The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-05-04
CAUGHT ||| | ! c / !.
Commissioner GARFIELD Reports
! That the Standard Oil Com
pany Has Been Receiving
Secret Rates Of Nearly
A MILLION DOLLARS
A YEAR ILLEGALLY
Roosevelt Sends the Report With q
Special Message to
Congress Today.


Washington. May A.. President
gress the report of James r. Garfield,
the results Of his investigation of the
connection with the oil industry. The
report is Of capital Importance because
such enlargement Of scope of the inter-
confer upon 1t the power to meet the
demonstrated needs Of the situation.
The facts in the report, he declares,
are for the most bart undisputed. That
the Standard Oil company has bene-
flied enormously up almost to the
present moment by secret rates, many
of which were clearly unlawful. the
president says the report clearly
shows the benefit thereby secured
amounting. TO at least three quarters of
million dollars a year. On this sub
ject he says:
This three quarters of a million
dollars represents the profit that the
Standard OH company obtains at the
expense of the railroads. but of.course
the ultimate result is that 1t obtains
much larger profit at the expense of
the public. "A very striking result of
the investigation has been. that shortly
after the discovery of these secret
rates by the commissioner of corpora
ticns. the major portion Of them were
promptly cOrrecte6 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
one band an acknowledgement that
they were wrong and yet persevered in
until exposed, and ON the other hand
the proof Shows the efficiency of. the
work that has been done BY the bureau
OF corporations" !,
It is unfortunately not true, he says,
that the Standard OIL company is the
only corporation which has benefited
and Is beneftting in a wholly improper
sfashioasby an elaborate series of rat,
sdiscriminations. The sugar@trust, he
adds. according to the investigation
now "a progress, rarely If ever pays a
lawful rate for transportation. He de-,
clares that in the effort to prevent rail-
roads from uniting for improper pur-
poses. I'VE have very unwisely prohib-
tied them from uniting for proper pur-
poses, thatis, for purposes of protect
ing themselves and the general public
as against the power of great corpor-,
atiops."
He favOrs as an element of competi-
ton the passage of some such law as
that which has already passed the
house, putting alcohol used in the arts
and manufactures upon the free list
and of keeping the fee to oil and coal
lands of Indian tribes or on the public
domain in government lands to be
leased only on such terms and for
such periods as will enable the gov
ernment to enjoy the control of them.
TX Commissioner Garfield in his report
,on the Standard Oil company says:
The general result of the investi-
cation has been to disclose the exist
ence of numerous and ; fragrant dis
ordinations by the railroads in be-
half Of the Standard Oil company and
its affiliated corporations. With COM
paratiyely few exceptions mainly of
other large concerns In California, the
Standard has been the sole beneficiary
of such Determinations In almost
every section Of the country that the
company has been found enjoy some
unfair advantages over. It's competi-
tors. and some of these DETERMINATIONS
affect enormous areas. ~
DISCRIMINATORY in the TRANSPORTS
tions of oil embrace a variety of
forms. the more Important of which
may be classed under the following
heads: s
Il. Secret and semi-secret rates.
& 2 Determinations In the open ar
rangement of rates.
%. Determinations in the classi-
ficatfon and rules OF shipments.
~ Determinations in the treat
ment of private tank cars.
Many gf the secret rates discov-
cred; by the bureau Of corporations
have applied only on shipments of oil
wholly within single states.
The Standard Oil company, which
controls refineries in twelve states, is
obviously In a position to make ex-
tensiye use OF such interstate rates, or
as they are ordinarily designated state
rates, for the purpose of more effec-
lively concealing the secret rate given.
to the Standard Oil company. The
railroads in several important cases
have used the peculiar methods of
billing and accounting. Fl
In some cases OIL has been blind
billed, that Is to say, way bills have
been made out showing the kind OF
product, the transports and its
weight, but without showing, as is the
usual custom, any freight rate or
amount Of the Z freight charges. In