A MESSAGE To Congress Concerning* Oil Investigation. GARfIELD REPORT Is Transmitted to Both Houses by the President, With Recommend ation for Action. Washington, D. C. President Roosevelt Friday transmitted to con gress a message concerning the oil in dustry of the United States. The mes sage was accompanied by the report of James R. Garfield, commissioner of corporations, who has been investigat ing the affairs of the Standard Oil Co. and the relation of that company to the railroads of the country. Following are sailent points of the message: "I transmit herewith a report by the commissioner of the bureau of corpor ations in the department of commerce and labor on the subject of transpor tation and freight rates in connection with the oil industry. "The facts set forth in this report i are for the most part not disputed, it is only the inferences from them that are disputed, and even in this respect the dispute is practically limited to the question as to whether the trans actions are or are not technically legal. The report shows that the j Standard Oil Co. has benefited enor- j mously up almost to the present mo ment by secret rates, many of these i secret rates being clearly unlawful. | This benefit amounts to at least three- j quarters of a million a year. "A very striking result of the inves- : tigation has been that shortly after I the discovery of these secret rates by I the commissioner of corporations, the major portion of them were promptly i corrected by the railroads, so that | most of them have now been done j away with. This immediate correc- j tion, partial or complete, of the evil of i the secret rates is of course on the | one hand an acknowledgment that they were wrong, and yet were persevered J in until exposed; and on the other j hand a proof of the efficiency of the j work that has been done by the bureau of corporations. The depart- 1 rnent of justice will take up the ques- j tion of instituting prosecutions in at least certain of the cases. "But in addition to these secret ! rates the Standard Oil profits im- | mensely by open rates, which are so j arranged as to give it an overwhelm ing advantage over its independent j competitors. "The argun ent is sometimes ad i vaticed against conferring upon some j governmental body the power of su- ! pervlsion and control over inter-state commerce, that to do so tends to 1 weaken individual initiative. Investi gations such as this conclusively dis- 1 prove any such allegation. "What is needed is the conferring upon the commission of ample affirm-! •ative power, so conferred as to make ! lis decisions take efTect at once, sub ject only to such action by the court as is demanded by the constitution. "The government should have pow «r by its agents to examine into the conduct of the railways—that is, the examiners under the direction of the j Inter-state commerce commission should be able to examine as thor oughly into the affairs of the railroad as bank examiners examine banks. I "Though not bearing upon the ques tion of railroad rates, there are two measures consideration of which is imperatively suggested by the submis sion of this report. The Standard Oil Co. has, largely by unfair or unlawful methods, crushed out home competi tion. It is highly desirable that an element of competition should be in troduced by the passage of some such law as that which has already passed ! the house, putting alcohol used in the 1 arts and manufactures upon the free list. Furthermore, the time has come when no oil or coal lands held by the government, either upon the public domain proper or in territory owned by the Indian tribes, should be alien- ! ated. The fee to such lands should be kept in the United States government whether or not the profits arising from it are to be given to any Indian tribe, and the lands should be leased only on such terms and for such periods as will enable the government to keep entire control thereof. •THEODORE ROOSEVELT." Followin is an epitome cf Commis sioner Garfield's report: • The Standard Oil Co. controls XBV4 per cent, of the refined oil and the pe troleum products business of the coun try: the trust developed it« enormous profit making pipe lines by special agreements with the railroads; offi cials of the trust informed him that their company had not in recent years and was not now receiving railroad re bates; the trust is receiving dlscrimi ; nations in open as well a.