The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-05

President \. j. CAssArr Of the Penn
~aylvania Railroad, in his formal state
ment Issued on Sunday relative 20 the
alleged abuses and determinations in
that corporation TO which testimony has
been given at the recent hearings Of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, said:
If there was any discrimination II could only
he In the distribution OF empty coal cars. and so
far as he knew no proof had been produced that
the ofhcers concerned had been guilty OF such
favontsm."
Mr.. CAssATT, with the technical skill
Of an experienced railroad manager,
points out at once the manner in which
employees of his company might repay
the generous dealers in coal who have
made many of them rich. His quick
ness to get at the core of the situation
ia apparent. Yet Mr.. CAssATT is not
the first man to see how a gift receiving
employee of the Pennsylvania might
show in a most material way his graft
tude toward his b~enefactor. On May 10
JOHN NJ. JAMESON, president of the
Jamison Coal and Coke Company of
G~reensburg, Pa, told the Interstate
Commerce Commission that in 1902,
when he started his enterprise, he sent
q check for IS, 900 to ROBERT E. PITCAIRN,
assistant to President CAssATT, to secure
his influence in getting transportation
favors for the coal company. Mr..
JAMESON testified as to his reason for
making this present and its effect thus:
Commissioner PRourY-Naturally. you got all
the cars you wanted after that
JAMIsoS-Ycs. sir; we gave away our stock
to increase our facilities for doing business"
The keystone Coal and Coke Com
pany, according to the testimony before
the commission, is a combination of a
number of corporations which were
most generous in their distribution Of
stock among those who control cars.
1t has not been niggardly in its policy
when dealing with Pennsylvania officers
and employees. S~ingularly enough, the
keystone Company has had cars when
competitors IMMERSED in the art of free
stock distribution went without. 1t also
got sidings when other corporations anx-
ious for them did not. This company
also benefited from the creation of a new
railroad district covering its mines, with
a low rate that enabled it to undersell
its rivals. ROBERT KELso CAssATT, son
of President CAssATT, is the chief figure
in the Keystone company.
The White Coal Company is
one in which the Cassatt family interest
is said to be large. 1t is the corporation
that refused to disclose its stockholders
names to the commission. c.. A. BUCH,
manager of the Columbia Coal Com
pany, testified that in 1905 his company
was obliged to sell some of its holdings
in order to buy cars, the railroad refus-
ing to allot a reasonable number to it,
while at the same time the Berwind-
White Company always had 500 emp
ties" and nearly every night 200 cars
were kept in reserve for it,.
Mr.. CAssATT says that no proof Of dis
elimination in favor of the companies
that distributed stock among his sub
ordinates or had in their management
men related to high Pennsylvania off,
Gals has been disclosed. The Inter-
state Commerce Commissions record
of its hearings has not been published
yet, and the country does not know what
proof" was brought out. The nation
does know that most damaging state
ments and charges were made, that
these were not explained away and that
many Pennsylvania employees and off,
cials admitted accepting valuable pres
ents from men whose business success
they were in a position to aid or retard.
The companies whose gifts were ac-
cepted were successful in every case;
many of the companies that made no
gifts were unsuccessful.
If there is no proof there is at least
ground for suspicion.