The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-25
Mr.. EIWOOd Cox: a "Man
of Mark -"
Continued from Page one.)

family and l asked for and got a
special pass to that point.
but why do you think freight rates
should be left to the railroads on bust
ness between the States when you
yourself applied to the Corporation
Commission to regulate rates within
the States?"
'That is different matter. What
I wanted to know was whether the
rate they charged me was the one
that applied all over the State.
Exactly and what the merchants
at High Point want TO know is wheth-
err the rates they get from Maine or
Florida apply to Danville and Rich
mond isn't it?'
Now, see here" said Mr. Cox. Il
was speaking before that committee
for myself The factories in which
l am interested ship millions of dol
lars worth of stuff from High Point
every year. In twelve years the fac
tories there have increased from some
dozen or more to over sixty. Do you
think that would have happened II
they had not been treated fairly IN
the matter of rates? l make practl-
cally all the shuttle blocks Cor for
get whether it is not the bobbins that
Mr. Cox has the trust on) that are
made in the United States. Don't you
whether or not the shippers are treat
ed fairly. l tell you 1 have never got
ten any more out of the railroads
than any other man. What [ said,
I said for myself and for nobody
else
(This was not the way Mr.. Cox was
reported by the Associated Press
which represented him and Mr.. Cone
as speaking for North Carolina ship
pers and manufacturers, but he SAID
it and it goes).
$50 you are chiefly interested IN
the shuttle blocks?"
Yes, that is my particular per-
sona1 business"
And your rates on those are fair? p
Entirely"
And there we stopped and ] left
Mr.. Cox still reading the paper which
he had not before seen which drew
the apparently fatal contrast between
the Mr.. Cox of three years ago and
the Mr.. Cox Of today-which, to his
satisfaction Mr.. Cox had changed into
a song of consistency thou art a
jewel"
At High Point later I had various
estimates of Mr.. Cox. The one was
that he essayed to run politics, de-
feat and crush those who differed
with him. lose men their jobs who
voted in opposition to his wishes and
represent the Southern Railroad even
to the point of defeating the chances
of the town to get the Southbound
Railroad to make that competitive
point with the Southern.
All these things Mr.. Cox denied,
when l again saw him at his home
city.
it was charged in many quarters
that he had rebates or their equiva-
Tents and that he looked after his
friends and damned his enemies in
the matter Of freights.
These things, also, Mr.. Cox, denied
with force.
On the other hand, Mr.. Cox's friends
ins High Point, and they are many,
said this:
MIR. Cox is the biggest man in the
town, and the most progressive and
there are many sore-heads. AS to
freight rates and railroad advantages
he takes care of us all, whether for
or against nim. ="
But at Greensboro, 1 heard this
You can't hope to find out any
thing about rebates. What you would
call a rebate is a classification. That
is how the railroad takes care of
those who serve it.
What do you mean by classical
tion?"
take Elwood Cox was the reply.
He has the most perfect trust in
the South, the right to the control of
the shuttle block machine, before the
mill-supply trust was formed. He says
if you interfere with me I'll go in
competition with you. He is the only
manufacturer of that particular ar
ticIe Naturally tbs railroad would
or could, if it wanted to, put that ar
ticle in a class to itself with a cheap
rate. Would that be a rebate? Not
at ALL Would it be determinations
Nit -
ROBERT L. GRAY.