The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-05


The same hing and deliver oil q, the polnis
IN Naw England tina, ~ do by the sams
process
'NIr Garfield claims that tho refusal 70
prornie on the part NJ the New England
milroals has given the Standard OIL Com
pany practical control Of New England
territory and enabled II 10 maintain en-.
orbitant prices for kerosene. Yet, while IL is
admitted that the Now Haven road has re-
comfy begun "a prorate, this alleged con-
dillon ot control has not changed In any
way. nor have the prices Of kerosene been
affected The New England roads believe
they can make more money by a refusal to
prorate, and II in 40 doing they are violating
the propristics. clearly they and not the
STANDARD oil Company should be made the
object Of attack,
REBATES WERE FOR ovERcHARoEs.
The Commissioner is peculiarly unfort-
innate on the subject Of rebates. The pub
lie may we'll take his word that he made an
exhaustive examination. and vet. vithal.
he says that with one or two exceptions the
Investigations Of the bureau nave as yet
discovered no rebates. in the technical
sense. on interstate business These ex
oeptions we're on business Ion wholly within
the State Of California. over which Of course
neither Mr.. Garfield's bureau nor the Inter-
state Commerce Commission has any
jurisdiction. But in those cases the al
legged rebates we're fully explained TO Mr..
Garfield and involved no turpitude what
ever. II was a new business on the Pacific
coast, and before il had been systematized
there were ~overcharges. not to the Standard
Oil Company alone, but to every one engaged
in the enterprise, which o~vercharges were
subsequently, adjusted.
He says the Standard Oil Company has
habitually received from the railroads
and is now receiving secret rates and other
unjust and illegal determinations. II is
hardly fair or manly for him TO add the
sentence: or course there may be other
secret rates which the bureau has not dis
covered
INTERSTATE BOARD EVE ACTED.
'In dealing with the determinations
which are alleged to be violations Of the
Interstate Commerce law the plain answer
is that II Mr.. Garfield's statement In correct
il was the duty Of the Interstate Commerce
Commission to have taken action and
brought not alone the Standard Oil Com
pany but the railway companies involved
to book, and this they have never done.
Violations Of the Law in this respect do not
fall within the jurisdiction OF the Bureau
OF Corporations, and any statement on the
part Of Mr.. Garfield respecting this subject
Is gratuitous and valueless.
Again, he has no control whatever over
State rates, which by the law are put under
the jurisdiction Of the State authorities
and over which the Bureau OF Commerce
nor the Interstate Commerce Commission
have any control. But. all Of this aside,
there nave been no secret rates nor unlaw-
full discrimination in the interest OF the
Standard Oil Company, Take the case Of
rate from Whiting 70 East st. Louis upon
which he lays so much stress. While dis
GUESSING it at great length az an important
And, he qualities and explains II all by the
statement that Whiting vas a suburb Of
Chicago, within the switching district Of
that city, and that all freight rates from
Whiting had for many years been the came
as those from Chicago.
This practice had obtained for twenty
years and had applied to all kinds OF mer-
chandise, and to say that a rate that had
been Used thus freely and openly for that
period by every one was q secret rate Is
manifestly unfair, Moreover, our oil re-
fnery is the only one at Whiting or within a
hundred miles Of It, so that this so-called
discrimination clearly could not have worked
any harm to any competitor shipping
oil from Whiting or it's vicinity.
ADVANTAGES GAINED By PIPE LINES.
sMr. Garheld's claim that by the use Of
low intra-state rates the Standard OH Com
pany gained an unfair advantage Is equally
unfortunate. At great expense We oon-
structed pipe lines from the Pennsylvania
and Ohio oil fields and from the Kansas
and Indian Territory oil fields to Whiting.
If our competitors did not do the same
thing, shall it be said that any one lie unfair
who does not give them the advantage
of this enterprise Of oursf It is quite true
that having our oil at Whiting and desiring
to transport 1t to points In the interior OF