The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-21
From the Railway World, January }, 1908

from which point entrance is made over the Belt Line. Whiting. where the oil freight originates, is not the lines of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois which receives it's Whit ing freight from the Belt Line at Dolton. The former practice, discontinued, in filing tariffs was to make them read from point on the line of the filing road, and 1t was also general to state on the same sheet that the tariff would apply to other points. e. B. Whiting. The Chicago and Eastern Illinois followed this practice in filing it's rate from Dolton. and making a note on the sheet that 1t applied to Whiting. This was in 1895 when this method of fling tariffs was in common use
 Now let us see in what way the intending shipper of oil could be mised and deceived by the fact that the Chicago and Eastern Illinois had not. filed rate reading from Whiting. Commissioners Smith contends that "concealment Is the only motive for such cireuitous arrangement" l. e., that this meth cd of filing the rate was intended to misiead intending competitors of the Standard oil Company. Suppose such prospective oil srehner had applied to the Interstate Com merce Commission for the rate from Chicago to East St Louis over the Chicago and East ern Illinois he would have been informed that the only rate filed with the commission by this company was 6A cents from Dolton. and he would have been further informed. if indeed he did not know this already. that this rate applied throughout Chicago territory So that whether he wished to locate his plant at Whiting, or elsewhere about Chicago under arrangement of long standing. and which applies to all the industrial towns in the neighborhood of Chicago, he could have his freight delivered over the Belt Line to the Chicago and Eastern Illinois at Dolton and transported to East St. Louis at a rate of 6h cents. Where then is the concealment which the Commissioner of Corporations makes so much of? any rate--from Dolton on the Eastern Illinois Chappell on the Alton, or Harvey the Illinois Central. or Blue Island on the Rock Island. applies throughout Chicago territory to shipments from Whiting to shipments from any other point in the district. So far from the Eastern Illinois fling its rate from Doton in order deceive the shipper. 1t Is the Com missioner of Corporations who either betrays his gross ignorance of transportation GUS toms in Chicago territory relies the public ignorance of these customs to deceive the public too apt to accept unquestioningly every statement made by a Government off, cial as necessarily true although. as in the present instance, careful examlnatlon shows these statements to be false.
 The final point made by President Moffett that other commodities of a character similar to oil were carried at much lower rates than IS cents, the Commissioner of Corporations discusses only with the remark that "the reason bleness' of this rate is not in ques- ton. The question Is whether this rate con stituted a discrimination against other shippers of oil" and he also makes much of the failure of President Mofett to produce before the grand jury evidence of the alleged illegal acts of which the Standard oil official said that other large shippers in the territory had been guilty. Considering the fact that