The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-12-30

to East st. Louis over the Alton road
for the Standard oil company at the
rate of six cents per 100 pounds. just one
third OF the said published rate. This
same secret six-cent rate had been used
by the Standard oil company. and by no
one else. for many years prior 10 this
period. IL was not filed with the inter-
state commerce commission. and was alb
soutey secret and unknown to inde-
pendent oil refiners, or TO shippers gem
orally.
"The said statement of James A. Mof-
fett uses the following remarkable Lam
guage:
d" 1t must be bornc IN mind that there
Is no question OF rebate or discrimination
in this case
STATEMENT AN EVASION.
whether Il was rebate or not Is a
mere question of words. Apparently the
position of Mr.. Moffett Is that II he had
actually paid the Alton railroad rs cents
per 100 pounds and received back IL
cents, so as to make net rate OF six
cents this would have been rebate
Put that, because the lawful rate was rs
cents and his company only paid six. and
the balance (12 cents) never physically
passed back and forth between his COM
peny and the Alton railroad. although
the result was exactly the same Il was
not rebate This statement Is simply
an evasion
"The other proposition OF Mr.. Moffett
~ that there was no discrimination in
this case Apparently his position Is
that. because no one else Is known TO
have paid the published 1S-cent rate from
Whiting TO East st. Louis while his COM
pany was paying six cents. therefore
there was no discrimination. on the con-
trary. this very situation proves that not
| nr,Ix N ~.
this discrimination had worked out its
logical result, so that no one else could
ship at is cents I'm competition with the
Standards six-cent rate. Precisely this
and other secret determinations I'm ship
ments from Whiting. produced that com
plete state of monopoly I'm the vicinity Of
Chicago which the Standard now calmly
dosignates as absence OF discrimination
This six-cent Alton rate was rebate
IN essence, II not in form. and both in
essence and I'm form it was a discrlmina-
tion of the most severe and successful
type
ATTEMPT TO EXCUSE ACTS.
"The Standard OH company OF Indiana
has tried TO excuse It's use OF the scent
rate on two grounds. IL admits that the
Scent rate over the Alton Railroad was
never filed with the Interstate commerce
commission as the law required But the
standard tries 10 remedy this fatal de-
feet by referring 10 n certain 'applica-
tion sheet which was on file with the
commission. This sheet merely stated
that the rates from Chicago should apply
also from Whiting. enumerated the tariffs
referred 10 by IL. and named specifically
the tariff containing the 1s-cent oil rate;
but it made no mention OF the unified
Special Billing order containing the g.
cent rate. nor ala 10 give any Information
ms 90 any scent rate on oil. OF course.
this sort OF thing was absolutely no notice
20 anyone OF the unpublished 6-cont rate,
nor was Il intended TO be.
'But the chief ground upon which the
Standard defends Itself II tho so-callcd
Chicago and Eastern Illinois rate The
claim r. that while the shipments OF oil
were going on az cents over the Alton
railroad there existed az the same time
over the Chicago and Eastern Illinois
railroad a rate OF Ga cents from Whiting
90 East ST. Louis. The Standard claims
that this Gh-cent rate was n legal rate.
and that. therefore. inasmuch as the
standard could have shipped all It's oil
az this alleged legal rate over the Chi
cago and Eastern Illinois. II was justl-
fed in accepting n like rate over the Al
ton. and thus that even ~ these ship
ment. over the Alton were technically o.
legal there vas no moral wrong about
them.
80 far from this Chicago and Eastern
Illinois rate being a Justification for the
Alton shipments. IL was an additional
wrong IN itselL