Show smith VS lidaN oil from erom the radway Rail zuay it vold id jamicky 3 ayos mr air herbert knox smith whose zeal in the cause of economic reform iris his been la in no wise abated by the panic which he be and his kind did so much to bring on la is out with an answer to president gol holett fett ot of tho the standard oil company of inglina the publication of this answer er it Is officially given out was delayed isaev bev eral weeks for business reasons masons because it was aas not deemed advisable to further excite the public mind which was profoundly disturbed by the crisis now that the clouds have rolled by li however oever the commis eloner rushs again into the tray fray our readers remember that the chief points in the defence of the standard oil company as presented by prebi president dent tt were 1 that the date of six cents on oil from whiting to east st louis has been issued to the standard oil company as the lawful rate rata by amplo employed emp loyes yes of the alton 2 that the 18 cent rate on file with commerce commission N was as a class and not a commodity rate never naver being intended to apply to oil 3 that oil vaa nias shipped chipped in large quantities between and eat st louis over the chicago east eart ern illinois at 6 cents per hundred pounds which aich has been filed with the interstate corn com merce commission as the lawful rate and 4 that the 18 cent rate on oil was entirely out of proportion to lawful rates on other commodo ties between these points of a char acter and of greater value such for example as aa linseed oil the lawful rate on which was aas eight cents president moffett also stated that thousands of tons of freight had been sent by other shippers bt between tween these points under substantially the same conditions as governed the shipments of the standard oil company this defence of tho the standard oil company was widely quoted and has undoubtedly exerted a powerful influence upon the public mind naturally the administration which has bas staked the success of its ita campaign against tho the trusts upon the result of its attack upon this company endeavors to offset this influx ence and hence the nevi deliverance of oc corn com smith e need hardly to point out that his rebut tal lal argument Is extremely weak although as strong no doubt as aa the circumstances would warrant arrant ile he answers the points made by prest dent moffett substantially as follows 1 the standard oil company ha had d a traffic dop department artmen t and should have hava known that the six cent rate had not been filed 2 no anan answer or 3 tao chi cago bastein illinois rate was a secret rate because it read not from but from dolton which la Is described as a village of about 1600 1 pol poi illation atlon kil just outside of 0 chicago its only claim to note Is that it has bern for many years the point of for tills and similar secret rates the commissioner ad mite in describing this rate that there was a not attached stating that the rate could aoud a also 1 8 0 le be used from whiting the press has quite generally hailed thice statement of 0 me corr missioner of corpora lions as a conclusive refutation of what Is pat TI dently r recognized nm na the strongest rebuttal argument advanced by the standard la in fact it Is as weak and inconclusive as the remainder of hla blo argument the lines of the chicago eastern illinois do sot not run into chicago they terminate tit at dolton from which point entrance Is made over the belt line where the oil freight originates Is riot not on the lines of the chicago eastern which receives its ita whiting freight from the belt line at dolton the former practice now discontinued in filing tariffs was to huke them lead ead I 1 from a point on the line ot clothe tile fla ing road and it was A as also gner iLl to state on the same bamo sheet that the tariff would apply to other points e g whiting the chicago castern illinois fol followed loed this practice in filing its rate from dolton and making a note on the sheet that Is applied to whiting this v was as in ili 1895 when this method of filing tariffs was la in common use now let us see to in what way the intending whipper shipper of oil could bo be misled and deceived by the fact that the chicago eastern illinois had not filed a rate reading from whiting commissioner smith contends con tenda that conceal ment Is the only conly motive for such a circuitous ment I 1 e that this method of filing the rate was intel ded to mislead intending competitors of the standard Stan daid oil company suppose such a prospective oil refiner had bad applied to the interstate commerce comm commission disston for the rate aiom chicago to east st loula louis over the chicago I 1 eastern illinois he be would have been In formel onnel that the only rate filed with the commission by this company was A as 6 64 cents from froia dolton and lie ho would lave have been further informed if indeed be lid did riot not know this aheady ali eady that this rate applied through throughout mit chicago territory so 80 that whether lie ile wished to locate hla his plant at na whiting or anywhere else about chicago under an arrangement of long standing and which applies to all the industrial du towns in the