HAWKINSVILLE, Ga., Jan. 5, 1906.
_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._
DEAR TOM—Yours of the 3rd inst., just received. I have been
very busy of late winding up business of the old year and
arranging for the new year. You know this is about the busiest
time for the farmer. Therefore I have not read the papers
closely and have not seen the denial of Mr. Howell concerning
the improvements at Flovilla ordered some time ago by the
Railroad Commission. I do not recall exactly what I said to
you in regard to this matter, but I will give you the facts
according to my best recollection:
While Judge Atkinson was Chairman, the Commission, on its
own motion, seeing the necessity of improved facilities at
Flovilla, ordered that a pavilion be built like the one at
Warm Springs, if my memory serves me correctly; also that
water-closets be put in, and other improvements be made in
connection with the passenger station. It was a considerable
length of time before any attention was paid to this order at
all. After so long a time, and continual nagging on the part
of the Commission, which no doubt the records will show, the
railroad put up a little shed there, which is but a make-shift,
and called it a pavilion. Upon one pretext and another they
delayed putting in the closets, and if they have been put in at
all I do not know it.
In speaking about this matter on one occasion to a
representative of the Southern Railway, whom I happened to
meet on the train, I suggested to him that these improvements
ought to be made. His reply was, that the railroads did not
feel disposed to do anything for Butts County for the reason
that the juries were too ready to give verdicts against the
railroads. My reply to him was, that if the railroads would do
their duty by the people, the people would in turn be willing
to do justice to the railroads.
Mr. Dozier, the Banker at Flovilla, and Mr. Duke, a lawyer
representing the Southern Railway at Flovilla, and others
there, will corroborate what I have said. In my report to the
Railroad Commission about the condition of depots in the state
I called attention to several instances where the railroads had
refused to comply with the orders of the Railroad Commission,
and there has never been any denial made by the railroad people.
At Pitts, Ga., there was a little pigeon house built and
located, contrary to the orders of the Railroad Commission.
The records of the Railroad Commission will show this to be a
fact. Also it will be found by the records that while Judge
Atkinson was Chairman an order was made requiring the roads to
stop their passenger coaches at the station for the convenience
of passengers, rather than to have them stop one hundred or two
hundred feet away from the depots. This order has also been
absolutely ignored by all the railroads that have come under
my observation.
There has not been an order regulating freight rates issued by
the Railroad Commission in some time, unless it was absolutely
satisfactory to the railroads, where the railroads have
complied with it.
Mr. Ed. Baxter, who is Chief Counsel, as I understand, for
all the Southern Railways served notice upon the Railroad
Commission in the City of Atlanta before the Federal Court in
the following language as near as I can remember:
[Illustration: “Poor little rooster—crowed too quick.”]
“The Railroad Commission may well understand that they have
reached the length of their tether; henceforth we will put
ourselves under the ægis of the Federal Courts.”
In other words, whenever the Georgia Railroad Commission,
or any other State Commission, or Inter-State Commission,
undertakes to put in a rate that is not satisfactory to the
railroads, then they would appeal to the Federal Courts. Again,
and in its last analysis, the meaning is plain enough to any
man who wants to understand it, that the railroads have taken
this position, as is evidenced by their opposition to the bill
now before Congress and advocated by President Roosevelt:
“We propose to make rates without any interference from State
or Federal authority; we propose to fight any law, or any
authority to take this right away from us.”
And that, it seems to me, is the great issue overshadowing all
other issues of the present time in this state and every other
state in the Union, as to whether or not the railroads shall be
allowed to make rates without any interference from any State
or Federal authority. Whenever we give them that power they are
absolutely masters of the situation, and they know it. They can
bribe legislatures, judges and jurors, and levy tribute upon
the people themselves to pay for this corruption.
Now, the circumstances leading up to our meeting with Mr. Ed.
Baxter in the Federal Courts, are interesting and amusing. In a
few days I will give you the details in another letter. I hope
that I have not already trespassed upon your patience.
Hoping that you are entirely restored to health, with kind
regards to each member of your family, and best wishes for
yourself, I am
Your friend,