The Topeka state journal., 1906-05-08
TO PROBE SOUTHWEST LINES
Commerce Commission viii Inquire
Into Coal and Oil Traffic.

Washington. May S.-The decision
of the interstate commerce commits
sion to summon the principal officers
of the coal and oil carrying roads Of
the southwest to appear before them
at the Chicago hearing scheduled for
this week is taken to mean specifically
that these roads have been detected
in granting rebates or determinations
in favor of certain companies Al
though officials of the administration
are inclined to be secretiye about the
preliminary work. il is known that the
commission. under its general author
itv has had special agents in the
southwestern field for some time dig
ging into the affairs of the railroads
and their relations to other corpora
tons The fact that the subpoenas
were issued on the advice OF one Of
these secret agents indicates that he IS
prepared to furnish some interesting
material on which the commissioners
can base their questions to these of1i-
cials.
It is known that the Standard Oil
company has dominated the oil field
of Texas and the Territories Inde-
pendent producers claim to have been
shut out, while the owners and dis
coverers of wells in the oil country
claim that they have been unable to
dispose of their product except al
prices which the monopoly choose to
give them. But these general claims
have not been sufficient for the com
mission to proceed on. The commits
sion has demanded that specific and
iudisputabIe evidence be given Of vio-
lation of the spirit and letter of the
Interstate commerce law. These the
special agents of the commission have
been. seeking in the southwestern field,
with the success already indicated.
Telegraphic requests have been re-
ceived here asking the commission If
it should be inconvenient for officials
of the southwestern roads who have
been summoned to appear at the Chi
cagO hearing whether they can ap-
pear later before the commission. An
sWer has been given that they viii be
summoned to appear in Washington
at a later date If it is found imprac-
ticable to come to Chicago. It is the
present intention of the commission to
close up that portion of the investiga-
ton which Is being conducted under
the authority of the Gillespie resolu-
ton referring to the ownership of coal
or oil companies. The conclusions of
the commission in this connection will
be embodied in q separate report and
sent to the president for transmission
to congress. The commission viii
then continue it's investigation into
the other relations between the car
riers and the big coal and oil ship
pers.
Already a number of changes have
been made in the existing contracts
between private companies and rail-
roads, and in some cases, notably in
that of the Baltimore & Ohio. there
/ has been open admission of control
of the coal companies by the railroads
and their sale. Even though the con-
Germs adjust themselves to a new and
changed condition the commission
/ proposes to continue its investigation
and report upon what It found was
/ the condition before the present agi-
tation drove so many Of the concerns
i to cover.
After the Chicago hearing there
will be two more hearings. one al
Cleveland and the other at Columbus
missioners to take up some other
cases quite outside the coal and oil
inquiry. yet there will be testimony
taken on that as we'll