The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-25

LIKEWISE AS TO THE
REGULATION RETAIL PRICES
Alleged Discrimination in
Freight Rates Also Being
Investigated.

ings of the Union Pacific Railroad com
pany, the Union Pacific Coal company
and the Rio Grande railroad in WyomJ
ing and Utah, the manner IN which
they were acquired, the regulation Of
retail prices and the alleged discrim+
ination in freight rates by the Inter
state Commerce commission opened ini
the Federal court, Salt Lake City, on;
Monday morning, and during the two
sessions some interesting facts were
brought forth. Charles 4. Prouty, thei
commissioner detailed to come West andl
investigate the coal and oil PROPOSE
tions, and who has Just concluded a
similar inquiry at Omaha, and goes
from here to Denver, conducted the
sessions. With him are J. T. Marchand,
attorney for the commission, and his
assistant, Elmer +. Thomas, and J. j
McAuliff, official stenographer.
Farley l.. Williams was present to
conserve the interests of the Oregon
Short Line; Z. NJ. Allison, Jr, repre-
senting the Denver Rio Graude. the,
Rio Grande Western and the Utah Fuell
company, and Judge Lacey of Chey-
enne was there in behalf of the Union
Pacific Coal company,
There were q number OF interested, !,
spectators, In addition TO the Witnesses
many of whom were railroad men 4
Nearly every coal dealer IN the city
was present, and all were anxious as toi
probable developments.
At the opening Of the investigation
both Mr.. Williams and Mr.. Allison inti-
mated that subpoenas had been issued !
to representatives of their clients, but
further they knew nothing of the ma
ture or scope of the investigation. !.
Mr.. Prouty in answer said he did not
know exactly how far-reaching the in.
ouiry would be, but intimated that it.
that it might lap over" so both.
counsel remained in attendance.
Agent O'Bren First Witness.
The first witness called was E. f.,
O 'Brien. local agent of the Diamond
vile Coal and Coke company: In an
swer to questions put by Mr.. Marchand.
Mr O 'Brien gave the names OF some OF
the officers Of the company, but pro-
fessed ignorance as to who were the
president and secretary He said that
about 10000 tons of coal were shipped
TO Salt Lake annually from Diamond
Vile. This fuel was handled by his
concern and the Citizens Coal and Coke
company in Salt Lake; and he denied
citation in this city.
On the question of rates he said his
company paid Sl.7S ton on carload
lots from Diamondville To Salt Lake,
and he was absolutely ignorant as to
rates TO other points. There had been
no reduction Of rates to his company
with the exception Of the one made
for storage coal this summer, and 25-
cent reduction on transportation made
in 1905.
Replying to Associate Counsel
Thomas, The witness said he did not
know who fixed the price in Salt Lake
He admitted that somebody did il. but,
although be was a dealer and secretary
Of the Citizens Coal company, he was
ignorant Of how il was done or who
did it. lie denied that he had any part
in the raising of the price of coal in
Salt Lake. Three ~ears ago he was
notified that the price would be raised;
from $4.75 to $5.25, and that was all
he knew about it,
Mr. Proutv then addressed himself
10 the witness. and In answer to him
he said he told of the various classes
of coal sold in Salt Lake. Rock Springs
was the only coal handled by the Union
Pacific in Salt Lake, aud he did not ap-
pear TO care to state which was the
best coal sold here.
The loss by disintegration on storage
coal was from 10 TO Is per cent. As
to the difficulty of getting cars Cor
the transportation of coal from his COM
pany S mine TO Salt Lake, he stated
that the shortage usually began about'
September ] and continued until Feb
ruary |, and If the supply of cars were
adequate more coal would have been
shipped.
Mr.. Bancroft Takes Stand.
general manager OF the Oregon Short
Line, was next called TO the stand.
In reply to question by Mr.. Marchard
as to whether or not he was ever con
nected with the Diamondville Coal and
Coke company, Mr. Bancroft said he.
had not. He also denied that he hadi
ever entered into an agreement with a
man named Remington TO take and hold
some of the company stock in trust.
The witness admitted that an ar
rangemcnt had been made relative TO
the transportation of coal from Dis-
moudvillc. but he was not prepared 20
state what this arrangement was, as the
matter was in the hands of the traffic
depGrtment.
Mr.. Bancroft stated he had forgotten
the details of an alleged freight ar
rauecment made with John Lynn, Sew
ard Field and other owners of the Dia
mondville mine TO transport coal To
Anaconda and the Butte smelters at
reduced rate. The facts about this al
legged agreement would be known by
S W. Eccles and T, M. Schumacl r,
former traffic managers, and John 4.
Reeves. present general freight agent.
In response to Mr.. Prouty. the wit
ness stated that tine mines located on
the Oregon Short Line wero those ut
Cumberland, Kemmerer and Diamond
vile, Wyo. He owned no stock in any
of these mines While the branch limo