Milford chronicle., 1906-05-25
WASHINGTON LETTER.

railroads that he had accused of bad faltl
rebating and other things in connection
with the transportation of oil. Mr.. Gal
field SAYS in a letter to the President o.
= the subject, that the criticisms OF tn
Z railroads and of the Standard oil official
as to his report are all of them ground
less and that they dodge the real issue
: He does not brand them all as "deliberat
and malicious liars', as did Senate
B Bailey in calling down certain correspon
dents in the Senate. But he produces
few facts that have almost the same effect
He says that the investigation disclosed
numerous and fragrant violations OF the
law and determinations by the railroads
in favor of the Standard Oil Company.
He SAYS that the Standard Oil Company,
despite the denial of its officials, has
been given absolutely unassailable and
monopolistic control of the oil market.
He points out some of the destinations
as follows: Secret and semi-secret rates,
discrimination in classification and rules
of shipment and the discrimination in
the treatment of private tank cars. He
saws that unfairness obviously is not
necessary when the Standard ships at the
higher and the independent at the lower
rate. A sample of this is in the shipment
of oil in bulk and in barrels. The tank
cars used by the Standard where they
do not use pipe lines, are returned to
them free of charge. The smaller pro-
ducer who has to ship his oil in barrels
because he does not own tank cars, is
charged the same freight on the barrels
as on the oil. which amounts to nearly a
25 per cent dissemination against him, and
he is forced to pay the same freight on
the return of his barrels if he is not able
to sell them at the end of the run, so that
the discrimination in freight charges real
ly amounts to 80 per cent on this count
alone. The reply of the Standard Off
cials is that the small producer should
own his own tank cars, as the Standard
does. But if he does, he very soon finds
that the railroads shave ways of landing
his cars in San Francisco when he wants
them in New York.
Mr. Garfield reiterates his assertion
that the discrimination in freight rates
means a saving to the standard Of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars annually.
He declares that to effectively conceal
the lower rates they have given to the
Standard, the railroads have used peculiar
methods of billing and accounting. He
says that shipments have been falsely
waybilled at the published rates and
freight charges collected at the lower
rates. Rates have been made for the ex
press purpose of letting the Standard into
certain markets and for keeping compet-
itors out. If Mr.. Garfield adds, the law
prohibits the obtaining of certain ad-
vantage by a specific device and the same
result is obtained in different way, then
the law is faulty and its justice is sham.
Altogether the Commissioner shows him
self no mean hand at toying with the
Muck Rake, but he shows that as Com
missioner Clements put it in the Inter-
state Commerce hearing, that ''if the
is muck, there is no good rea-
son why it should not be raked". In
fact Mr.. Garfield comes out as the Ida
rarbell of the Administration and it is
probable that the railroad and Standard
Dill officials will keep quite after this
blast for fear worst thing befall them.
Much more than unusal interest has
attached to the meeting here this week
If the National Association for the Study
md Prevention of tuberculosis. This
association resulted from the appoint
nent of the commission by the president
o inquire into the subject and the meet ,
ng this week brought together some OF
he greatest medical men from all over
he country interested in the prevention
# diseases. 1t was subject that knows
10 Elimination of color, creed or cline,
md the proceedings of the Association :
we're interesting in detail. The most inn
,ortant cnclusion reached, however, was
hat the check of consumption in this
ountry could be the result only of
Of education that would reach
very person in the land. It was stated
hat consumption is neither hereditary
Tor contagious, though it can be and is
conveyed from the patient to the rest OF
he community if he does not follow GER
ain lines and destroy the sputa that
arries the contagion broadcast The
Association decided to enlist the aid of
he school teachers throughout the land
nd get them to help teaching both schol-
rs and parents what tuberculosis really ,
s, how it may be conveyed aud how it
nay be conveyed and how it is to be
dvoided. The Association has large
mount of literature on the subject that is
eady to distribute on application.
GAS ToRHA
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