Rocky Ford enterprise., 1908-01-31

Chicago. They terminate at Doiion. from which
point entrance IL made over the BELT Line.
Whiting. where the oil freight originates. Ia not
on the lines Of tho Chicago & Eastern Illinois.
which receives Its whiting freight from tho
Belt Limo at Doiton. Tho former practice. now
discontinued. In fiing tariffs was to mako
them read from point on the line Of the nj.
Ing road. and II was also general to state on
the xamc sheet, that the tarin would apply 10
other points. e. g.. whiting. The Chicago &
Eastern Illinois followed this practice In Ming
it's rate from Dolton. and making a notc on
tho sheet that Ia applied 10 Whiting. This was
in 1895 when this method Of Hiing tariffs was
in common use.
Now let us see in what way tho intending
shipper Of oil could be misicd and deceived by
the fact that the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
had not filed a rate reading from Whiting.
Commissioner Smith con;s.ds that conceal.
mcnt is the only motive for such circutous
arrangement" 1. G.. that this method of filing
the rate was intended to mislead Intending
competitors Of the Standard Oil Company.
Suppose such a prospective oil rcfncr had mp.
piled to tho Interstate Commerce Commission
for the rate from Chicago to East st. Louis
over the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, he would
have been informed that the only rate filed
with the commission by this company was 6k
cents from Dolton. and ne would have been
this already. that this rate applied throughout
Chicago territory. So that whether he wished
to locate his plant at whiting. or anywhere
else about Chicago. under an arrangement Of
long standing. and which applies to all the In
dustrial towns In the ncighborhood OF Chica-
go. he could have his freight delivered over
the Belt Line to the Chicago & Eastern ILL.,
nois at Dolton and transported TO East st.
Louis at rate Of 6k cents. Where then IL
the conccalment which the Commissioner OF
Corporations makes much Of? Any rate
from Dolton on the Eastern Illinois or Chap.
pell on the Alton. or Harvey on the Illinois
Central. or Blue Island on the Rock Island,
applies throughout Chicago territory to ship
ments from any other point in the district.
SO far from the Eastern Illinois filing It's rate
from Dolton in order to deceive the shipper,
II is the Commissioner OF Corporations who
either betrays his gross ignorance Of transpor-
tation customs in Chicago territory or relies
on the public ignorance of these customs to
deceive the public too ap. to accept unques.
tioningly every statement made by Govern.
ment official as necessarily true. although. as
in the present instance. a 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
IS cents. the Commissioner of Corporations
discusses only with the remark that "the
'reasonableness' of this rate Is not in question
The question 10 whether this rate constituted
a 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 ofiicial said that other