The Springfield herald., 1906-05-11
OIL TRUST NOW
BEING INVESTIGATED BY THE
GOVERNMENT.
RECEIvEDRAILR0AD REBATES
President Roosevelt Sends commis-
sioner GarfieId's Report to Con-
eress and Makes Pertinent Com

Washington. - President Roosevelt
has transmitted to Congress the report
of James r. Garfield, commissioner of
corporations, giving the results of his
portation and freight rates in connec-
tion with the oil industry.
In his message the President ex-
pressed the view that the report is OF
capital importance because of the eff
fort now being made to secure such en-
larSement of the powers of the Inter
state Commerce Commission as Will
confer upon the commission power in
some measure adequate to meet the
clearly demonstrated needs of the stu
alton.
The facts set forth in the report, he
declares, are for the most part not dis.
puted. That the Standard Oil Com
pany has benefited enormously up al
most to the present moment by secret
rates, many of which We're clearly un-
lawful, the President says the report
clearly shows, the benefit thereby Sc
cured amounting TO at least three-quar-
tcrs of n million dollars Il year. On this
subject he says:
This three-quarters of million rep
Company obtained at the expense of
the railroads; but. of course, the ulti-
| mate result is that 1t now obtains a
| much large profit at the expense of the
| public.
"A Very striking result of the inves-
| tisation has been that shortly after the
| discovery of these secret rates by the
commissioner of corporations, the ma
| jor portion of them were promptly cor
| rected by the railroads, so that most of
| them have now been done away with
This immediate correction. partially
or complete. of the evil of the secret
| rates, is, of course, on the one hand an
acknowledgment that they were wrong
and yet were preserved and persevered
| in until exposed; on the other hand,
the effect of the efficiency of the work
that has been done by the Bureau OF
Corporations"
The statement is added that the De-
partment of Justice will take up the
question of instituting prosecutions in
at least certain of the cases, and the
hope is expressed that Congress will
enact into law the bill of Senator Knox
TO correct the Interpretation of the i'm
munity provisions rendered in Judge
| Humphreys decision. Continuing, the
| President says:
| But, in addition to these secret
rates, the Standard Oil profits i'm
mensely by open rates, which are so ar
ranged as to give an overwhelming ad-
vantage over its Independent competi-
tors. This is characteristic example
of the numerous evils which are in
| evitable under a system in which the
big shipper and the railroads are left
free TO crush out all individual initi
ative and all power of independent ac
tion because of the absence of ade.
quate and thoroushsoing govern
mental control. Exactly similar condi
tions obtain in a large part of the
| West and Southwest"
| II is unfortunStel not true, he Says
that the Standard Oil Company is the
only corporation which has benefited
| and is benefitinS in wholly improper
| fashion by an elaborate series of rate
| determinations.
The sugar trust, he adds. according
| to the results of the investigation now
in progress, rarely, if ever, pays the
| lawful rate for transportation. He de
clares that in the effort to prevent the
railroads from uniting for improper
| purposes. I'VE have very unwisely pro
hibited them from uniting for proper
| purposes; that is. for purposes of pro
| tecting themselves and the genera
| public against the power of the great
| corporations