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fw NISON’S WEEKLY i K 1 JEFFERSONIAN bW oS| EDITED BY y THOS. E. WATSON x y Vol. 11. No. 38. A MIGHTY POWER—LEARN HOW TO DIRECT IT (&\LLOT • •» l£: I wptti/ -. Ow^■ ■ ,/z ' % I MOI ! " ■ ff "IMwB ' • a We do not ask the Farmers' Union to go Into politics as a body pledged to support certain candidates for office, but we do say that each and every member of ths Union has the right to vote. It is therefore your duty to use that ballot for your own interests, your wife and your children. In other words, vote out of office small peanut politicians of the Livingston* type who betray and forget about you, after you have elected them to office. —GORDON NYE, Relief ‘Before Injury Asked by Central "Railroad. “In this suit the Central of Geor gia! Railroad is not fighting confisca tion, as it alleges. It is fighting reg ulation by the State.”—Judge James K. Hines. “The Central of Georgia is seek ing relief from the court before it has yet suffered an injury.”—At torney W. A. Wimbish. These two statements made Thurs day morning by attorneys represent ing the State of Georgia in its main tenance of a 2 1-2 cents passenger fare against the efforts of the Central of Georgia road is now making in the United States court to have that reduced fare annulled through proc ess of injunction, epitomize the ar gument that the State has offered both on the side of established laws and common justice. \ Thursday was by far the most not jrole day of this far-reaching suit. (The speeches of Judges Hines and At torney Wimbish were not only master works of comprehensive argument and subtle legal knowledge, but they were also vindications of the officials of • % Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, October 17, 1907. the State and clear expositions of the State’s policy in regulating corporate interests. Leading members of the bar sat throughout the arguments as if they were in school again learning the law. People who may have doubt ed the wisdom and justice of the pres ent administration in pressing public rights agair.st individual monopolies went away with full and intense con viction on the reasons and rights of this activity. Judge Hines began the argument for the State Thursday, and Mr. Wimbish was concluding it when court adjourned until Friday. For the first time Thursday morning ex- Senator Spooner, representing the road, began to take notes. After having show the futility of the contention, as made by opposing counsel, that the governor would ex ercise no discretionary power in exe cuting the order of the Railroad Com mission, Judge Harris called atten tion to the glaring error in a quota tion the road ’• counsel had made from the Candlor-Overvtreet aat The bill filed by the road quotes the act as reading: “An action for recovery shall be brought in the name of the State by direction of the governor.” This is an incorrect quotation. The Candler-Overstreet bill reads, as a matter of fact, thus: “An action may be brought . . . and shall be brought in the name of the State by direction of the governor.” “Under this reading,” said Judge Harris, “it is foolish to contend that a thousand suits a day might be brought against a railroad. No sane official would fall into such stupidity. The object of the bill is clearly to enforce the law in a wise and effect ive manner. It means this and noth ing further.” Slurs Repudiated. Judge Harris repudiated the slurs that have been cast upon the Rail road Commission and the good faith of tlie administration. “It is the wish of the commission and all other offi cials,” he declared, “that corporate enterprises, together with all others in Georgia, shall prosper. But they Price Five Cents. shall not fatten through tyrannies upon the people of the State.” In answering the allegations of Mr. Law ton, that for twenty-seven years the railroads of Georgia had been persecuted by the commission, and in ■ some instances driven into bank ruptcy, Judge Hines’ remarks were particularly interesting. As to Bankrupting Roads. “In the first place,” he said, “the Central of Georgia has not been in existence twenty-seven years. That much of the statement is a remark able bit of extravagance. As to the charge that the commission has driven roads tp bankruptcy, why hasn’t coun sel cited some examples of his claim f The Central of Georgia Railroad went into bankruptcy through gross mis management. It was the victim of financial debauchment, a spectacular picture of frenzied finance. Dishon esty and not the Railroad Commission thrust this road into bankruptcy.” In the crowded United States court room ex-Senator John C. Spooner, all (Continued o* Page Twelve.)