-, secret rates; prorating is denied to the inde pendents, inter-state rates being clas sified as state rates; in sonic cases the railroads abolished secret rates and open discriminations after these Alleged Discrimination. Clarksburg, W. Va. —In the I'nited States circuit court of the north em district of West Virginia a writ was filed In a suit brought Friday bv the Federal Coal and Coke Co. of West Virginia against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. and the Fairmont Coal Co., alleging discrimination against the pluintifT company In fur nishing trans|.oriation of coal from the plaintiff's mines and conspiracy to wreck and cause financial ruin to the plaintiff with the liiti-at to bring about the forced ile of ih- plaintiffs prop tirty. were exposed by the government, the roads thus confessing their guilt; though tariffs are filed with the Inter state commerce commission by the railroads, none but the favored ship per may know of their existence. MR. H. H. ROGERS' REPLY. New York.—ln reply to President Roosevelt's message and the re port of Commissioner Garfield, Messrs. 11. 11. Rogers and John I). Archbald, of the Standard Oil Co., said that their examination of the message and report had necessarily been a hurried one, and that they should at a later date make a full answer to their shareholders. They, however, denied that they had violated the law. The following being the substance of what they said: "Regarding the president's criti cisms upon the management of the railways or his strictures upon any act of the inter-state commerce com mission, we have neither responsibil ity or concern. When, however, he or Commissioner Garfield attacks the Standard Oil Co. and uses its methods of doing business as an object lesson for the purpose of promoting his views we protest. It may be frankly stated at the outset that the Standard Oil Co. has at all times, within the limits cf fairness and with due regard for the law, sought to secure the most ad vantageous freight rates and routes possible. There will be no denial of this fact on our part. The question is whether we have at any point violated the law or the proprieties. "The present inquiry grew out of a resolution adopted by congress a year ago instructing the secretary of com merce and labor to investigate the oil business as carried on in this country. We welcomed the investigation. When Commissioner Garfield in the dis charge of his duty visited our office he and his experts were given free access to our books and the fullest oppor tunity to ascertain the manner in which our business was conducted. Frank disclosures of all of our meth ods were made and every criticism of fered by him was met with a candid and painstaking answer. "There have been no secret rates or unlawful discrimination in the in terest of the Standard Oil Co. "The Standard Oil Co. has been in vestigated over and ever again at the instance of its rivals and it always welcomes such investigations when conducted In good faith and fairly. We are engaged in a large and hon orable business. We are conducting it honorably and we sincerely believe in conformity to law. "We say tlatly that any assertion that the Standard Oil Co. has been or is now knowingly engaged in practices which are unlawful is alike untruthful and unjust." RAILROAD WRtCK. Head-on Collision on Pennsylvania Road —Many Passengers Reported Killed and Wounded. Altooiia, Pa. —Chicago mail train, westbound, and the Chicago and St. Louis express, eastbound, on the Pennsylvania railroad, running at full speed, met head-on near Springfield Furnace, on the Petersburg cut off, 18 miles from this city, at 11 o'clock Fri day night. A few hours before :J7 freight cars had been wrecked at Union Furnace, on the middle division, 20 miles east of this city, and all trains were being run around Altoona. The Chicago mail left this city on time and went as far as Tyrone, where it was sent back togo over the cut-off. The Chicago and St. Louis express was sent west from Huntingdon on the cut-off and the two trains met at Springfield Junction, where there is but one track. The cause of the disaster is said to have been a misunderstanding of or ders by the operator at Springfield Junction. Physicians were sent from Altoona. Both locomotives, the ex press and mail cars and passenger coaches were completely demolished. Seven persons were killed and about 20 injured. Later particulars may change these figures. TRADE BULLETIN. R. G. Dun & Co. Report Business in Good Condition. New York. —R. G. Dun & Co.'s Weekly Review of Trade says: The violent decline in prices of se curities is no criterion of business conditions. The only drawbacks re garding the future are the labor con troversies and the stringency in the money market, neither of which may prove cf more than temporary dura tion. Manufacturing plants report lit tle idle machinery and trade in sea sonable merchandise feels the impetus of settled weather. Of greatest importance to the iron and steel Industry of all the events of the past week was the strike of long shoremen on the lake water front. It' this struggle Is not promptly settled it will soon become impossible to main tain pig Iron production at the highest point on record. Otherwise the strikes on May 1 were not of sufficient mag nitude to affect the progress of the ! steel buslnc s>s. Failures in the United States are 212. against 2ir> last week, 109 the pre ceding week and 212 the correspond ing week last year. Failures In Can ada number '.'