Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-17

Haven and Hartford systam states that
the Standard Oh Company 'wanted the
sMersrs. Ro9ers ana Archbold are
quoted - seying. reEareing the Whiting
ST Louis rate:
q as.ss as u. 1. having naro our s 81 e
points IN Las anfer1or OF Illinois we used
tho STATS rates.
GAS shown In chapter OF the report. all
shipmsnts from Waiting Into llllrol s,, are
into the Chicago switching district, by a.
application sheet, does net make Whiting
an Illinois shipping point As shown IN
isssd fhs iecatssn Of Wasating Tor he puT-t
pose NJ caAiming tie right to use eiff1er
1n0ie1a state rates or Illinois state r1fset
as best suited Its convenience. The ralI-
road waybflle show that the Standard On
Company directed that hundreds Of these
cars billed from Whiting to East st. Louis
should 90 on to st. Louis without unload
ing. and the railroad records show traf
ing to many parts Of the southwest. which
fact the Standard on Company necessarily
knew
Rates Furnished by Archbold.
'Furthermore. It u an interesting fact
that IN 1901. in response to a request from
tho Industrial commission for information
as to the freight rates to certain points IN
the south. MT. Archbold wrote ths commits
sion and gave the rate from Whiting to
Birmingham. Ala. as ~ cents; from Whit.
ing to Memphis. Tenn, al 10 cents; from
Whiting to Little Rock. Ark. AZ 3o9h cents;
whereas at that time and until the Secrst
rates were discovered by the bureau OF
corporations. the Standard Oil Company
was shipping traffic on the following rates:
From Whiting to Birmingham, by way Of
Grand Junction. 293s cents; from Whiting
to Memphis, by the same route. Ii cents;
from Whiting to Little Rock. by way Of
East at. Louis, % cents. These facts are
all set forth In full In chapters 9 and
of the report
A Comprehensive Report.
The report Of Mr.. GARFIELD II q compre-
hensive one. and covers 500 printed pages.
In support of the various allegations made
by him he prints bodily in the report copies
OF way bills. letters Of railroad officials
bearing on transactions with agents Of the
Standard OH and Independent oil companies,
special oil tariffs of various railroads, bills
OF lading, blind bills OF lading and secret
understandings and agreements OF the sew
eraI railroad companies named with the
Standard Oil Company. In many instances,
according to the copies Of the way bills, the
rate paid by the Standard Oil Company was
only 50 Id per cent OF the amount stated
in the bill.
The testimony Of employees OF railroads 10
given In confirmation OF the bureaus
tildt la6re was q COQceaMn0ut OF
rates granted to the Standard OIL Com
pany. Although 1t is alleged, in the case
of the Chicago and Alton railroad, the gen.
eral tariff officers admitted the existence
OF secret rate. and that the purpose was
to conceal 1t from other railroads and not
from the shippers, one OF the leading
freight clerks OF the Alton is quoted as
testifying that the secret rate was In
tended only for the benefit Of the Standard
OIL Company. and that had any other ship
per inquired for rates he would not have
been given the low rate accorded to the
Standard Oh Company.
Alleged Trickery With Rates.
The report further shows the establish
ment Of through rates from small. incon-
seqnential and in many instances obscure
points. and the fling OF the tariffs with the
interstate commerce commission az EVIL
dence that the rates were not secret
But Mr.. Garfield maintains that by this
arrangement the rates were effectively Sc
cret. because any shipper other than the
Standard OIL Company in applying for rates
would be given the published rates from
other places In the vicinity Of the small
points referred to which In every case were
considerably higher. He declares that the
railroads recognized the irregularity OF the
arrangement and that they designed to
hide the rate from all shippers except the
tSa~ a..