The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-30

parisOn with the Milwaukee In
Dictated the Source of the Present
Investigations.
The delegation Of interstate COM
merce commissioners abruptly closed
temporarily. the work of taking testi,
mony In St. Paul in connection with
the railway rates on flour shipments
eastward, at $50 o'clock yesterday af-
ternoon. AT that hour, greatly to the
surprise OF every one present, an adj
journment to May &c was announced
and all witnesses supoenaed to appear
at the recent session are expected to
respond on that date without further
notice.
1t is understood that the commission
ers adjourned in order to fill an APP
pointment in Chicago today for the
hearing Of Southwestern cattlemen on
the subject of alleged discrimination In
rates by some of the roads.
The morning session Of the commits
sion was without special incident
officials of the several railway COM
panies have for two days been in at
tendance on the proceedings the eX-
animation was almost exclusively di-
rected to shipping clerks and those who
acted mechanically and in a subordi-
nate capacity. The fact was clearly
shown that all record traces of the
bates were destroyed; and nothing re-
mains on which to base conclusions
save the memory of those identified
with the transactions.
Mr.. Course Absent.
1t was expected that Mr. I. T. Course,
Of the Washburn- Crosby mill, would
reappear, but when his name was
called, President Bell arose and of
Illness.
Mr.. SWisher agent of the Blue Line,
was recalled, and it was expected that
he would accompany his temperance
by the production Of certain books and
records, but this he failed to do, and
he promptly retired from the stand.
The next witness was Joseph A.
Hannis, of Duluth, chief clerk of the
Imperial Milling company. He is quite
a young man, and his replies We're so
deliberately made as to cause the i'm
preston that he was thinking several
times before he spoke once. He pro-
duced certain books which established
nothing, and his memory was decided
ly faulty He admitted presenting
claims to agents Of the Duluth, South
Shore & Atlantic and the Delaware &
AdChdW dIud, UuI ILSiSleu ludI Cuey
were all regular in their nature, such
as for damages and the like.
AS to the matter Of payments on ac-
count Of rebates, he said no records
were preserved, the transactions being
carried on chiefly from day to day, as
they came along, and entered into the
accounts from memory or from brief
memoranda, which were destroyed at
the time as being Of no value.
Judge Clements. of the comm iSSiOn
pressed this witness very closely on
the reasons why these memoranda
were destroyed. and the latter grew
nervous during the ordeal. He, how
ever, stated that he had not received
instructions from his superiors to de-
stroy the records Of rebates.
Reasons for Rebates.
The next witness was c. F. Sheehan,
of the Minneapolis Milling company.
He admitted that certain rebates had
been paid by the Northern Steamship
company, but this was in the form of
allowances on lighterage account as
against labor on the wharf connected
with loading under ordinary condi-
lions. The witness, however, had
nothing in the way of memoranda to
submit, but confessed that everything
in this line had been destroyed.
ITO whom did you present state
ments for claims?" he was asked.
$50 far as I can remember" he re-
piled, 81 presented them to the agent
of the Michigan Central
Were the amounts paid in cash or
by checks?"
Sometimes they were received in
cash and sometimes in checks
When it came to the Identification
Of the person with whom statements
We're made the witness could not re-
member. He said, among other things,
however, that in the case Of checks,
these were signed by the auditor,
whereupon Mr.. Day directed him on
behalf of the commission to submit
the books containing the entry of such
checks. This was the most tangible
evidence received. He was asked how
the amounts Of the checks were en-
tered, and he said they went to the
general merchandise account, which
included cash sales of flour and in fact
the record of about all the cash trans
actions Of the concern. He said the
merchandise account showed an aggre-
gate Of four or five hundred thousand
dollars per annum. He did not re-
member presenting any claims to the
agents Of the fast freight lines.
Where the C. p. Came In.
"Have you ever presented any
claims to the Canadian Pacifc?' was
asked.
II might have presented such
claims,' he said, 'to the agent Of the
Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic"
why did you present claims against
the Canadian Pacific to the South
Shore agent?'
Because the South Shore took the
freight
The witness did not know of any
agreement with Canadian Pacific
agents about the traffic over other
roads. He did not remember that
any claims had been presented to the
Eastern Minnesota. He said that pre-
paid freight went out on the regular
rates made by the agents Of the roads.
He thought there were times when
one road would give lower rate than
another, but the bills were made out
in all cases at the rates quoted with
out regard to rebates. No concessions
had been received over the Omaha or
the ST. Paul & Duluth, and no advan-
tages had been received, directly or
indirectly, from such shipments.
Mr.. Day pressed the witness to ex-
plain why an invoice showed that
shipment to New York had been billed