The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-08
Effort to Show All Kansas Rail-
roads in Trust.
All Violate the Law, Mr.. MOnett
Thinks.
HE BEGINS HIS WORK.
That Is the Purpose of Using
the Reports.
Tremendous Mass of Evidence
to Be Taken.
[E BEGINS HIS WORK.

Frank s. Monett. former attorney
general of Ohio, who is the leading
attorney in the suits against the Stan
dard Oil company and the Santa Fe
railroad, has started out to show that
every railroad in Kansas is violating
the Kansas antitrust law
Mr.. Monett expects to do this par
TALLY from the sworn reports of the
roads themselves. as filed with state
board of railroad commissioners. With
this end in view he has introduced as
evidence in the suit against the Santa
Fe large portion of these reports.
The entire first day of taking deposit
tions in this case was taken up with
Mr. Monet going through the reports
and having the stenographer make a
note of the portions of the reports to
be taken as evidence. Cyrus Ander-
son, secretary of the railroad board
simply identified the reports, and Mr..
Monet then selected the portions he
wished to use. Each report consists
of a blank book of over eighty pages.
In some instances-in the cases of the
minor roads-the blanks are only par
TALLY filed. but in the cases of the
main lines there are frequently many
pages of closely written typewriter
matter inserted. Most of these MIR.
Monett included in the evidence he
asked for. He took twenty such re-
ports filed by Kansas railroads for
1904, and the reports of the Santa Fe
and its subsidiary line, the Leaven-
worth & Topeka, for 1902.
This makes a tremendous mass of
evidence, and it is not at all improbable
that much of it may have no bearing on
the case against the Santa Fe at all
This leads to the belief that Mr.. Monett
may be collecting evidence for some
other purpose than to proceed against
the Santa Fe alone.
1t looks as though Mr.. Monett is in
augurating a gigantic antitrust legal
war, probably backed by~W. r. Hearst.
Monett is in the employ of Hearst
Hearst as a New York congressman is
the author of a railroad rate bill which
ne has been anxious to push through
congress. Hearst as the publisher of
syndicate Of great newspapers has been
waging war on the railroad combines
and especially on the Santa Fe.
Mr. Monett has been down in the
Indian Territory during the past week
looking up the matter of the Foster
dard Oil company with it, He also vis-
tied Oklahoma day or two. In fact,
Mr.. Monett is a very busy man, out he
seems to know what he is after with
out a doubt
If Monett succeeds in establishing
the fact that the Santa Fe has been
paying rebates to the Standard Oil
company, or was in any way in league
with the Stan dard on the question of
freight rates, as is alleged in the suit
against the Santa F'e, he may incl
dentally dig up information which
Hearst will use against Paul Morton,
the present secretary of the navy. In
the inquiry made by the Interstate
commerce commission in the Colorado
Fuel and Iron case, the Hearst papers
have been laying the blame for the
F'e and the Colorado company on Mr..
Morton, who was second vice president
of the Santa F'e before he entered
President Roosevelt's cabinet. other
big papers. some of them leading Re
publican papers, have taken the matter
UP and have been building a fire under
Secretary Morton 1t looks as though
Mr.. Monet may now be prospecting
for additional evidence against Mr.
Morton-this time to connect him with
a freight arrangement with Standard
Oil
For this reason the present suit
against the Santa Fe may have a far
wider effect than appears on the sur
face While a suit simply to show it's
connection with Standard Oil is of
itself of trem mendOuS Importance Mr.
Morett's attempt to show that every
railroad in Kansas is violating the
antitrust law, and the possibility ofl
something in the way of national poll
ties behind the inquiry greatly
widens the possible effect of the ac
ton.
There is a clash between the attor
neys for the Santa Fe and F. S. Monett
over the introduction of the Santa Fe's
books and records as evidence in the
suit against the Santa Fe. IN the ex-
animation OF w. j.. Healy, auditor of
freight receipts for the Santa Fe Mr.
Monett made q demand for the produc-
ton Of certain tariff and CLASSIFICATION
sheets in Mr.. Healy's department. Mr..
Healy said it would take some time to
dig them up. Mr.. Dunlap, general at
torney for the Santa Fe, said he would
want a couDle of hours to determine
whether they would produce the docu-
ments asked for intimating that they
might not do So
Mr. Healy said it would take an ex-
press wagon and two or three men to
haul all the rats sheets asked for, and
IL might take long time to find them.
as those not in use are stored down at
the depot. He said they would weigh
a couple of tons or such a matter. Mr.. |
Monett finally instructed him to pro
dGce those now in use at 2.30 this af-
ternoon, and they would determine
about the others later.
The tariff sheets called for were
those of the transcontinental freight
bureau the transmissouri freight bu-
reau. the western trunk line association
and the southwest tariff committee. be-
ginning with 1902 up to the present |
date 1t is BIZ means Of these that Mr. |
Monett hopes to prove that the rail- I
roads are in a trust
Mr. HeaIy was asked about the sub
ject of claims for OverchargeS against
the road and their deduction from the
freight receipts He said no list is kept
of those to whom claims are 7laid 81.
what fer but that the sum OF the claim
vouchers is made up each month and
deducted from the earnings to show the
net earnings
Can YOU tell from the reports iu. vaur