The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-01-02

population Just outside of Chicago. It's
oniy claim OF note is that it has been for
s and years the point of origin for this
aiu similar secret rates. Coneealment is
tne only motive for such a circuitous ar
saalgement. Such was the obscure origin
ana character of this '%justifying'. rate.
Further Concealment.
urinsrfore about four years later. in
railroad still further concealed the exist
ence OF this already obscure Dolton rate
ny issuing and fling the same conspicuous
t L. tarlff, already mention. to which
.ne ALTON was also a party. This lS-cent
lafilI was the only oil rate on the Chicago
ana eastern Illinois which could ever come
To- 70 the notice of the ordinary shipper. Thus
during this period the only ilIstitication
for the Standards claim that there was n
iesal oE-cent rate over the Chicago and
Eastern Illinois. lies in this inconspicuous
1nliaeosrapn sheet of 1895 which read from
lotion, which was concealed further by a
conspicuous 1S-cent rate, and which was
never distributed or made public, And. as
a matter of fact, no other shipper knew
III any 2 or ~ cent rate. Although such
knoWledge would have been very import
AM IN mitigation of the fine. the Standard
inaue no attempt to prove such knowledge
IN Mn Inc trial Of the Chicago case.
MI. MoHett, however, in his said state
ment was unfortunate enough to make the
that thousands of tons of freight
nave been shipped from these points dur
iHs Ime iast hfteen years under the same
GiieutiiStanceS as the Standard ship
A Remarkable Admission.
Inc grand jury, on instructions from
5ndge Lands, thereupon summoned Mr..
MoTIett before 1t, and reported to Judge
Lands on October 4, in part, as follows:
he (Mr. Moffett) was also unable to
give 70 the grand jury information as to
me sn'pment OF a single pound Of freight
except by the Standard OIL mpan from
the points in question at a rate less than
the lawfully published and fled rate"
Inns remarkable admission by Mr.. Mof-
lett shows the general value of his de-
Tense. He further admitted that his
statement was largely prepared by his
attorney, Moritz Ro%senthal.
These facts of themselves refute COM
pisteiy the attempted justification of the
alton rate by means OF the Chicago and
Illinois 6A-cent 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 6-cent rate
over both railroads. The Standard claims
that there was nothing secret about the
rate. But every ,waybill for oil shipped
over the Alton under this rate was false
~ ollled'-that is, the waybills showed on
their tace a rate of Is cents, with the
freight charge in Zach case computed on
the Waybill at that rate, although the
actual freight charge collected from the
was at the rate of 6 cents. In
ene cohtemporaneous shipments of the
StdiiudIu over the chicago ana Eastern
Illinois road every waybill for such ship
nents was disguised by another scheme,
to-wit. by beng blind billed"-that is, no
rate at all was entered on the waybill
offices of the railroad. The first scheme
of false billing required the falsifica-
,lon OF accounts to make them balance.
Inc Inc, second scheme Sch ne Of blind billing" en-
had the intended result of keeping the
local freight agent and others outside the
general office in ignorance of what the
actual rate was, n thereby lessening
The chance for outsiders to learn of this
discrimination in favor of the Standard.
Such falsifyins and blind billing is the
Illegal. Is any other explanation posi-
In. the vast multitude of waybills
examined by the agents OF the bureau of
corporations in the offices of the railroads
False billing or blind billing was
found in regard to any oil shipments ex-
cept in connection with the G-cent rate
from Chicago to East St. Louis and with
two other illegal rates on oil made by this
same Chicago and Eastern Illinois rail-
road.
To Prevent Knowledge.
farthernore the usual method Of col
local freight agents. Al the collections
for oil shipped from Whiting to East ST.
Louis, both over the Alton and the Chi
cago and Eastern Illinois, were made d.
.Ns' 49, Isl t.tS sSSia'i Il iliNtS lIliS
also was, of course. TO prevent any gen
eral knowledge of the rate.
Why We're these unique and elaborate
measures of concealment taken if the
rates were lawful2
The grand Jury. in the report above
mentioned, refer to this point also, as
The representatives of the Chicago and
Alton Railway company stated 10 the
grand jury that the case of the Standard
OIL company was the only one where the
been regularly sent to the local freight
agent. and that SO far as they knew, this
was the only case in which shipments had
been made at a rate less than that named
in the awful tariff"
mitted that this 6-cent rate was secret.
One phrascd it as "semi-prfvate."
An Exceptional Method.
The Standard has also made the insenu-
Gus claim that its carefully organized
freight-traffic department. certainly one
of the best in the country, supposed this
rate was legal, and that it had no knowl-
The Standard knew that the method of
collecting the freight charges, both bysthe
Alton and the Chicago and Eastern illi-
nois, was altogether exceptional; that it
was employed only in connection with this
East ST. Louis rate and with two other
rates over the Chicago and East
Illinois. On the very face of several
of the semi-monthly bills rendered by the
Alton to the Standard at the illegal 6-cent
rate there appeared written evidence that
the oil was being waybilled at IS cents, so
the Standard had notice thereby of
the false billing even if it had not been
perfectly cognizant of it otherwise. More
over. the only possible motive for that
secrecy which the railroads admit that
they maintained regarding this rae was
to conceal il from competitors of the STAN
dard. and it is Uncomfortable that the
Standard should not have known of the
which Injured solely TO its ad-
Bearing also on such professed ig-
ORANGE, a series of interesting memornn-
We're found by the agents of the bu-
reau of corporations in the files of this
very Chicago and Eastern Illinois Rail
road. which memoranda have been quoted
in full on pages go to 273 of the report of
the commissioner of corporations on the
transportation OF petroleum, in May, 1866.
These prove that the Standard knew every
detail OF the issuance of another conteIn-
illegal rate from Whiting via
Grand Junction over this road: that the
traffic manager of the Standard initiated
il. dictated it to the railroads. and ar
ranged for its secrecy by frequent con-
situations with the highest officers of the
road.
impossible to lmpute.
Taking n still broader view of the situa-
ton at the time these Wh;ting-St. Louis
rates We're discovered. it 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 report on trans
Dortation of petroleum rates especially IA