The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-06
WILL ACCEPT TERMS cULLMANA RAP AT GARFIELD
PENNSYLVANIA vICE-PRESEDENT
 CRfTTCTsEs THE COMMISSIONER.
Says that Report as to Relations Be- tween Railroad and standard oil Company Is Outrageous
 Perverslon of Facts. &

PhiladelphiA, May 5.--Vice- President Thayer of the Pennsylvania Railroad today made the following statement conceerning the report of Commission CT Garfield in the Standard oil inquiry:
 "The report of Commissioner Garfield, so far as 1t refers to our company in its relations with the traffic of the Standard oil Company. is an inexcus- able and outrageous perversion of the facts
 Tt is true that there has been in ef- feet a special rate of g cents per bar rel on oil from Olean to Rochester and it had not been withdrawn. This rate was made originally in 1898 by the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroads, twelve years before the ac- quisition of that road by the Pennsyl- vania in order to retain the railroad traffic which would otherwise have gone by pipe line.
 'sThe traffic to be transported was crude oil and unfinished products nov ing from one refinery to another be- longing to the same owners. Atten- tion having been recently called to the wording of the tariff, it was corrected crude oil and unfinished products there of as intended. It Is not a secret and never has been secret.
 "The tAriff was not filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission be- cause 1t applies 10 trafflc wholly with in the State of New York and tarinfs upon such traffic are, never filed with the Commission, whose Jurisdiction cov- CTS only interstate traffic. It was not made as stated by the report for the purpose of combination with other roads to produce secret low through rates to New England.
 "As to the so-called saving of s115,- 900 in 1904. I presume this is based or the difference between the special rate and the regular Justification rate. This conveys the impression that a large sum of money was illegItimately given by the railroad which. in view of the facts above explained. Is man. ifestly not true.
 reference is made to blind bill ing as If 1t were some secret device, This also is untrue. The explanation of so-called blind billing Is very sim pie. Billing Is another name used by railroads for manifesting which is a record of the shipment made for use only of the railroad company in mak- ing proper movement of the traffic. The public never sees manifest, be- ing interested in the rate, the bill of lading and the freight bill.
 The term blind is used when man. ifests are made without details being shown. a practice not infrequent and not peculiar to the oil traffic. Its purpose Is to save clerical work This was fully exrlained to Commissioner Garfeld's representative.
 After an exhaustive examination by the department of commerce on our books and accounts being freely pro- duced. both on State and interstate traffic. it appears that the only case that Commissioner Garfield was able to present for criticism in all our re- lations with the Standard oil Company is this rate on oil between Clean and Rochester
 Tn the message from the President. transmitting the report of Commis- sioner Garfield. reference is made to the relations of the railroads to the so-calied sugar trust at New York, and information communicated to the President that the so-called sugar trust rarely, if ever, pays the lawfu. rate for transportation. Assthe Penn sylvania Railroad Company is known 10 participate largely in the carriage of this traffic, II would necessarily fol- low that such information applied to that company and in view of this, 1t Is eninently proper that answer thereto