neighborhood of chica go he be could haie hae his freight delivered over abe abb kelt belt lino to the chicago 1 eastern astern illinois at dolton and transported to east st louis at a rate of sa s1 cents where then la Is the concealment which the commissioner of corporations makes so BO much of any rate from dolton on the fasted ra sterix illinois or chap pell on the alton or harvey on oa the central or blue island on the rock island applies throughout chicago territory to shipments from any other point in the district so far from the eastern illinois ming filing its ita rate aiom dolton la in order to deceive the shipper it la Is tho the r of compoi aliens who either betrays his gross ignorance of tation customs in chicago territory of 01 relies on the public ignorance of these customs to deceive the too apt to accept unites every made mada by a govern merit official its BS necessarily truo true although as aa in the ho present instance EL a careful ex aminat on shows these statements to be false iho ahe final point made mad by Af offett that other commodities of a character similar to oil were carried at ciui I lower rates than 18 cents tile tho of corporations discusses only with the that the reasonableness of this rate 1 not in ques question tiou the fIti question estion 1 iti whether bether this dateo rat constituted a discrimination ns as oiher shippers cf oll oh and ile he also makes much of the failure of president monett moffett to produce before the grand lury jury evidence of be alleged illegal acts of 0 alch the hankard oil official said that other large ship pois in the territory had been guilty considering the fact that thase shippers included clouded the packers and elevator men of chi bafo the action of the grand jury in calling upon pi evident Alof tott to furni furnish ali evidence of their wrong doing may be interpreted Interpret fd as a domand demand for nn an elaboration of the obvious but tho the fact that a rate book containing ebest freight fates for other ol shippers lippers was offered in evidence during the trial and fulcd out by judge bandla was kept out of sight president moffett would mould not ot of course accept tile the invitation of the grand jury although lie he might have been pardoned pardon cd if he be had ie fIred them to various official investigations by tile tha interstate commerce Comin erco commission and other departments part ments of the government we come back therefore there foi foie e to the conclusion of the whole matter which Is that the ilie standard oil company of indiana was fined ila an amount equal to seven or eight times the value ot of its property because its department did not verity verify the of th alton rate clerk that the six aix cent commod ity rate on oil had been prop properly eily ly filed with tho the interstate commerce commission there Is no evidence and none non w as introduced at alid trial that any shipper of oil from chicago territory had been interfered with by tho the 18 cent rato rate nor that the failure of the alton to file its six cent rate had resulted in any against any independent shipper we must taka this on tho the word of thin commissioner of corporations and of judge landis neither Js Is it IL denied even by mr air smith that the independent shipper of oil whom he be pictures nit na being driven out ot of business by this di verlin of the alton could hao haie shipped all the oil lie ho desired to fibia from whiting vla via dolton kiei the he vines lines of the chicago T last ast e ern rn illinois to ti east bt louis in short prowl dent molfetta moffetts etta etts defence Is still good and mo predict w m III be so declared bv the higher court the standard oil company has haa ben charged w with ith all anner of crimes crimea and misdemeanors Ile ginning with the famous rice of Al marietta arletta p pissing issing doa down n to that apostle of popular liber ales henry demarest Dc marest lloyd mith ft ath his wealth against the commonwealth descending by easy stages to atlas tarbell a offensive person all fies we vie finally reach the nether depths of unfair and baseless ba selesa misrepresentation in the report of the llie commissioner of the standard has been cliart chapped ed with every form of commercial piracy and with most of tho the wilmea on the corporation cal calendar lendar after long of strenuous attack under tile the leadership of the president of the united states tho the corporation la is at last dragged to the lie bar of justice to gnem answer er for its misdoings misdoing mis doings it ohp whole strength of the government Is dl df erected against it t and at last we are told abd tbd standard oil company la Is to pay the penalty or of its crimes and it la Is finally convicted of having failed to verify tile the statement of j 0 rate clerk cleric and la IF forthwith fined a pro dielo a sum binl mea measure surel J by the car CAF under the uld old nal law the theft of nt property prop pro eity worth orth than a shilling was vas punish able by death under the interpretation of tha interstate commerce law by Ib lb eodore roosevelt and judge kenesaw I 1 andla andis a technical error of a traffic official la made the excuse or the confiscation of a vast amount of property pr perty |