The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-14
nsmnrk. From "ImprisOn."

at A Cabinet meeting ms lntehtIoh w
retire from that body at an early date
.his decision was greeted with chorus
Of Noes. that Of the President being the
loudest. ,
EVERYBODY recognizes the loyalty Of
President ROOSEVELT to his friends ana
official assistants. II is therefore pos
sible that Mr.. RoosEvELT's loud mol
OF protest, il that @No!' was really Ut
tered az the reports say, was meant 70
signify that Secretary Morton need
apprehend neither pressure nor desire
on the part of the President for his with
drawal from the Cabinet while he Is YET
under fire: that il to say, until the charges
Of completely in illegal transactions con-
corning rebates. prior TO his appoint
ment as Secretary Of the Navy, have
been determined one way or the other by
judicial inquiry.
This view is confirmed by the circum-
stance that on the very day OF the hrst
Cabinet meeting since the Presidents
return from the West we received from
the Interstate Commerce Commission
the officially promulgated text OF us
report and opinion in Case No. 7s9' IN
the matter Of alleged unlawful rates and
practises in the transportation OF coal
and mine supplies by the Atchison, To-
peka and Santa Fe Railway Company.
The report and opinion are rendered by
the Hon. CHARLES A. PRoUTY, the same
Commissioner PROUTT who in the secret
cipher used by the Beef Trust In It's
esoteric communications to agents en-
gagged in procuring rebates from the
Atchison was curiously designated py
the code word 4Imprison.
The official summary Of Commissioner
pRoUTY's, or "ImprisOns findings in
Case $50 will be read with more general
interest than il excited by most OF the
publications of the Interstate Commerce
Commission:
II. The act to regulate commerce which requires
common carriers TO publish and adhere 70 their
Arins. has been grossly and continuously violated
by the Atehlson, Topeka and Santa 70 Railway
Company during the last Eve years in the follow
ing respects: It published rates on interstate
shipments Of coal from mines in Colorado and New
transportation thereof. but which for the Colorado
Fuel and Iron Company wefe made by the railway
company 10 include the price Of the coal and such
prices were paid TO the fuel and iron company BY
the railway company. While giving rebates TO
the fuel and iron company from such tam rates,
Il charged the full tsnn rates on interstate ship
msnU Of coal By other shippers In not only the
general coal region involved but in the same coal
field. This practiss OF tho railway oompanyi1e-
suited In closing markets for coal 70 shippers com
petins with the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.
u The act Of Feb 10. 1919 Uhe 40 called ElkinS
iavl which prohibits is carriers from trans
PORTING frame until tarin has been published.
requires observance OF the tarin, provides penalty
for each violation OF not less than 5000 nor more
than $4,000, and applies both to the carrier and
the party receiving the concession, has speotnE
the transportation involved In thls proceeding.
been systematically and continuously violated By
the Atchson, Topeka and Santa 70 Railway Com
pany and the Colorado Fue and Iron Company
from the day Of It's passage down 20 Nov q, 1904
when the tariffs upon which this coal moved were
reduced In all cases Sis and this notwtthstAnd-
ing the Atchlson. Topeka ard Santa re Railway
Company has. IN a suit begun In the United states
Circuit Court at the Instance and ftQuest OF this
commission. been under Injunction since March
Is. 1917, TO observe In all respects It's published
schedules OF rates
Commissioner PRoUTY remarks fur
Their, concerning the obvious community
Of interest between the two partners in
the criminal praCtises described above:
The santa re and the Colorado Fuel and Iron
ness. As partners they probably obtained the best
pres possible for coH at the various points OF de.
livery. anG apparently the division OF the price
obtained was not unduly In favor OF the fuel com.
pany."
There is an additional reason, not
stated by Mr.. PRoUTY, for believing hat
the spoils Of crime were equitably di-
vided between the two partners in the
unlawful transaction. At the period Of
the illegal rebates, denounced as above
by the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion, the second vice-president OF the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Railway
Company, the grantor Of the rebate,
and the vice-president Of the Colorado
Fuel and Iron Company, the beneficiary
OF the rebate, were one and the same
person, the Hon. PAUL MORTON.
II is only ten days since the former
second president Of the Atchison
and the former vice-president Of the
Colorado Fuel and Iron in the person
Of the present Secretary OF the Navy,
delivered at Washington an after dinner
speech in which he remarked with subtle
humOr:
Rebates or preferential rates in any form ought
~ be entirely discontinued
In the recent cipher wherein Commits
sloner PRoUTY figures as "Imprison, "
and his associate. the Hon. JOSEPH w.
FIFER, as 'Improbitas, the division Of
rates is'signifed by 'iocularis, while
the code word for rebate itself is laugh
some II Is a mirthful little lexicon.