Omaha daily bee., 1891-11-29
WHAT 1T MEANS.
True I~nwardne,s of the Approaching
Hallway investigation.

Hallway Investigation.
' That the federal grand jury will meet
Monday and pay some attention to alleged
/, violations of the interstate act
has created considerable excitement among
certain railway officials and shippers. The
indictments returned by the federal grand
luries in st. LOUIS and Chicago against rail
way officials for favoring certain shippers
and against shippers for demanding cut rates
and accepting rebates from railways against
small competitors has shown the public that
1t is the intention of the commission to see
that all are given equal and reasonable rates.
Yesterday 1t was known that Special
Agent kretchmer, Of the commission, was
in the city and in consultation with United
States Attorney Baker. A Fnsmnw1E
endeavored to interview hin
investigation but l--~~ q 80 non,-
interviewed, but said he wa, an, 70 sssI,
complaint of certain shippers who cIc..l...
that certain railways were discriminating
against them by giving inside rates to COM
petitors thereby virtually running their bust
ness.
''My mission IS merely to assist
in the Investigation said Mr.. Kretchmer,
land if the shippers are Disseminated against,
the grand jury must decide which way.
LUIS Is I'LL 1 nave 10 say IN inc
matter, and ] want to have 1t understood that
all this rot IN certain papers pretending to le
interviews with me are fakes and do me an
injustice"
Inis is all the gentleman would say, and
other sources of INFORMATION were sought,
with better result. The railway Official in
terviewed SAID he was Thoroughly familiar
with the facts Jnat called for the coming in
vestigation and he was not averse TO telling
all he knew.
.tSpna mDptbS aun ~ hu said .I'tbp Nnhrnaka
Stono company of Omaha, owning Quarrles
at Lyons, Colo, on the line of the Burlington
~ Missouri railway, made an open complaint
TO the Interstate commission taat rates were
beng manipulated against IL in favor OF a
competitor and asking for an investigation.
Tho open rate from Lyons to Omaha is 1875
cents, but tho competitor, it is alleged Sc
cured at least Il II cent rate. The commits
sion thereupon instructed the official agent TO
visit Omaha and explain the situation to the
United States attorney, and If he deemed the
case ono of merit TO present it TO the grand
jury aud aid the complainant in securing
equal rates. From present indications
United States Attorney Baker thinks the
Nebraska Stone company has good grounds
for the allegation, and will endeavor TO dis
cover wherein the difficulty lies. Tho ia
vored shipper is Hugh Murphy,
"Anotner case, and one of vast importance
to the packing interests of Omaha, is a
manipulation on shipments to the east. IL
was impossible for small houses to stand
such competition and n request was made
that an end be put to such unjust disCrlmina-
tor. This complaint VAS made some tune
ago, but it was impossible to secure tho facts
until this date. The firm involved is The
Armour Packing company, and the line on
which the manipulation occurred was the
Missouri Pacific. Kansas city and Omaha
take the same rates, and on this division OF
rates, a shipper by joining with the rallv ay
officials could easily manipulate rates in his
favor. In this case, ii is alleged, Armour "
Co. would order sweet picked hams from
the Omaha Packing company, These hams
would be billed out on Il slip bill and when
the car reached Kansas City the picked
hams would be unloadad and lard substI-
then he instructed to make billing read lard.
BY tins manipulation Armour " Co., re-
ceiyed free transportation of sweet picked
mans.
This practice prevailed for some time,
ana finally Mr.. t'aithorn, chairman of tho
Western TrafiC association took the matter
in hand and ordered an investigation by
Superintendent Carman, ofthe Weighing as
ISOLATION. This resulted In EXPOSING the deal
and the the lnterstateCO COMMISSIONS
attention was called to it. Chairman Midgely
and FaithOrn VIII both be here TO testify in
regard to this transaction. The investiga-
ton will probably continue one week and
promises TO put a stop TO this method OF dis
elimination. What railway officials and
representatives of Armour ~ Co, were guilty
Of making this alleged illegal deal is not yet
known, but rumor connects the name Of q
MIR. King, former contracting freight agent
ia this city for tho Missouri Pacific railway.
MIR. King is now in Atlanta, Ca"
DR.. Birney cures catarrh. Bee bldg.