORDON NYE. zj> A >Tf BANG!' P. S. After years of asking “for his rights* 1 Mr. Common Folks had the pleasure of seeing the lawless Southern Railway brought to time and forced to bend to the will of the people. The shock of seeing the corporation smashed was too great for Mr. Common Folks and he had to be put to bed. All night long he murmured, joy! joy! great joy! glorious joy! The latest report from his bedside is to the effect that he will recover. Alabama License of Southern 'Raillvay Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 2. —Deter- mined to follow the example set by Gov. Glenn, of North Carolina, in forcing the railroads to obey the state laws, Gov. Comer and the state administration, although enjoined by the roads through the Federal courts from putting into effect the new rail road laws in this state, have taken a new rack, and as a result the li cense of the Southern Railway to do business in Alabama has been re voked. Among the acts passed by the leg islature last winter was one requir ing “ foreign non-resident corpora tions” to take out a license to do business in Alabama and forbidding them to remove civil suits from a state court to the Federal court. Re- Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, August 8, 1907. cently a civil suit brought by citizens of Talladega county against the Southern Railway for damages for alleged personal injuries was removed from the county court here. -When notice of the removal was given by the court clerk to Secretary of State, Frank N. Julian, the latter wrote the following across the stub of the li cense issued to the Southern Rail way: 4 ‘This license is cancelled for a vio lation of the act under w'hich it was issued by the removal of a civil cause from a court of this state to the Federal court.” This law is one among others the enforcement of which has been en joined by the ra’lroads through the Federal courts, the injunctions hav ing been issued by Judge Thomas G. Jones last May. The injunctions, however, are only against the State Railroad Commission, its members in dividually and Attorney-General A. M. Garber. Secretary of State Julian is in no sense a party, and hence can not be held as being in contempt of court in revoking the license. It is thought that Julian’s action is the result of a conference held two days ago between Gov. Comer and the state’s attorneys, at which the determination was reached to find a way, as Gov. Glenn did in North Carolina, to get around Federal court injunctions. The governor decided to call an extra session of the legis lature in the fall to adopt new rail road legislation. The Southern Railway owns and operates 1,600 miles of track in Ala- bama. As yet no action has been taken to enforce the revocation of the license. There is a penalty for every contract a road makes after its license has been revoked, ranging in fines from SIOO to $2,000 and im prisonment of the agents for not more than twelve months, or both. In ad dition such contracts are declared null and void. Lawyers here think that Secretary Julian’s action means a clash be tween the state and Federal author ities. The legislature has before it now a bill to provide for receivers for foreign corporations which have forfeited their charters or licenses. This bill, it is expected, will be rushed through at once, and under its provisions the state may ask a receiver for the Southern Railway, No. 29.