The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-06-01
WASHINGTON.
Legislative and Gem
eral Topics from
the Capital.
Nav &c. 1906.


come to the surface that one of
the most serious sources of dis.
eliminating practiced by the
Standard Oil Company was by
means of published tariffs" with.
out rebates and in themselves
legal. With all the hue and cry
that has been raised over the mat
ter and with fresh and more dis
graceful revelations both as to the
oil and the coal roads coming out
every day, this is somewhat re-
markable oversight. For taking
rebates and for the use of secret
tariffs, the company can he pun
ished. And there will undOn0t.
edly be prosecutions instituted by
the Department of Justice in a
little while. But the discrimina-
ton that has been the worst of all,
has been perfectly legal and there
is no punishment for it.
The matter, however, has been
called TO the attention of Senator
DoliNe and he has announced
that he will see to it before the
bill is finally passed that there
shall be Incorporated in it some
pro iSion against the continuance
of such condition. Those inter
ested will recollect that the pub
lished accounts of the oil report
simply mentioned that there were
DETERMINATIONS by means ofpub-
lished tariffs" With that refer
ence the subject was dropped.
But these determinations had
been going on for twenty years
and they were one of the most
burtful features of railroad car
riage practiced against the indie
pendent retiner. The plan was
beautifully simple. The law al
lows the institution of a "claSS
rate" under which it would other
wise fall. A commodity rate is
usually lower than a class rate
and it takes no account of distance
within certain limits That is to
say, farmers living around some
big town would he allowed a
commodity rate" on certain pro
ducts. An eight cent rate might
carry a commodity 100 miles or it
might carry it 200 miles. But all
farmers living in the area over
which the rate worked would be
put on an equal footing when it
came to getting goods into the
/ central market. There might be
ten cent rate, a fifteen cent rate
or 20 cent rate as the distance
increased. But within the area
of these rates distance would he
abolished. 1t was a good thing
for many farmers and other pro-
ducerS and could be made a very
benetcient institution. But see
how the Standard managed TO
turn it to account.
They had the railroads declare
a commodity rate on oil and then
they had the districts in which
the rate operated so spportioned
that a commodity rate from any
point where there was "a Standard
Oil refinery would carry oil from
100 TO 200 miles further than that
same rate from an independent re
6nery. and in addition, they saw
to it that the rates from the
Standard rehnerles into the best
market regions were very much
lower than the commodity rate
that would reach from an indie
pendent refinery into the same
market. Tariffs were regularly
published and filed with the La
terstate Commerce Commission
but every tariff was "a discrimina
ton in itself.
The report of the Commissioner
of Corporations has incorporated
III it a very interesting set of com
parative tables showing how the
published rates were made to
favor the Standard. These dis
ordinations amounted to from 5
10 20 cents on every 100 pounds
of oil carried and with the enorm-
Gus business that the Standard
Oil Company did amounted to
millions of dollars annually in
every State. Just how this sort
of discrimination will be dealt
with in the rate bill as it finally
shapes itself is a question hut it
is a thing that will not be over
looked.
After taking a wbirl at the In
terror Department in the earlier
part of its investigation, the Keep
Commission is now ging back to
it, aud they will lind state of af
fairs in the Patent Office worthy
of serious consideration. This
office is one of the most important
as it is one of the most popular in
the service. Recently Congress
made an increase of 100 experts
in the examing force. Yet the
Patent Office is today, according
to its own confession, eight
months behind hand in many of
Ii : Divisions Thnt l. "a go. L.