Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-04
MESSAGE
econtinued from First Page,

tCo1tlnued from f1rN Page-J
as important as that obtained through the
secret rates.
II AIN unfair Discrimination be obtained
by one shipper through device which In
| itself Is seemingly not prohibited by law,
that fact shows that l: e law Is defective
and should be streng thened, 1t does not
show that the discrimination is proper or
Just.
The following are few of the most i'm
portant Determinations and the methods
by which they were obtained:
IL For about ten years the New Eng
land territory has been in control OF the
Standard OH Company by reason Of the
refusal of the New York, New Haven and
Hartford road and of the Boston ana
Maine road, on all but few divisions, 10
| prerate-i. e.. to join in through rates
| on oil shipped from west of the Hudson
| river, and by means of the adjustment OF
published rates.
| The Standard Is entitled te the advaD-
tage of it's water shipping points in reach
| ing New England. but that advantage vas
greatly and unfairly increased when The
railroads, by refusing to proTate, virtually
| kept independent refiners from using all
rail routes. The refusal to prorate 'ncreas-
| ed the rail rates from the west from 10
| 10 cents per hundred pounds. THESE raIi-
/ roads to prorate on all other commodities;
| their refusal to do so in the case CT OIL
amounted to imposing a substantial tax
| on all consumers in the region Trey cover.
| and is also O heavy discrimination against
| the smaller refiners.
(2) The Standard Oil Company has been
able to absolutely control for many years
the sale of oil in the northeastern part or
New York and in portion of Vermont by
means of secret rates from its refineries
at Olean and Rochester.
The PENNSYLVANIA railroad has given the
Standard a rate of 0 cents a barrel from
Olean, N. Y. to Rochester, while the inde-
pendent refineries situated in territory ad-
jacent to Olean were given a rate of 81
cents barrel By means of this Scent
to h;rat .r,;fl frnYf
Rochester to Norwood, N. Y, virtually
secret and very low rate from Norwood.
NJ Y, to Burlington, and secret local rates
therefrom, the Standard has been able to
supply central and northern Vermont with
oil at rate of from 10 to p cents per
hundred pounds, whereas no independent
refiner could reach that territory from
western Pennsylvania save by a rate vary
ing from 80 to 30 cents per hundred
pounds
The saving to the Standard during 1904
by the secret rate from Olean to Roches-
ter alone was $4,000. This and other less
important rates from Olean were unknown
to the independent refiners, and were not
published on the ground that they were
wholly states rates; yet in fact they We're ere
used for oil consigned to points beyond the
state boundary of New York. Further
more, all the shipments from Olean on
these secret rates were blind-billed-i.e.,
the rates were not shown on the waybills.
90 The Standard Oil Company has main
tanned absolute control of almost the whole
section of the country south of the ONO
river and east of the Mississippi by means
of secret rates and open determinations
in rates from Whiting. Ind.
Some Examples Given.
For example, the published tariff rate
from Whiting, Ind, the great western re-
finery of the Standard, to Birmingham.
Ala. was A cents per hundred pounds
For at least ten years the Standard, by
inc n
way of Grand Junction, Tenn, over the
lines of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois,
the Illinois Central and the Southern RAN
way, has shipped oil to Birmingham fog
2915 cents. The Toledo competitor no farf
Their distant had to pay 471a cents
A great area in the south has been reach
ed by this same secret combination at raqeS
averaging one-fourth less than the pubnsh-
ed rates The total saving to the stand
ard on these rates has been about SIUOOo
per year.
Again, the open rate from Whiting to
Evansville, Ind, has been for many years
II cents. The Standard has for about ten
years shipped oil to Evansville for local use
and for many points beyond In the south,
east at so-called state rates OF cents ana
8A cents. The freight paid by the stand
ard In this case has been about Slu,ooo per
wear less than the open rate.
The rates to this same territory from the
Independent refining points at Ioledo ana
Cleveland were from to - cents per nun
dred pounds, or from u to 11R cents gal
Ion higher than the rate received by the
Standard.
The records of the Chicago and Eastern
Illinois Railroad Company show plainly
that these Grand Junction and Evansville
rates were intended to be secret, were
given for the sole benefit of the Standard,
and were handled secret rates with the
knowledge of Standard officials.
"a The Standard on Company has for at
least ten years shipped oil from Whiting
to East st. Louis, H., at q rate OF d or o74
+on five roll dc
between those places while the only duly
published rate on all roads has been Is
cents during all that period. The saving
to the Standard amounted to about S240,oo0
in 1904.
For many years East St Louis has been
the gateway for Oil shipments by the Stand
ard into the southwest The rates from
the independent refining points of ONO
to East ST. Louis have been about II cents
higher than the rate from Whiting, whereas
on other commodities of similar grade these
points pay only about cents more than
Whiting.
Whiting is located in Indiana, about two
miles from the Illinois line. East st. Louis
Is in Illinois, Just across the river from
ST. Louis. The secret low rates were given
by the Chicago, Burlington and quincy,
Chicago and Alton and Chicago and East
ern Illinois railroads. They were not pub
lished, the ground that they were state
rates In dealing with these rates one or
the roads-tlle Chicago and Alton-faIsely
waybilled the freight at Is cents, and col
lected from the Standard at cents. The
Chicago and Eastern Illinois blind-billed
at the 6-cent rate, but Ii was none the less
secret.
(5) In the Kansas territory field there
some unfair open rates. The more i'm
portant discrimination has been in the ar
bitrary weights fixed by the railroads on
crude oil and fuel oil. This discrimination
prevents the Kansas producer from selling
his crude OIL especially low gravity, ad-
vantageousy in competition with the fuel
oil produced by the Standard and the small
local refiners.
Crude oil is charged on the basis of IA
pounds per gallon; its actual weight Is
about 70 mounds. Fuel oil produced by the
refneries is charged at ga pounds; 1t actu-
ally weighs about 10 pounds. barrel OF
crude oil shipped from Kansas to st. Louis
is charged nearly 10 cents more than a
barrel of fuel oil; this difference in freight
charges is equal to more than one-third OF
the price of low-grade Kansas crude.
This discrimination has existed for about
four years. II does not exist in any other
field. The legislation of Kansas in 1905
put end to 1t only so far as shipments
within the state are concerned.
90 In California direct rebates, as well
as determinations by the use of secret
rates. have been given on oil.
These rebates and Determinations bene-
It'd fhn ft,. e