The San Francisco call., 1899-06-18
CONTROL BY THE
BIC CORPORATIONS
MOnOpOlieS Denounced
by Lockwood.
ROBBERY OF THE PEOPLE
OIL AND RAILROADS
IN COLLUSION.
ROBBERY OF THE PEOPLE
The Oil Dealer Goes so Far as to
Declare That Corrupt Infu-
ences Are Used to Elevate
Judges and Senator'S.
Special Dispatch to The Gail.

Special Dispatch to The Gail.
! WASHINGTON, June THE Industrial
Commission to-day heard a statement
from L. NJ. Lockwood, an oil producer of
Zelinople, in opposition to the Standard
Oil Trust. Mr.. lockwood declared that
this company had driven the independent
reflneries into bankruptcy and servitude,
and he denounced the course pursued in
severe terms. He held the railroads es-
pecially responsible for this condition of
affairs. Going back to 1872, he referred at
length to a contract made by the trunk
lines of Pennsylvania with the South Inn
provement Company. Under this con-
tract, he said, the freight rates on oil
were doubled and half the amount COL
lected was paid back as rebate-not only
this, but the contract company received a
like rebate of the shipments of all other
companies. The contract. he declared,
was secretly continued by the railroads
and the Standard Company. He quoted
A. J. Cassatt, the new president of the
Pennsylvania Railroad testifying be-
fore the Interstate Railway Commission
to the effect that while the open rate to
the public was 81 80 per barrel the rate to
the Standard Company was 80 cents.
Further investigation, said Mr.. Lockwood.
had developed the fact that the general
This condition of affairs had resulted for
a time according to the witness, in Civ
ing the Standard Company profit of 400
per cent while the independent refineries
were being driven rapidly into bank
ruptcy. Mr.. Lockwood was free in the
use of epithets, charcterizing both the Oil
company and railroad officials as nigh
waymen and bTlgands.
IF you have got to be robbed, he ex-
claimed. lit does not matter much
] hold hX n n
with a pistol or by John Rockefeller with
a railroad; it is robbery all the same. He
said that men who had carefully analyzed
the testimony taken before the Hepburn
committee estimated that in 1S6 months
time the five trunk lines of Pennsylvania
had paid the Standard Company $ll,V00,GvO
in rebates. The railroad companies had,
he said, completely ignored the order of
the Industrial State Commission to stop
their discrimination in favor of the Stan
dard Company, resorting tnen to the sys
| TEN of false billing.
Speaking of the remedy for the evil.
Mr. Lockwood said ii was in government
ownership of the railroads and not TO be
found in courts-the courts were too slow
and expensive.
THE railroads and the oil company can
z }ea he saG 6ff he is
ruined, and then go on with their work.
leaving their victim stranded; AS re-
ments to higher places politically. Thus
it was that the thought of the common
people was gradually becoming fixed To
the effect that the great railroad COM
bines were gradually packing the Supreme
Courts with men in sympathy with their
monopolistic tendencies, aud who would
commerce law was rendered Ineffective.
IF the railroad companies can control
the appointment of the Attorney General
and of Justices of the Supreme Court,
what do they care for the law" the wit
ness asked.
The only safe plan, said Mr.. Lockwood,
was to take the railroads out of the hands
Of the corporations and place them under
control of the Government, so that every
man could go to market as cheaply as
every other man. He considered all the
railroads of the country as specially gil
gantic trusts and asserted that they were
in control of our politics, contributing mil
| lions to elect legislators, Senators and
Judges, and to punish those not willing 10
do their bidding. With absolute equality
over the roads the Independent companies
would drive the Standard Company into a
secondary place in short time. There
would then, he asserted, be no moro
shooting down of striking miners for the
miner could send his product to market
as cheaply as the mine monopolist So in
all other lines of business. If the Gov
ernment did not control the roads the
railroads would control the Government.
He advocated the taking of the roads
under the right of eminent domain, pay
| ing the owners the actual value of the
The afternoon session of the commission
was characterized by the development of
difficulties among the members of the
commission as to the character of testi-
mony that should be admitted. Mr.. Lock-
wood made the statement that Judge AL
bert Haight of the New York Court of
Appeals had been elevated to his position
by the corporations, through the use of
corruption fund, because of his action in
what was known as the Matthews case.
a proceeding of a railroad combination
against the Independent refineries. He
afterward said that, while convinced the
facts We're as he had stated, he had not
seen the fund, and therefore the statment
was an inference only.
At this point Mr.. Farquhar of the COM
mission rose to protest against the char
acter of the testimony, saying that Judge
Haight was his neXt-door neighbor and
one of the purest men he ever knew. He
had never before heard an imputation
upon his character. He appealed to Mr..
Lockwood to have the statement stricken
out Of his testimony The statement. he
said, was not testimony, but it was pure
| libel.
Mr. Lockwood said that he also knew
Judge Haight and that he had been sur
prised at the apparent developments. The
issue had been raised in the campaign and
| he understood that he ran behind his
ticket
After a few general remarks by others
of the commission as to the advisability
of striking out the entire statement, Con-
gressman Bell arose and made vigorous
protest against the demand to eliminate
any Of the testimony. 1t was not, he said,
the province of the commission to tell
witness what he must say. He said he
had noticed that some members of the
commission were very sensitive when
something was said which did not entirely
fall in with their predictions. 1t was
perfectly competent for any man COM
ing here to entertain opinions upon any
of these subjects and to advance them,
or to criticize public officials. In this con-
nection. he said Governor Larrabee of
Wyoming had said that there We're two
Judges on the Supreme Court bench who
We're put there for the purpose of secur-
ing the notification Of the Granger law.
He also instanced other cases in which
the railroads had secured the appoint
ment of Judges whose sympathies were
with them. If this was true. said Mr..
Bell, why should a man be barred from
saying so? And If the commission was
not going to permit such testimony he
would be compelled to say, when 1t came
to making the report of the commission,
that 1t had not been non-partisan.
AS another illustration of the manipula-
tions on the part of the railroads he
quoted a Republican member of the Con-
gressional Postal Commission as saying
that its proceedings would come to naught
because the Second Assistant Postmaster
General who had charge of these matters,
is in sympathy with the railroads.
man was not sacred, he declared because
of the place he occupied, and If judge
on the bench is elevated to his position
| = ha