The Green Forest tribune., 1908-03-20

MT. Herbert Knox Smith, whose zeal in the cause of economic reform has been in no wise abated by the panic which he and his kind did so much to bring on is out with an answer to President Moffett of the Standard Oil Con- pany of Indiana. The publication of this an- swer, 1t Is officially given out, was delayed sev- eral weeks, flor business reasons" because it was not deemed advisable to further excite the public mind, which was profoundly dis turbed by the crisis. Now that the storm clouds have rolled by, however, the Commis- sioner rushes again into the fray.
 Our readers remember that the chief points in the defence of the Standard Oil Company, as presented by President Moffett, were CD that the date of six cents on oil from Whiting to East St. Louis has been issued to the Standard Oil Company as the lawful rate by employees of the Alton, CD that the 18-cent rate on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission was a class and not a commodity rate, never being intended to apply to oil, (3) that oil was shipped in large quantities between Whiting and East St. Louis over the Chicago & East ern Illinois at GA cents per hundred pounds, which has been filed with the Interstate Com merce Commission as the lawful rate, and (4) that the 1S-cent rate on oil was entirely out of proportion to lawful rates on other commodi- ties between these points of similar char acter, and of greater value, such, for example, as linseed oil, the lawful rate on which was eight cents. President Moffett also stated that thousands of tons of freight had been sent by other shippers between these points under substantially the same conditions as governed the shipments of the Standard Oil Company.
 This defence of the Standard Oil Company was widely quoted and has undoubtedly exert ed a powerful influence upon the public mind. Naturally the Administration, which has Staked the success of it's campaign against the trusts" upon the result of its attack upon this company, endeavors to offset this influ- ence, and hence the new deliverance of Com missioner Smith.
 We need hardly to point out that his rebut- tai argument is extremely weak, although as strong, no doubt, as the circumstances would warrant He answers the points made by Presi- dent Moffett substantially as follows: CD The Standard Oil Company had traffic department, and should have known that the six-cent rate had not been filed, (2) no answer, (3) the Chi cago & Eastern Illinois rate was secret rate because it read, not from Whiting, but from Dolton, which is described as "a village of about 1,500 population just outside of Chicago. Its only claim to note is that it has been for many years the point of origin for this and similar secret rates" The Commissioner ad- mits in describing this rate that there was note attached stating that the rate could also be used from Whiting.
 The press has quite generally hailed this statement of the Commissioner of Corpora tions as conclusive refutation of what is evi- dently recognized as the strongest rebuttal argument advanced by the Standard.
 In fact, it is as weak and inconclusive as the remainder of his argument. The lines of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois do not run into