Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-05-15
FLAYS THE OIL TRUST
PRESIDENT SAYS MoNOPOLY'S
OPPRESSION MUST END.
Competition-killinG Octopus De-
clared TO Have Gained Three
quarters of a Million a Year While
Independents Suffer.

President Roosevelt Friday transmitted I
to Congress the report of James r. Gar
field, Commissioner of Corporations, Civ |
ing the results of his investigation of the
subject of transportation and freight /
rates in connection with the oil industry /
In his message the President expresses
the view that the report is of great i'm
portance because of the effort being made |
TO confer upon the interstate commerce |
commission the power to meet the needs |
of the situation. The facts set forth in |
the report, he declares, are for the most |
part not disputed. That the Standard Oil |
Company has benefited enormously almost |
to the present moment from secret rates, |
many of which were unlawful, the Presi- /
dent says the report clearly shows, the |
benefit thereby secured amounting to at |
least three-quarterS of a million dollars |
: year.
That the broadside from the White |
House hit its mark was shown by a |
sweeping statement of denial given out BY |
the Standard officials in New York. in |
which the administration indictment is |
called unjust and unuuthful, the bust |
ness methods of the combine are defended |
and there are lightly yelled sneers at the |
Presidents activity in generously offer !
ing advice on a wide range of subjects /
from race suicide to affairs of state.
Message of the President.
Following is the Presidents message
The Senate and House of Representatives |
= transmit herewith a report by the Com |
missioner of the Bureau of CORPORATIONS in |
the Department of Commerce and Labor on |
the SUBJECT or transportation and freight |
rates rates IN connection with the oil industry.
Inc investigation, the results of part of
winch are summarized in this report, was
undertaken in accordance with House reso-
luton 400 passed Feb. 10, 1905, but for the
reasons given in the report il has been more
general and extensive than was called for
in the resolution itself.
L call your especial attention to the let
ter or transmittal accompanying and sum
marlzlng the report for the report is of
eapltat Importance in view of the effort
now being made to secure such enlarge
ment OF the powers of the interstate COM
merce commission as will confer upon the
commission power in some measure ade
quately to meet the clearly demonstrated
needs of the situation. The facts set forth
in this report are for the most part not
disputed. 1t is only the differences from
them that are disputed. and even in this
respect the dispute is practically limited to
the question as to whether the transac-
lions are or are not technically legal.
beuenUs by secret Rates.
The report shows that the Standard Oil
Company has benefited enormously up al
most to the present moment by secret
rates, many II these secret rates being
clearly unlawful. This benefit amounts 10
at least three-quarters of a million a year.
This three quarters of a million represents
the profit that the Standard Oil Company
obtains at the expense of the railroads
but of course the ultimate result IL that
1t obtains much larger profit at the ex-
penSe of the public
A very striking result of the investiga-
tion has been that shortly after the dis
coyery of these Sc ret rates by the commits
sioner of corporations the ior portion
of them were promptly corrected by the
railroads, so that most of them have now
been done away with. This immediate cor
rection, partial or complete. of the evil of
the secret rates Is of course on the one
hand an acknowledgment that they were
wrong, and yet were persevered in until
exposed, and on the other hand proof of
the efficiency of the work that has been
done b. the Bureau of Corporations.
Prosecution Is Promised.
The Department of Justice will take up
the question of instituting prosecutions in
at least certain OF the cases But 1t is most
desirable TO enact into law the bill intro
duced by Senator Knox to correct the In.
depreciation of the immunity provision rem
dered in Judge Humphreys decision. The
hands Of the government have been greatly
strengthened in securing effective rem
edy by the recent decision of the Supreme
Court in the case instituted by the gov
eminent against the tobacco trust, which
decision permits the government TO examine
the books and records of any corporation
engaged in interstate commerce and by the
recent conviction and punishment of the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad and
certain of its officers.
But in addition TO these secret rates the
Standard Oil profits immensely by open
rates which are so arranged as to give it
overwhelming advantage over its inde-
pendent competitors. The refusal of the
railroads in certain cases to prorate pro-
duces analogous effects Thus in New
England the refusal of certain railway sys-
tens to prorate has resulted in keeping
the Standard oil in absolute monopoistic
control of the field, enabling IL to charge
from three to four hundred thousand dol
lars q year more TO the consumers of oil
in New England than they would have had
to pay had the price paid been that OBJ
tanning in the competitive fields.
Government Control Needed.
This is a Characteristic example of the
numerous evils which are inevitable under
| system in which the big shipper and the
railroad are left free to crush out all indi-
yidual initiative and all power of indie
pendent action because Of the absence of
adequate and thoroughgoing governmental
control. Exactly similar conditions obtain
in a large part of the West and South
west. This particular instance exemplifes
the fact that the granting to the govern
ment of the power to substitute a proper
for an improper rate is in very many in
stances the only effective way in which to
prevent improper determinations in rates
II is not possible to put into figures the
exact amount by which the Standard prof
its through the gross favoritism shown 1t
by the railroads In connection with the
open rates. The profit, Of course, comes
not merely by the saving In the rate itself
as compared with its competitors, but by
the higher prices 1t is able to charge, and
(even without reference to these higher
prices) by the complete control of the mar
ket it secures, thereby getting the profit
on the whole consumption Here again the
only way by which the determinations can
be cured is by comforting upon the inter
state commerce commission the power TO
take quick and effective action in regu.at-
ing rates.
One feature of the report which is espe-
cially worthy of attention is the showing
made as to the way in which the law is
evaded by treating as State commerce what
is in reality merely a part of interstate
commerce.
Sugar Trust Accused.
1t is unfortunately not true that the
Standard Oil Company is the only great
corporation which in the immediate past
has benefited, and is at this moment bene
fitting, in wholly improper fashion by an
elaborate series of rate determinations
which permit it to profit both at the ex-
pense Of its rivals and of the general pub
| lie The Attorney General reports to ne
that the investigation now going on as to
the shipments by the sugar trust over the
trunk lines running out of New York City
| tends to show that the sugar trust rarely,
il ever, pays the lawful rate for transpor-
tation and is thus improperly, and prob
ably unlawfully, favored at the expense Of
its competitors and of the general public
The argument is sometimes advanced
against comforting upon some governmental
| body the power of supervision and control
over interstate commerce. that to do so
tends to weaken individual initiative. In
vestigations such as this conclusively dis
| prove apF. such allegation. On the con
| trary. the proper play for individual in
| itiative can only be secured by such goF-
Improved Smelling Furnace.
An improved smelling furnace recently
installed in a foundry in Canada uses coal
instead of coke, at about one-half the