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iwM soN ’ SWEE/ <tyi «Ik 1 JEFFERSONIAN *—4 bW EDITED BY I y THOS* E* WATSON Y > Vol. 11. No. 42. GEORGIA ROAD MUST REPAIR AT ONCE. Confirmed and strengthened by the personal investigation of Commission ers Hill and Hilly er, the report of the expert railroad builder and civil engineer as to the condition of the road bed and rails of the Georgia Railroad main line, was Friday morn ing adopted by the Railroad Com mission. The management of the “Old Reliable” was given thirty days in which to complete all of the re quired repairs, and report to the board. A synopsis of the order fol lows: The Georgia road is given ten days in which to replace all spikes and bolts missing, as indicated by the re port. Ten days in which to replace the half angle plates with whole angle plates. Thirty days in which to replace the rotten and decayed crossties as in dicated by the report. Thirty days in which to make a full and complete report to the commis sion covering all improvements and repairs in the property. In connection with the inspection of the Georgia, it develops that the main line of the Southern Railway be tween Atlanta and Birmingham has also been examined by an expert. The property, it is understood, was not found as it should be, and the com mission is expected to formulate an order for the needed improvements immediately the report has been for mally considered and adopted. Commission Not Nagging. The action of the commission in having the Georgia Railroad and the property of the Southern Railway in spected by unknown and independent experts is in conformity with the let ter of the Candler-Overstreet railroad law, enacted at the last session of the legislature. The board is required by law to have the properties of the rail roads of the State inspected, and is charged with the duty of seeing that they are safe and well managed at all times. The commission has no dis position to nag at any of the corpora tions ; it simply proposes to live up to the law and to require the railroad companies to do likewise. The fact that the commission sent one expert over the Birmingham-At lanta. division of the Southern, and that it has another now inspecting the property of another road, is convinc ing evidence that there is no dispo sition to bound any particular com pany. The Georgia Railroad came in for its inspection just as the other companies will receive theirs. Report Unbelievable. When the expert’s report on the Georgia road was received three days ago, as was indicated in The Journal, the oommissieii could scarcely believe Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, November 14, 1907. 'i XL ■ j ■ / tt This is how “Tom Watson” looks according to one of his Wisconsin friends. He looks worse than that to some people. the testimony furnished by him. His report was itemized, detailed and tab ulated, making it possible to con firm o rrefute any allegation set out. In view of the fact that Grant Wil kins, of Atlanta, acting for the com pany, inspected the property and re ported it in good shape, coupled with tho additional fact that Expert Jack son, of Ohio, was employed by the old commission and submitted a fa forable report, the commission held up the latest report pending a fuller investigation. Commissioners Hill and Hillyer were designated by the board to con firm or refute the expert’s report. They visited many of the points of weakness indicated in his report, and their report confirms and strengthens him. The commissioners were away for a couple of day*. a Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 8, 1907. “Mr. Jacob Phinizy, President Geor gia Railroad & Banking Co., Au gusta, Ga. 4 ‘Dear Sir: I beg to hand you here with copy of order this day passed by the Georgia Railroad Commission, which explains itself. “While the condition of the Geor gia Railroad is not all that it ought to be, it is gratifying to the commis sion to know that active work is be- ing done in the direction of its im provement. ‘Yours very truly, “S. G. M’LENDON, Chairman.” Commissioners’ Report. “Mr. Chairman: Asked by the commission to inspect certain portions of the Georgia Railroad reported by the special inspector as needing im mediate attention, as to the safety of the road bed and track of said road, the undersigned members of the com mission have done so, and beg leave to submit the following report: “We made personal visitation and careful inspection of the road bed and track of said road reported to be in the worst condition by said inspector, and find that wherever he has re ported belts, angle bars, and broken angle bars, or half angle bars, the conditions are exactly as reported, and show a careful and intelligent inspec tion, except that at the point visited we found two angle bars broken not reported by tho inspector, which is accounted for by the fact that they were on the opposite side from that on which he walked, and could not be visible except to a person walking on both sides of the track. “As to the highest percentage of rotten erossties reported by the in spector, we desire te My that we vis- Trice five Cents. ited the track at that point and made careful investigation. We do not think that the estimate, and it was only an estimate, is justified by ths actual conditions. We think the per centage of rotten crossties, which need immediate replacement, is less than reported. We think that 15 per cent would cover the ties that should be replaced at once, and while we can not say that the road is actually dan gerous at this point at the present time, not only from our inspection of the track and observing heavy and fast trains passing over it, yet we recommend that the commission or der said road to have replaced at once the missing and broken bolts, and angle-bars, as reported by the inspector, and that the rotten eroce ties as indicated be replaced as here after ordered at the various desig nated points. “We deem it not inappropriate to add from interchange of views among ourselves, that it is the fixed policy of the commission to give thorough and, so far as may be, effective attention to improvements in the roadbed and equipment of the different carriers. The alarming increase of accidents re sulting in very great loss of life and injury to persons and property makes this imperatively necessary. A very large percentage of these accidents is directly traceable to defects in the tracks and roadbeds of the different companies. _l‘We do not understand that it was the purpose of the commission to sin gle out this particular road as be lieved to have been in especially worse condition than others in the Stat* l !. On the contrary, from considerable knowledge of the subject, we are led to believe that its general condition is far above the average. The de fects pointed out in the report of the inspector, end as observed by us, are of a character easily susceptible to immediate remedy, and indeed it would seem from the number of cross ties already provided, as well as an gle plates and other materials, that it is the purpose of this particular company to make a large part of the repairs needed. “GEORGE HILLYER, “H. W. HILL, 4 4 Commissioners. ’ * —Atlanta Journal. Special Election Orderd. An election has been ordered by the governor for December 5 to fill the vacancies in the General Assembly caused by the death of President John W. Akin, of the upper house; the death of Representative N. L. Galloway, of Walton county, and the resignation of W. H. Rogers, the ne gro member of the House from Mc- Intosh county, who resigned follow ing the passage sf diafrsnehus. meat bill.