shares of the capital stock of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company, for which he had paid the sum of $10,000 in cash; that the said Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company had its origin as follows: By a decree of the United States circuit court for the southern district of Georgia, the property, franchises, rights, privileges, and immunities of the railroad corporation known as the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company were sold on November 4, 1879, to Henry B. Plant and his associates; that the purchasers of said railroad and property of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company were the bona fide owners of $1,415,000 of the second mortgage bonds of said company, to satisfy which such sale was made, and that their cash bid at the sale was $300,000, which sum was paid in hand; that said sale was made subject to the lien of a mortgage executed by said Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company to secure certain bonds issued and sold by it and known as its first mortgage bonds, and that said lien amounted at the time of said sale to about $2,700,000; that said Plant and his associates, under the provisions of an act of the legislature of Georgia, approved February 29, 1876, had formed the said defendant corporation, the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company, and to it was conveyed under the orders of said court the property and franchises, rights and immunities, of the said Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company; that the act by virtue of which the said Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company was organized and said conveyance made declared that upon the sale of the property, franchises, rights, and immunities of any railroad company in the state of Georgia the railroad company formed by the purchasers thereof should possess all the powers, rights, immunities, privileges, and franchises in respect to such railroad which were promised or enjoyed by the corporation which owned or held such railroad previous to such sale under or by virtue of its charter and any amendments thereto, and of other laws of the state. Acts 1876, p. 118.

The bill further charged that at the time of making and issuing the said first mortgage bonds, subject to which the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad was sold, the state of Georgia was

a holder of the stock of said company to the amount of $1,000,000, and that as such stockholder the state, acting by her duly-appointed commissioner, voted for the making and issuing of said first mortgage bonds, and contracted with the holders thereof that the corporate property, including the franchises, tolls, and increase of said Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, should be pledged for the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.

The bill further averred that while the state of Georgia was a stockholder, as aforesaid, in the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, said company made contracts with various lumber manufacturers, by which, in consideration of the payment by them of 50 cents per thousand feet for lumber intended for export, the said company agreed to build a branch road from its depot in Savannah to the Savannah river, and in pursuance of said contract did build said branch road at a cost of about $150,000, and the said lumber manufacturers, who have used said branch road, have paid, and continue to -pay, without complaint, the said rate of 50 cents per thousand feet for the use of said branch road; that while said Atlantic & Gulf Railroad was under the management of the receivers appointed by the court, under whose decree said sale was made, said receivers, at the instance of the lumber manufacturers along the line of said railroad, laid down sidetracks for their exclusive use, in consideration whereof said lumbermen agreed to pay a rental of $15 per car for the use of said tracks, and they have paid, and continue to pay, said rental. The bill claimed that, under the decree by which said railroad was sold, the purchasers became entitled to the benefit of the said contracts, as a part of the assets and property of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company.

The bill further averred that "the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, the corporation which owned the railroad so purchased, was composed of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company,' incorporated under the act of the state of Georgia, approved February 27, 1856, and the original 'Savannah & Albany Railroad Company,' chartered by act of the general assembly of Georgia, approved December 25, 1847, the name

of which was changed to 'The Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad Company' by an act approved February 20, 1854. Acts 1855-6, p. 158; Acts 1853-4, p. 454. That these two companies were consolidated by authority of an act of the general assembly of the state of Georgia, approved April 18, 1863, entitled 'An act to authorize the consolidation of the stock of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad Company, and the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, and for other purposes.' By the third section of said act of consolidation it was enacted that the several immunities, franchises, and privileges granted to the said Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad Company and the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, by their original charters and the amendments thereof, and the liabilities therein imposed, shall continue in force, except so far as they may be inconsistent with their act of consolidation."

The bill claimed that the two companies aforesaid, which were consolidated, and out of which the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company was formed, were granted by their charters the right to charge certain rates of freight and passenger fares specified therein, and that the right to charge the same freights and fares had been conferred upon the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company by the act of February 29, 1876, aforesaid; that the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company had adopted a schedule of freights and passenger fares within the maximum rates fixed by the charter of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, but that the rates so adopted were greater than those fixed by the schedule of the said railroad commission.

The bill claimed that if the rates established by the railroad commissioners were made obligatory upon the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company, it would not only be unable to establish a sinking fund to pay off its first mortgage bonds, but would be unable to declare dividends of any amount whatever to its stockholders, and the company would be driven into ruin and bankruptcy.

The bill further alleged that complainant had hoped that the said Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company

would adhere to the schedule of freights and fares which it had adopted as aforesaid, but that he had been injured, and charged that it intended to abandon said schedule and adopt the one promulgated by said railroad commission, which it admitted would not enable it to earn a sufficient income to pay its expenses, the interest on its bonded debt, but that on the contrary its receipts would not enable it to pay the interest on its bonds by at least $40,000 per annum, and that such deficit would continue from year to year, and the stockholders of said company would receive no dividend whatever, but that the value of the stock of said company would be gradually destroyed by said annual deficit.

The bill averred that said act of October 14, 1879, under authority of which said railroad commissioners assumed to act, was in violation of the several provisions of the constitution of Georgia above quoted, and that it excluded the defendant railroad company from its right of trial by jury, guarantied by the constitution of the state; that it violated that clause of the constitution of the state, paragraph 9, § 1, art. 1, which ordains that excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel nor unusual punishments inflicted; that said act violated that part of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States which declares that "no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its limits the equal protection of the laws;" and section 10, art. 1, which forbids a state to pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts.

The bill prayed that the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad Company might be enjoined from doing any act which would be an acceptance of the said statutes of October 14, 1879, as an amendment to its charter, or from carrying out the provisions of said act, or from operating its road for such rates of fare and freight as should be inadequate to yield a revenue sufficient to pay the expenses of operating said railroad, and maintaining its track and equipment, and paying interest on its bonded debt and reasonable dividends to its stockholders, and provide a reasonable sinking fund for the payment of the principal of its bonded debt, and that said

commissioners might be enjoined from prescribing rates of fare and freight over said company's railroad, or in any manner enforcing the provisions of the said act of October 14, 1879, and that the said attorney-general might be restrained from instituting any suit of any kind against said railroad company for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of said act, and for general relief.

Upon the filing of this bill a restraining order was allowed enjoining the defendants as prayed for. Subsequently, on September 6, 1880, the defendant railroad company answered the bill, and on September 18th the railroad commissioners filed a demurrer thereto.

On December 6, 1880, the complainant filed an amendment to his bill, in which he averred that, estimating the stock of the defendant company at $2,000,000, and taking into account the mortgage lien subject to which it was bought, and which amounted to $2,710,000, the entire cost of the railroad and other property was only $14,000 per mile; that the gross receipts of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company for the last eight years, under a schedule substantially higher than that adopted by the Savannah, Florida & Western, were $983,792; that the average interest charges and expenses of the latter company amount to $867,242, leaving a surplus of only $116,550 applicable to dividends and sinking fund, and that allowing a dividend of 7 per cent. on the stock the net receipts would fall short $23,550 per annum; that the receipts of the defendant railroad company under the schedule promulgated by the railroad commissioners would fail to pay the running expenses, the annual interest on prior liens, subject to which the railroad was sold, by nearly $50,000 per annum, and the said amendment charges that the schedule promulgated by said commissioners is not reasonable or just.

On December 22, 23, and 24, 1880, the case was heard upon a motion for an injunction, pendente lite, in accordance with the prayer of the bill. Upon this motion the affidavits of John Screven, lately one of the receivers of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company; of W. S. Chisholm, vice-president; H. S. Haines, general manager, and W. P. Hardee, treasurer,