The San Francisco call., 1905-06-22

the ovens along the line of the Atchison Rail
road IN Colorado and threatened to use East
their own to coal properties which they nigh
obtain unless low prices were made. Thes'
same people were making all sorts Of expert
ments with fuel oil with the idea of sub
stituting 1t altogether if possible Tor coal
and they did 1t with such good effect tha
in part they did substitute oil for coal. thereby
cutting down the amount OF coal consumed
All of these things taken in connection will
the undoubted financial ability of the people
Interested to build additional railroads ane
develop either coal or oil fields menaced q
traffic worth nearly 1,0Oo, 900 year to the
Atchison system. and solely for the protecuor
OF the railroad, far as its ofncers were
concerned, an understanding was entered into
between the railroad, the Colorado Fuel COM
pany and the FL Paso and southeastern ceni'
pany. the terms of which were:
COAL COMPANY AGREEMENT.
1. The Colorado Fuel Company was to sup
ply the coal at a very low price at the
mines in Colorado, 81 Is per ton. This is
all they received for the coal and there was
nothing additional paid them in the way OF
rebate or otherwise.
2. The railroad company was to haul the
eeal at a very low rate to Ell Paso , and
was in reality a division of the rate not
usually published.
8. The Ell Paso and Southeastern people
were to receive and pay for the coal 81 05
per, ton at El Paso and Deming and it was
to be used by the railroad itself and the in
f. The tariff covering this agreement pub
!ished so as to show the freight rate to be
81 % per ton instead of the delivered price at
Ell Paso and Deming and did not separate the
freight rate from the cost of the coal at the
mines, as IT should have done.
Until the investigation of the case by the
Interstate Commerce Commission l did not
know personally how the matter was being
handled as far the publication of the tariff
case was to see that the tariff was secured
to the Atchison Railroad and after that de-
tails were left to subordinates Thousands OF
tariffs are published every year.
When this arrangement entered into the
Colorado Fuel Company owned, operated OF
controlled as general agents all the coal prop
the district in which the rate applied. or In
other words it was the only shipper of coal
from that district over the Atchison rails, and
there was no unjust discrimination against
any other producer. 1t was a good thing for
the coal district and for the State of Colo
rado as well as for other parties interested In
the contract
The following year, or in 1902, the injunc-
tions were issued. suppose it was not known
to you, certainly not to the public generally,
that 1t was the testimony which gave before
the Interstate Commerce Commission In the
practices OF Western railroads so far as grain.
dressed beef and provisions arrangements were
concerned that made 1t possible to secure the
injunctions You can confirm this by asking
Chairman Knapp Of the Interstate commerce
Commission or Judge Day, who was at that
time the special counsel ror the commission
Without my evidence 1t Is quite unlikely that
the injunctions could have been obtained. l
was anxious to see all the Western roads pre-
vented from doing things knew were irregular
and calculated to do the railroads as well as
the public generally great injustice. l was
aware of the fact that the practices about
which testified were general and they either
had to be stopped in some way or they would
certainly have grown a great deal worse
ALWAYS FOR FAIR PLAY.
When the injunction was issued by the court
positive instructions were given by me ver-
bally to my subordinates to comply In every
respect with the terms. The instructions were
issued to everybody concerned m n writing ana
spondence. all Of which VIII confirm what
say
14o3 all of my instructions were reiterate9
and the most positive orders issued that under
no circumstances or conditions would any dl-
version from the law be permitted.
Notwithstanding all OF these precautions
the other ARRANGEMENT of billing the coal and
coke at delivered price and not separating
the freight rate from the price OF the COM
modify in the tariff was not corrected until
some time last November. 1t was evidently
an Irregular arrangement and consequently es.
capped attention. 1t might be considered that
it was sbsr ,ss % the road nor Mr.
Bidde. the freight traffic manager, nor my
self. was any more responsible for It than the
of any great railroad TO the train service
which may result in a bad wreck. All Of our
orders We're carefully considered ana carefully !,
cerned seem to have been overlooked.
At the time this contract was made had
Iron Company 1 sold my stock to that COM
pany and all its auxiliary companies when /
left its employ before entering ter It the service
been a stockholder of it or of any of its sub
sidiary companies since; Ny only interest in
to get all the business could for 1t and for the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Com
pany 1 have been railroad man for
nd a re officer
Of the time, nd / have done my utmost to
bring about decent railroad practices. l have
Of graft in that business. and do not be-
lieve there is another railroad officer in the
Western country who has tried to, be fairer
less in denouncing and trying to prevent the
evils and abuses of railroad management:
sistent in demanding that the railroads have
fair play Great injustice has been done the
rn or sne n tS roau rntT ,niS a
more clearly recognized the rights of the pub
lie or more definitely declared itself at all times
railway in the West has made more of an
effort to carefully observe the requirements
Of the law Very respectfully ,on
The correspondence concluded with the
reply from the President to Mr.
Morton, dated June IL:
My Dear Mr.. Morton: have received your
letter of the 9th inst. in reference to your
own action concerning the rebates which the
Interstate Commerce Commission has found
to have been granted by the Atchison Rail
road to the Colorado Fuel Company at the
time you were vice president OF the road
Not shred of testimony SO far as / know
has been presented from any source. whether
by the Interstate Commerce Commission or
the special counsel employed by the Depart
ment OF Justice which personally duplicates
you In granting these rebates In your letter
you show not only that you were ignorant OF
the existence Of such rebates but that you
had taken every possible step to see that
neither in this case nor In any other were
any rebates granted and you quoted docu-
ments which show that your subordinates were
and explicitly warned to obey the
law as regards these rebates as well as in,
other respects. This showing on your part
and in view of the fact that as I have said
not a shred of testimony has been produced
against you from any source whatever. I do
not think that you need pay any further
heed to the accusations that have been made
against you.
I do not myself need any corroboration of
any statement you make. but If did need
II it would be furnished by the bodness
and frankness with which over three years
ago and before any of the proceedings with
which we are now dealing took place you
testified to the entire truth in connection
with the taking of rebates from the roads.
and it is deeply discreditable that this testi-
mony shall be NOT ONLY now quoted against