New-York tribune., 1906-05-05

usually from two cents TO hve cents a gallon
pefitive fields reasonable proft upon refined oil
Is about half cent gallon Il is clear tnsa ea
fields. This monopostic control extends from the
well OF the producer 10 the doorstep OF the con-
The facts. regarding freight rates have beer. OBJ
upon railroad records With but single important
t0 P t rsroa6 &c eoISpe1est se e1 aeeess 10
records OF both state and interstate business Inc
its aated lines to give access to records 9S state
ociss 1f % me esn na Ok az t5 omnany 5fsted that
that company had not obtained in recent years ana
portation discrimination as against is competitors.
They invited the most careful investigation OF the
Upon the request Of its attorney, all the essential
the Company at tie clos close Of the Investigation, and
an exhaustive statement relating thereto was mace
the facts found but explanations Of particular sit
facts did not show any violation by the Standard
! Of the letter spirit OF the Interstate Commerce
| explanations leads 20 the following NconclusiOn:
SECRET RATES FOR RAILROADS.
The Standard on Company has habitually re-
J ceived from the railroads, and Is receiving.
secret rates and other unjust and illegal discrimi-
nations.
During 1904 the Standard saved about s750oOO
through the secret rates discovered by the bureau
and OF course there may be other secret rates
which the bureau has not discovered. This amount
represents the difference between the open rates
examinations clearly IN violation OF the Inter
state Commerce law, and others, whether techn-
caly Illegal or not, had the effect upon COM
PetttoTs On some state business secret rates were
applied by means Of rebates.
These determinations have been so long con-
conditions of trade and So large IN amount as to
make It certain that they were due to concerted
action by the Standard and the railroads
The Standard Oil Company Is receiving unjust
The published rates from the leading Standard
M MsnttPplRg t points are relatively much lower than
The advantage to the Standard over it's competitors
from such open dscriminations is enormous, prob
ably as important as that obtained through the
If unfair discrimination be obtained by one
shipper through a device which in itself Is SEEM
ingly not prohibited by law, that fact shows that
the law is defective and should be strengthened Il
does not show that the discrimination is proper or
The following are a few OF the most important
Determinations ana the methods by which they
Ffrst-For about ten years the New England ter
ritory has been in control of the Standard OIL Com
New Haven & Hartford road and of the Boston &
i. e. to Join in through rates-on oil shipped from
west OF the Hudson River and by means Of the adj
The Standard is entitled to the advantage OF its
water shipping points in reaching New England
but that advantage was greatly and unfairly in-
creased when the railroads by refusing TO prorate
ran routes The refusal to proTate increased the
rail rates from the West from to 10 cents q
other Commodities; their refusal 10 DO so in the
case OF Oil amounted to imposing substantial tax
also a heavy discrimination against the smaller re-
1ners.
second-The Standard Oil Company has been able
to absolutely control for many years the sale OF
portion Of Vermont by means Of secret rates from
The Pennsylvania Railroad has given the Stand
ard rate of cents barrel from Oean, N. Y. to
in territory adjacent to clean were given rate Of
$ cents 2 6aT & By means T of THIS ss1t r. rate IN
wood, y. Y. a virtually secret and very low rate
local therefrOm, the Standard has been able
to supply Central and Northern Vermont with oil |
at rate OF from IS 70 q cents hundred pounds,
whereas no independent refner could reach that
territory rom Wes'ern en- n FsnsyVa hd save & Ty
The saving to the Standard during 1904 by the Sc
OOO This and other less important rates rom Oleap
unknown to the independent refiners, and
wholly state rates; yet in fact they used for
Of New York 1F1irthermore ali the shipments
from Olean on these secret rates were bindbilled-
l. e., the rates were not shown on the waybills.
HOW CONTROL WAS MAINTAINED.
Third-The Standard OIL Company has main
taned absolute control of almost the whole section
Of the country south OF the Ohio River and east Of
the Mississippi by Of secret rates and open
determinations in rates from Whiting, IND.
For example. the published tariff rate from
Whiting, Ind, the great Western refinery OF the
Standard, to Birmingham, Ala. was "a cents a
hundred pounds For at least ten years the Stand
ard by means OF a secret combination Of rates by
the GS Chicago Ri f6 and astoTn inois the Illinois Cen
trail, and the Southern Railway has shipped OIL 70
tor, no further distant. had 20 pay 47ss cents.
A great area in the South has been reached by
one-fourth less than the published rates. The
total saving TO the Standard on these rates has
Again. the open rate from Whiting to Evansville.
Ind, has been for many years II cents. cents =; The
Evansville for local use and for many points be-
yond in the Southeast at sO-calle9 state rates Of
STANDARD in this case has been about 100000
year less than the open rate a. A.. -.
The rates to this same territory from the tnoe-
pendent refining points az Toledo and Cleveland
X to 115 cents gallon higher than the rate re-
ceived by the Standard
The records Of the Chicago eastern Ilnols
Junction ana Evansviiie rates were intended TO be
TeP9 a9d Wre banded as secret rates with
the knowledge Of Standard 0rlclals.
least ten years shipped OIL from Whiting to East St.
Louis, Ill, az rate OF or 6& cents on three OF
While e tSe oniy duly published rate on all roads has
been IS cents during all that period. The saving
to the Standard amounted to about $4,000 in
For many years East ST., Louis has been the
esg the sogth%est r1T The rates fo the independent
refining points OF Ohio 20 East ST. Louis have been
s S 9BaE hao as e 6 T FFa
these points pay only about cents more than
Whiting is located in Indiana, about two miles
from the Illinois line East St Louis is in Illinois
Gw QUINCY WS cRoago sSen Alton and C5oago
iished on the ground that they were state rates.
In dealing with these rates one OF the roads-the
1s cents and collected from the Standard at s
cents. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois hllnd-biled
at the Scent rate, but 1t was none the less secret
UNFAIR OPEN RATES
Fifth-In the Kansas territory field there are
some unfair open rates The more important dis
criu baeO n