The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-10-06
REBATES TO BE
PROBED IN OHIO
GOVERNMENT WILL OPEN
NEW FIELD OF
INQUIRY.
Sweeping Investigation Planned by
Federal Officials Warrington
Being ~Instigator.

government crusade against viola
tion of the antitrust laws. a sweep
inc inquiry is to be begun into the
relationship between the railroads
and the coal operators. An Ohio
man, o. f. Harrison formerly of
Greenville. O., will be in charge.
The headquarters of the investiga-
tor and his assistants will be est
ablished either at Cleveland Oh
Columbus. The scope of the work
is such that ii may not be complet,
ed for a year or more. His first
appearance may be before the grand
jury at Toledo.
The prime instigator of this ire
mendous movement is Howard Man
ington, Of Columbus, who is the COM
missioner of the Ohio Coal Oper-
ators' association and the secretary
of the Observation-Disclosures Com
mercial association, composed of
shippers and wholesale and retail
coal dealers of the three states in
question. Representing the indepen-
dent coal operators of the Buckeye
state, he has for years been thumb
ering against the alleged injustice tc
which they have been subjected
through an ironclad understanding
between railroads and a combination
of coal operators. 1t is alleged
the ownership of coal mines by rail-
road companies who saw to it that
their rivals had no real opportuni-
ties for competing with the opera
tors whose properties the transport
ton companies controlled, worked
great hardship.
Mr.. Warrington has made numer-
Gus trips to Washington to lay the
case before the interstate commerce
commission and before the depart
ment of justice. Early in the cam
paign he enlisted the sympathy of
Attorney General Wickersham, who
put himself on record nearly a year
ago as favorine an investigation of
the broadest scope. Ever since then
the plans of the department have
been in process of perfection. Now
they are substantly complete and
Mr.. Harrison will proceed almost at
once to undertake the task hat
promises to be monumental.
Mr.. Harrison is well equipped to
undertake it and carry it to a sue
cessful termination. He studied
law In Ohio and served his political
apprenticeship as a member of the
Ohio state senate. Later he took a
post at the state house under Attor-
ney General Wade Ellis. For sever
al years he has been connected with
the department of justice as a spe-
cial assistant attorney general under
the appropriation made to assure
enforcement of the antitrust law.
He has made this branch of the
law his specially, and in various
prosecutions the attorney general
has leaned heavily on him. His
latest big work was the investiga-
ton of the methods of the southern
grOcers' trust agreement. which re-
suited in the bringing of one of the
important government suits. With
the exception of the presentation of
this one matter he will drop all his
other work at the department and
devote himself exclusively to an in
vestigation of the Ohio bituminous
coal situation.
His first case will be at Toledo,
where a special grand jury is to
meet mex month to take up the
charge of Relating pending against
the Hooking Valley railroad. That
question was discussed by the inter
state commission i'm its
last annual report. 1t grew out OF
the control of the Sunday Creek
company by the Hooking Valley
The road hauled the coal and it was
marketed and the freight charges
which were not collected, amounted
to the tremendous total Of s $500, 00t
Mr.. Harrison's particular object
will be to ascertain whether the
practices complained of bring the
railroads and coal operators within
Tthe prohibitions of the antitrust law
He will look into the intercorporatt
relationships of the several railroad:
in Ohio and in coal producing terri
tory adjacent to Ohio to ascertain
whether these relations constitute {
violation Of the Sherman law. Ht
will inquire into the various phases
of the bituminous situation with re
spect to transportation and also along
the lines of conservation since GOV
eminent reports show that under ex
listing highly competitive conditions
nearly 80 per cent of the entire con
tents of a coal mine is wasted. TIL,
independent coal operators of Ohio
in January last made a recital o.
the unfavorable effect to the trade
of the economic waste in the centra
competitive field and called on con
gress for a thorough investigation
of the coal business i'm all its rami
fications from the lifting OF the Goa
to its final consumption. necessaril,
including the question of transporta
ton. 1t is quite probable that Mr.
Harrison's inquiry will take the wild,
scope outlined in these resolutions.