New-York tribune., 1908-08-23

containing this e-cent commodity rate had not
been filed with the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. Had the Court found as fact tnat
the sheet had been so fled or. submitting that
question to the jury, had the jury found that
that sheet had been so filed, the scent rate
given to Bogardus admittedly would nave Deeh
the lawful published rate.
The court relates that Bogardus was offered
as witness to prove that tariff deserlnIng 4.
rate of 6A cents from Whiting to East St Louis
was issued by the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
Railroad Company. a competing line. October D.
1895. and filed with the Interstate commerce
Commission two days later; that such tarln
sheet was among the tariff files in possession
of the plaintiff in error and that the latter DUR
ing the period named shipped Hereunder large
number of cars of petroleum and products at
said rate; and that such rate was equivalent 10
the shipper of the rate of cents over the Al
ton owing to quarter OF a cent terminal
charges all of which evidence was excluded, as
was also the offer OF the tariff sheet itself, pro-
duced from the files Of the Interstate commerce
Commission and an amendment thereto hled III
April, 1903.
THE SIX-CENT SCHEDULES.
The whole contention seems TO have arisen
from the fact that the commodity sheet" and
the application sheet" which established the
rate as cents. were not filed with the In
terstate Commerce Commission at Washington.
Had they been so filed there would have arisen
no question that 6 cents was the lawful rate
upon the Alton and the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy, as for eight years previous 1t had been
over the Chicago & Eastern Illinois road
Why these schedules were filed by the latter
road and not filed by the two competing ROADS
the Alton and the Chicago, burlington q
Quincy, is not explained by anything IN the
decision, but 1t is always perHlISsIpIe 4of q
Yankee to guess
The city of Chicago is surrounded by a great
number of large manufacturing Industries 10
pick up the enormous products ana denver tieHi
TO the various roads diyerging from Chicago
there is a road which encirclest Chicago ana
does this for a small charge. Now the Chi-
TIJ4- +HNHTer ma N
ro4s road extends for a short distance over the
Indiana line, thus making the traffle interstate
business. For this reason it was monument
upon the road to file its commodity sheet with
the Interstate Commerce Commission, and II
did so. The Alton road and the Chlcago, Bur
lington Quincy, receiving the oil shipped
over their roads from the Belt Railroad In Illl-
nos and delivering il in East ST. Louis IN Hi
nos probably did not consider the business as
interstate and therefore did not think 1t neces-
sary TO file the commodity and appllcauon
sheets at Washington. Had this been done the
unquestioned rate upon the three competing
roads would have been the same, ana inns ire
rnendous conflict which threatens serious conse-
quences TO all the property interests OF this
country, would never have arisen.
Nothing appears upon the record TO indicate
that the government made any claim that any
shipper had ever paid more than o cents, but
only that IS cents was the published rale.
Upon what fimsy foundation this contention
rests has been already shown by an extract
from the decision of Judge Grosscup
THE LOGIC OF THE FACTS.
To the business mind it is inconceivable that
for eight years the Chicago & Alton and the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy roads could have
allowed it to be thought by any possible shipper
that their rate was IS cents while the Chicago
& Eastern Illinois, competing line, had pub
lie rate of cents. Where would have been the
profit upon such stupidity? Even If willing to
cut the rate from the alleged published rate OF
Is cents down to cents while competing line
he I'M d
that they would not have received a penny
worth of business in the whole eight years The
Western shippers have their eye teeth cut too
much for that
The whole idea is a perfect absurdity on its
face
1t is equally inconceivable that men of the
business acumen of the managers of the Stand
ard Oil Company could for one moment have
considered making shipments over the Chicago,
burlington & Quincy and Alton roads at cents
with any idea that the rate might be illegal
and involve the possibility of bringing upon
them governmental interference, with danger
of heavy penalties, while they could easily
send all their tonnage over the Chicago & East
ern Illinois, where there was no question that
the rate of cents was the established and legal
rate To suggest such q course is to write
them down a lot of perfect fools. and they
not usually considered SUCH
In the better days of the Republic II was
our boast that every person accused of crime,
be he ever so rich or ever so poor, was sure of
a fair and impartial trial in open court and
that he was presumed TO be innocent until
proved to be guilty. In the autecracy under
which we are now living both these maXims
seem to have been reversed. Upon a certain
class of offences a very high authority has pro-
claimed the accused guilty without pretence of
trial, and if innocence is asserted and proved.
they are still if sufficiently wealthy, to be held
under great suspicion. AS TO whether the trial
before Judge Lands fair and impartial
one must be left TO each individual to form his
opinion
THE PRESIDENTS OFFENCE.
AS to the retrial which is said to have been
ordered the following pronunciamento from the
President has been given out by Secretary Loeb:
There is absolutely question of the guilt
of the defendants or of the exceptionally grave
character of the offence. The President would
regard it as gross miscarriage of justice if.
through any technicalities of any kind. the
defendant escaped the punishment which would
have unquestionally been meted out to any
weaker defendant who had been guilty of such
offence
To a majority of the men liable to be drawn
as 1urymen in the trial this case there is lit
tie doubt that this decided utterance of the
highest civil authority of the country will carry
far greater weight than all the evidence that
could possibly be put into the case. The pro-
priety of such an expression by the President
in its relation To a coming trial before d court
of the United States may also be left to the
Judgment of each individual To properly char
acterize IL might expose the writer TO the dan
ger of prosecution for lese majestic. The inti-
nation that it is probable in any United States
court that a defendant should escape the pun
ishment which would unquestionably have been
Ineted out to any weaker deIendant VINO mad
been guilty of such offence" ought To sink deep
into the public mind. Can ii be true that our
highest courts have sunk 10 any such level as
this?
II has recently been stated that two of the
Judges of the Appellate Court were appointed
by the President. II this is so does he not owe
ii TO the country TO apologize for his neglect OF
duty in selecting for such high office persons
against whom he soon harbor so
worthy a suspicion?
rFt.- aRFlVr