The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-18
Commissioner Smith vs. The Standard Oil Go.


 Mir. 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 Company of Indiana. The publication of this answer, 1t is officially given out, was delayed several weeks, flor busi- ness reasons" because 1t 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 Commissioner rushes again into the fray.
 Our readers remember that the chief points in the defense of the Standard oil Company, as presented by President Monett. were, (1) that the rate of cents on oil from Whiting to East St. Louis had been issued to the Standard oil Company as the lawful rate by em- ployes of the Alton, CD that the 1S- cent rate on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission was a class and not a commodity rate, never being in- tended to apply to oil (3) that oil was shipped in large quantities between Whiting and East St. Louis over the Chicago and Eastern Illinois at IA cents per hundred pounds, which has been filed with the Interstate Com
 
 and (4) that the 1s-cent rate on oil was entirely out of proportion to lawful rates on other comm odities between these points of a similar character. and of greater value, such, for example, as linseed oil, the lawful rate on which was cents. President Moffett also stated that thousands of tons of freight had been sent by other shippers be- tween these points under substantially the same conditions as governed the shipments of the Standard oil Com pany
 This defense of the Standard Oil Company was widely quoted and has undoubtedly exerted a powerful infiu- ence upon the public mind. Naturally the admtnistration, which hes staked the success of it's campaign against the trusts" upon the result of it's attack upon this company. endeavors to off set this influence and hence the new deliverance of Commissioner Smith.
 We need hardly to point out that his rebuttal argument is extremely weak alth ough as strong. no doubt, as the circumstances would warrant. He an swers the points made by President Moffett substantially as follows: CD The Standard Oil Company had traf- fic department and should have known t. at the cent rate had not been hled, (2) no answer, (3) the Chicago and. Eastern Illinois rate was a 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 It's 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 a note attached stating that the rate could also be used from Whiting.
 The press has quite generally hailed this statement of the Commissioner of Corporations as a conclusive refutation of what is evidently recognized as the strongest rebuttal argument advanced by the Standard
 In fact, 1t is as weak and inconeIu- sive as the remainder of his argument. The lines of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois do not run into Chicago. They