The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-02-21
.IhvlsIIGiIIHg REBATE CHlRGEs|
Case OF the Chesapeake & Chic
RaiIr0ad Taken Up
Number Of Witnesses E<AaafTisd-
System OF False Billing Br6aAGht 80
Ldght-Southern Roads Defrn~sled =

/ Richmond, Va, February 19.-ln tho
investigation OF the charges Of viola
ting the Hepburn act by giving and
receiving rebates brought against the
| railways centering here and whica
commenced before United States Inter-
state Commerce Commissioner Lane
today, the case o the Chesapeake and
Ohio was first taken up. A number
| OK witnesses were examined whose
| testimony tended TO show the splitting
| OF rebates by reconsignment without
naming Richmond in the way bill.
the skipper thus getting advantage Of
the through rate and saving SIS per
car on grain.
One witness, chief clerk for n large
wholesale grain house, said that af-
ter an old scheme was broken three
years ago he suggested to Mr.. Gilbert
then assistant general freight agent
of the Chesapeake and Ohio a propo-
sitiOn for the saving of three cents a
hundred on what is called valley car
riage. 1T naturally followed that the
trade would go over the Chesapeake
and Ohio" he said, in reply to a Ques-
tion as TO what the Chesapeake and
Ohio got out of it. The difference be-
tween this and the Lynchburg scheme
was that the amount saved was less.
On blank expense bills OF the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Railway witness said
he would prepare a showing IF the
way bill number, car number, all sta
tiol numbers, amount and so on; all
fictitious. This uncertain system caus-
ed him trouble, as he found he had
been shipping loose grain on fat cars.
Witness testified that he and Gilbert
tad not found it necessary to discuss
this scheme in all it's details because
the plan and its advantages must be
apparent to shippers and railroad
men. Mr.. Gilbert gave HIM authority
to instruct the billing clerk to bill out
the cars, and he did it by fictitious
numbers that never appeared in the
company's files. The whole matter was
cclfined to the Chesa:-ake and Ohio
Office and no one outside :ouli gus
p.ect that the billing was no, genuin.
Witness said the firm paid the Chesa,
rtake and Ohio two or three tho lsand
dollars a month on it's business
answering the commissioner, the wit
fess admitted .Gat the southern roads
We're "defraulei' out of thrae cents
a hundred, amounting to about SIS
car, his firm shipping twenty-five or
thirty ca s a month.
The different southern roads were
beaten" out of this amount under
tha old Lvnchburg and valley scheme;
Witness could not say what the local
competitors of his firm did to met
competition. His firm made no profit
out of the rebates but simply were
tb1TC nn9h1nH N INT ho
market on even terms with outside
competition.
- A recess was taken at 2 o'clock.
Agents of the Chesapeake and Ohio
freight department testified before
Commissioner Lane this afternoon that
on orders from A. P. Gilbert, assist
ant general freight agent, they deliver
ed to the Seaboard Air Line and At
lantic Coast Line shipments of grain
which originated here, but which were
roads regarded them as through ship
ments from the valley of Virginia.
In this way the cars took part of the
through and not the local rate,
saving to the shipper of SIS car
Chief Clerk Chappell said he was or
dered to correct the false billings and
issue corrected ones. The witnesses
corroborated Gates in his statement
that he had selected numbers at
random in preparing the waybills for
alleged through shipments
After the arrival here of l.. p. John
son, Billing Clerk Jones testified thai
c. & o. records were destroyed. Com
missioner Lane failed to secure from
witnesses admission that E. D. ,Hotch-
kiss, general freight agent. was aware
that there was false billing. Two or
ders to the station agent to rebill were
signed "E. D. H"