Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1908-01-30

Chicago. They terminals AT LOTION, from Whic
point entrance is made over the Belt Line
Whiting, where the oil freight originates, is no
ON the lines Of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
which receives its Whiting freight from tn,
Belt Line at BOLTON. The former practice nov
discontinued, In fling tariffs was to MAKE
them read from q point on the line Of the fiji
ing road, and It was also general to state OF
the same sheet, that the tariff would apply tt
other points. Q. G., Whiting. The Chicago 6
Eastern Illinois followed this practice in films
the sheet that is applied to Whiting. This wa:
in common use.
Now let us see in what way the intending
shipper of oil could be misled and deceived b,
the fact that the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
had not filed rate reading from Whiting
Commissioner Smith contends that "coMcval
ment is the only motive for such circuilnu.
arrangement" l. e., that this method of ilins
the rate was intended to mislead intendins
competitors Of the Standard Oil Company
Suppose such prospective oil refiner had ap
piled to the Interstate Commerce Commissio,
for the rate from Chicago to East st. Louis
over the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, he woulc
have been informed that the only rate flee
with the commission by this company was 81
cents from Dolton, and he would have bcof
further informed. II 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 anywhere
else about Chicago. under an arrangement OF
long standing, and which applies to all the in
dustrial towns in the neighborhood of Chica-
go, he could have his freight delivered over
tha RQ1f ino tn tho Nhfoooo 2. EC,u+.>,,, IN,
nois at BOLTON and transported to East St
Louis at a rate of 6A cents. Where then is
the concealment which the Commissioner OF
Corporations makes so 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 its rate
from bolton In order to deceive the simmer
IT Is the Commissioner Of Corporations who
either betrays his gross ignorance of transpol.
tation customs in Chicago territory or relies
on the public ignorance of these customs to
deceive the public too apt to accept unuues.
uonfngly every statement made by a 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 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 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