The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-01-18
Commissioner Smith VS.. The Standard Oil Go.
From the Rat1s0ay N'oyla, January 3, 1908.

Chicago. They terminate at Doton from which
point entrance is made over the Belt Line.
Whiting, where the oil freight originates. is not
on the lines of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois,
which receives its Whiting freight from the Belt
Line at Dolton. The former practice, now dis
continued, in filing tariffs was to make them
read from point on the line OF the filing road,
and it was also general to state on the same
sheet, that the tariff would apply to other points,
c. g., Whiting. The Chicago and Eastern Illinois
followed this practice in filing its rate from
Dolton, and making note on the sheet that it
applied to Whiting This was in 1905 when this
method OF filing tariffs was in common use
Now let lis see in what way the intending
shipper of oil could be mislcd and deceived by
the fact that the Chicago and Eastern Illinois
had not filed rate reading from Whiting
Commissioner Smith contends that "conceament
is the only motive for such circuitous arrange
ment" l. c. that this method of filing the rate
was intended to mislead intending competitors
of the Standard Oil Company. Suppose such a
prospective oil rehncr had applied to the Inter
state Commerce Commission for the rate from
Chicago to East St. Louis the Chicago and
Eastern Illinois, he would have been Informed
that the only rate filed with the commission by
this company was Ga cents from Dolton, and
he would have been further informed If indeed
he did not know this already, that this rate ap-
Piled throughout Chicago territory. So that
whether he wished to locate his plant at Whit
ing or anywhere else about Chicago, under an
arrangement of long standing, and which applies
to all the industrial towns in the lneighborhood
of Chicago, he could have his freight delivered
over the Belt Line to the Chicsgo and Eastern
Illinois at Dolton and transported to East St.
Louis at rate of 6N cents Where then is
the concealment which the Commissioner Of Cor
porations makes so much OFF Any rate--from
Doton on the Eastern Illinois or Chappell on
the Alton. or Harvey on the Illinois Central, or
Blue Island on the Rock Island, applies through
out Chicago territory to shipments from Whit
ing, as TO shipments from any other point in
the district So far from the Eastern Illinois
filing its rate from Dolton in order to deceive
the shipper it is the Commissioner of Corpora
tons who either betrays his gross ignorance Of
transportation customs in Chicago territory or
relies on the public ignorance Of these customs
to deceive the public too apt to accept unques-
tioningly every statement made by a Govern
ment official as necessarily true, although, as in
the present instance, careful examination 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 I8 cents,
the Commissioner of Corporations discusses only
with the remark that "the reasonableness' Of
this rate is not in question. The question is
whether this rate constituted discrimination
as against other shippers Of OIL" and he also
makes much of the failure of President Moffett
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 ter