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Show RATE DISCRIMINATION BARBED COMPETITION Witnesses in Interstate Commerce Com-merce Bearing Give Some Strong Testimony. CHICAGO. Oct. 2 William IT. Suf-ferns Suf-ferns of Decatur, 111., ivas the first witness wit-ness at today's session of the Interstate Inter-state Commerce commission, which is investigating tho alleged rebate cases. Sufferns said that he entered the grain exporting business over niuo yeafs ago. Three years ago he said ho discovered that Harris, Scoten & Co., grain men of Chicago, and Rosenbaum & Co. wero receiving an elevator allowance at New Orleans of 2 cents per 100 pounds from the Illinois Central railroad. "The rato on grain for 'export via New Orleans was 12 cents per hun-drod," hun-drod," said the witness. "Two cents of that went to tho export elevator interest in-terest and tho remainder to ihc railroad. rail-road. Tho rebate allowed theso firms prevented mo from competing w'ith them in tho European market. I discovered discov-ered they were offering grain in Europe at what it cost me here. They had an actual advantage of 1 cents. "I quit the export business last winter win-ter because I could not live, let alono make" anything." It. J. Barr of New Orleans told a similar storj'. In regard to the export situation at New Orleans, ho said that tho Illinois Central railroad is heavily interested in export - elevators in New Orleans, and that it leases one of its houses -to Harris, Scoleu & Co. In view of this, he said, the elevator owned by the railroad rail-road interest gels 'the allowance of 2 cents, and the samo thing is truo in the case of the leased elevator. |