Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-17
REPLIES BY GARFIELD
Discusses Comments by Rail-
way and Oil Trust Officials.
DEFENDS RECENT REPORT
Contradicts Denials a. to Rebates
and Secret Rates.
TRANSMITTED TO CONGRESS
Letter Sent to the President In
viting Attention to Published
Statements.
DEFENDS RECENT REPORT
TRANSMITTED TO CONGRESS-

otALSulSAJ4s
President Roosevelt today transmitted to
Congress the complete report Of James r.
Garfield. commissioners OF corporations. Of
the Investigation which he made into the
operations Of the alleged oil trust. A full
synopsis Of the report, accompanied by q
message from the President dealing with
the facts developed by the inquiry. was
sent to Congress on Friday, the 4th In
slant.
The publication OF the message and the
synopsis OF the report attracted wide
spread attention. Comments on the mes
sage and the report were made by officials
of the Standard Oil Company and by off,
cials Of several systems OF railroad. In
submitting to the President the full report
OF his Inquiry. Commissioner Garfield wrote
a letter to him inviting attention to some
Of the published comments on the oil re-
port attributed to certain railway officials
and representatives of the Oil trust. That
letter was made public today, by direction
OF the President. although It was not sent
to Congress with Mr.. Garflelds report It
Is peculiarly interesting. because It con-
tains Commissioner Gardeld's answer, by
directing attention to certain parts OF his
NNNARASeO ASPoL-r " Inv NSAs~AAAS1s~S "AAASA.
have been made.
Reply to President futile.
An epitome Of Commissioner Garneld's let
ter is as follows:
Mr.. Tuttle. president Of the Boston and
Maine, Is reported to have said:
The Boston and Maine railroad, for
years, except In certain sparsely settled sec
lions of the country. has Joined with roads
on which OIL traffic originates In through
rates. and every shipper and receiver of
oil has been treated exactly alike
LAS shown in chapter three of the re-
port. the Boston and Maine states, in a
letter to the bureau. that the road does
not prorate on a portion of Its system. CIV
ing a list Of 1914 stations affected. Some of
the cities to which that road does not
prorate are Lowell, Lynn, Lawrence and
Haverhill. Mass: Portland. Me-, and Ports
mouth. N. H. These can not properly be
termed the sparsely settled sections
Vice President Thayer Answered.
Mr. Thayer, vice president OF the Penn
sylvania railroad, Is reported to have said,
regarding the special rate from Clean to
Rochester that the trafic to be transport
ed under such rate was crude oil and
unfinished products moving from one re-
hnery to another, belonging to the same
owners that the rate has not been with
drawn; that perhaps the rate was applied
on refined oil In a few instances, insignIfi-
cant as compared with the total traffic.
and that the wording OF the tariff was cor
never has been secret
The rate Of cents a barrel was issued
some years ago. was retssued and APPROX
cd py J. B. Thayer, IT., ON March To- 1902,
and applied to petroleum products This
tarifr did not conane the shipments to
crude oil or unfinished products More
than 1000 cars of illuminating oil, gaso-
line and other finished OIL products were
@ o. ~ To-,
Rochester or on the corresponding rate of
10 cents per barrel to Buffalo. A large
portion OF the states OF New York and
Vermont were supplied In this way. This
rate was unknown to Independent ship
pers, and there were printed at the top
of the rate order. in capital letters and
underscored. the words. Not to be
posted"
No Objection to Special Rates.
Mr.. Garfield says that In view of Mr..
Thayer's statement that blind billing is not
a secret service. the statement of Mr. Bver-
est, first vice president Of the Vacuum OIL
company. corporation subsidiary to the
Standard OIL Company. which operates re-
fineries at Olean and Rochester. n. Y, is
Interesting. Mr.. Everest Says that II 1.-THE
railroad company sees fit to grant a COM
pany special rates on the goods handled
over its line l know Of no reason why they
should not be accepted" although he rec
osnizes that rebates between states are now
Illegal.
'Mr. George Crosby, freight traffic man.
ager Of the Chicago. Burlington and Quincy
railroad. Is quoted as saying Of the East
st. Louis rate:
The rates which the commissioner COM
plains OF are intrastate rates, and do not
have to be filed with the interstate COM
merce commission They were and are to-
day open rates. and all shippers of oil are
conversant with them. This company has
never paid a rebate to the Standard Oh
Company. 80 far as I know
Hold-Up by Shipper.
las shown in chapter seven of the report
the records of the Chicago Burlington and
Quincy show that the 8-cent rate was ap-
piled on hundreds of cars which moved
from Whiting. Ind. to East St. Louis Ill.
and st. Louis. Mo-. as shown directly on
the waybills. The rate did not appear In
the regular tariffs OF the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy. but in what are known
as billing orders. After the rate had been
raised to 10 cents. but before 1t had been
nied with the Interstate commerce COM
mission, an independent shipper at Chi
cago telephoned the office Of the Buriine-
ton for the rate from Chicago to ST. Louis
and was quoted the regular 18-cent rate,
A similar quotation was given by the Alton
at the same time. No independent shipper
interviewed by the bureau Of Corporations
was ever aware of this rate. except one
VINO nAo formerly been IN the employ OF thu
Standard OIL Company and who used the
knowledge he obtained there to force the
railways to make him a correspondinziy
low rate. which was also secret, from
Kankakes. H., to st. Louis; and the re-
hnery Of that one shipper was soon there
after purchased, as he believed, by Stand
ard interests. and Immediately dismanfIed.
The Case Of the Illinois Central.
Mr.. ]. T. Harahan. second Vice presi-
dent of the Illinois Central, IL quoted a.
saying that all the Illinois Central oil
rates ars open and published tarfns when
they pertain to interstate trafic,' and that
that company has not paid rebates nor
made rebates discriminatory In favor Of
the standard OIL Company.
As shown in chapter " OF the renorf
the Illinois Central was party to the
Grand Junction rate. which was ,ased for
tho purpose OF obtaining through rate
on oil to the south and southeast ora
fourth less than the published rate. that
the Illinois Central was Q party 10 blind-
billing In connection with this rate: that
the blind bills werv returned to the central
ONCE OF the Illinois Central and the rafes
there entered. and that the officers OF The
Illinois Central were aware that the rate.
although nied with the Interstate commerca