The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-01-03

population just outside Of Chicago. Its
only claim OF note is that 1t has been for
many na y,y Years the point OF origin for this
the only motive for such a circuitous ar.
rangement. Such was the obscure origin
ana character or this "jnsttfying" rate.
Further Concealment.
Furtherfore. about four years later. in
May. 1883. the Chicago and Eastern Illinois
railroad still further concealed the exist
encs OF this already obscure BOLTON rate
flS-cent tar1H, already mention. to which
the Alton was also q party. This 18-cent
tarin was the only oil rate or the Chicago
and eastern Illinois which could ever come
70 the notice OF the ordinary shipper. Thus
during this period the only justification
TOR the Standards claimrthat there was a
eastern Illinois. lies in this inc%onspicuous
Monograph sheet of 1895 which read from
bolton, which was concealed further by a
never distributed or made public. And, as
a matter OF fact, 10 other shipper knew
Of any 6 OF ca cent rate. Although such
ant in mitigation of the fine. the Standard
1n n ,hs NO attempt to prove such knowledge
IN me trlal o. the Chicago case.
ment was unfortunate enough to make the
claim that thousands of tons Of freight
ave neen shipped from these points dur
circumstances as the Standard ship
| menta"
n Remarkable Admission.
,,; Inc grand jury. on instructions from
Monett before 1t. and reported to Judge
Lands on October 4. in part. as follows:
II Ont. MoffetD was also unable to
the shipment OF a single pound of freight
escept py the standard OIL company from
me points In question at q rate less than
Ihls remarkable admission by Mr.. Moi
fett shows the general value of his de-
tense. He further admitted hat his
attorney. NORTH Rosenthal.
THESE facts of themselves refute COM
pletely the attempted Justification Of the
Eastern Illinois 6k.-eent rate, and show
that one was as secret as the other.
Falsely Billed.
But still more significant was the con-
the manner Of handling the scent rate
over both railroads. The Standard claims
.nat there was nothing secret about the
over the Alton under this rate was false
f {neir face a rate Of Is cents. with the
the waybill at that rate, although the
actual freight charge collected from the
Standard was at the rate Of 6 cents. In
Standard over the Chicago and Eastern
Illinois road every waybill for such ship
ments was disguised by another scheme.
w w Ny oSlIe olitlu IIlc -lIltl > IO
rate at all was entered on the waybill
until the said waybin reached the general
Offices of the railroad. The first scheme
ton of account to make them balance.
The second scheme of blind billing en-
tirely concealed the rate. Both schemes
local freight agent and others outside the
general Office in ignorance OF what the
actual rate was. and thereby lessening
discrimination in favor of the Standard.
Such falsifyine and blind billing is the
%clearest proof that there was something
In the vast multitude of waybills
by the agents of the bureau of
corporations in the offices of the railroads
false 6ill in S" or abli IND 1 biiling Use wa as
found in regard to Any oil shipments ex-
f fepm n sannes sa E,s W' q he n,, s-c smt rate
two other illegal rates on oil made by this
same Chicago and Eastern Illinois rail-
road.
To Prevent knowledge.
Furthermore. the usual method of COL
lecting freight charges is through the
for oil shipped from Whiting to East ST.
cago and Eastern Illinois, were made di-
rectly through the general offices. This
also was. Of course, to prevent any gen
Why were these unique and elaborate
measures of concealment taken IL the
rates were lawful.
The grand jury, in the report above
mentioned, refer to this point also, as
follows:
THE representatives of the Chicago and
Alton Railway company stated to the
grand jury that the case of the Standard
Oil company was the only one where the
tariff naming the rate collected had not
been regularly sent to the local freight
agent, and that SO far as they knew, this
was the only case in which shipments had
be nee the made ,aMfa at , = rnte less han that named
mitted that this 6-cent rate was secret.
One phrased 1t as "semi-private."
An Exceptional Method.
freight-traffic department, certainly one
of the best in the country. supposed this
ease T shst 'e tke A aea tR Kept y tie nad ra ne k seerst.
The Standard knew tina the method of
collecting the freight charges. both by the
M5ien w and a the sh,eas sxe snd ma1teT That 1l' i
was employed only in connection with this
East aim,5a st. r, louis ava rate ,hs ana GS, with s%9 other
ern Illinois. On the very face Of several
of the semi-monthly bills rendered by the
Alton TO the Standard ut the Illegal Scent
the oil was being waybiIled at IS cents, so
that the Standard had notice thereby of
the false billing" even II It had not been
secrecy which the railroads admit that
maintained regarding this rate was
to conceal 1t from competitors of the STAN
dard, ard 1t is inc~onceivable that the
Standard should not have known of the
practices which Injured solely to its adj
vantage.
Bearing also on such professed ig-
norance. a series of interesting memoran-
da were found by the agents Of the bu-
reau of corporations in the files of this
very Chicago n Eastern Illinois Rail-
road. which memoranda have been quoted
in full on page 20 to 273 Of the report of
the commissioner of corporations on the
transportation of petroleum. in May. 1906.
These prove that the Standard knew every
detail of the %suanc of nothe contem-
%poraneous illegal rate from Whiting via
Grand Junction owe this road: that the
1t, dictated 1t to the railroads. and ar
ranged for Its secrecy by frequent con-
SITUATIONS with the highest officers of the
road.
Impossible to impute.
Taking a stil broader view of the situa-
ton at the time these Whiting-St. Louis
rates were discovered. 1t Is absolutely i'm
possible to impute to the freight traffic de-
partment of the STANDARD either ignorance
or Innocence as TO any essential facts in
relation to the railway rates on oil. There
was set forth in the said eport on trans