.l, against 20 last week, is the preceding week and 22 last year. Threw Train Off Track. Shreveport, La. A cow and a cstf Friday threw most of i of the track at S >dus. The locomotive and all c< aehi s except the chair car and a sleeping ear .vere thrown down an embankment. The engineer and the fireman were killed, two pa.- mi '.ers were severely injured and sev eral were hurt. Bank Cashier Dies. Bl'iomlngtoti, Ind. Walter E. Woodhurn, for Ml! years ca- Itier of lie First national bank and treasurer Indiana tir.lu ;iity, died Friday. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY iO, 19. 6. DISASTER ERASES CLASS DISTINCTION EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCES GO PLACES RICH AND POOK ON SAME LEVEL. SIDELIGHTS ON THE GREAT CATASTROPHE Millionaire and Pauper Now Friends —Business Being- Conducted Amid the Ruins —Heir to Wealth Born on Sidewalk. San Francisco, Cal.—This town is "on the level" in every sense of the word, writes Richard Barry. You can stand on Tar flat am 1 see Telegraph hill with no obstruction but a few skyscraper skeletons. South of Vanj Ness avenue it is not even a junk heap. 1 N-"> more ghouls are shot because there; is nothing to steal, and they will have | to pay men to carry off the smashed j j bricks. Russian, Telegraph and Nob j hills, which formerly made such' a magnificent metropolitan saddle; against the Golden Gate, look as they | do in the prints of '49, when scrubby j bushes rambled across their barren j faces. They have been scraped of foul 1 and lair by a mighty muck rake. The, homes of tlireefourths of the people! are annihilated, and as one walks through the desolation he slowly real | lzes that the world can never know j what has happened; that 100 Pompeils j would be swallowed in these ruins and j that California in tragedy, as in all j else, has shaken her jaunty fist in the | face of history and written "finis" to | the volume. Social Distinctions Leveled. Yet these smashed buildings and des olate streets do not present the sig nificant leveling. The material loss is great, but it does not stagger the imag ination. A few hundred millions will J mend the hurt and there are many peo ple here to-day who think the shake up is worth the leveling. Society is on the ground, face to face. Every artificial barrier is swept away. The j social distinctions built up in 50 years! have been obliterated with the same swiftness and finality shown by the flames toward the property. The loss of life is small, the loss of social posi tion colossal. Down to the elements, now nothing counts but human loss. Money has momentarily lost its pur chasing power. Servants, luxury, hab- j its, prestige—yes, amity, feuds, hatred, jealousy and contempt have disap peared. Humanity is in the flat and every one is on the level. Here are a few random incidents picked from the edge of the cataclysrh: Fillmore street, a third-rate metro-! politan artery, has become for the J moment the business center of the j town. Here, in dinky bakeries, cheap : candy stores, tawdry photograph gal leries and insignificant lodging nouses, are found all that is left of the great est business institutions on the Pa ! eific coast. A sawmill that formerly employed 4,000 men has its office in a hall bedroom that used to rent for one dollar a week. A bakery that em -1 ployed 300 carts before the fire is op erating out of a hand laundry that was run by three women. The largest de partment store in the west i 3 being resurrected from a soda water stand that has been roughly partitioned, the front 14 by 10 feet space being used for an office. In a rear room of similar ex | tent the exclusive heads go for frl j jeles and coffee warmed over an al ! cohol lamp. Odd Quarters for City Officials. You can see the chief of police in San Francisco as easily as you could see the sheriff of the most backwoods j county in Arizona. He sits in the ] window of a corner grocery and as j | you pass on the sidewalk you glance ' i at his bright face and hear his hearty laugh. The mayor issues his orders from the lodge room of a secret so ciet". The superior court is being held in a Jewish synagogue, while the city and county records are buried in a tomb in the Masonic cemetery. The newspapers thr.t once occupied I the principal skyscrapers in the city ; j are being operated from four little ; I rooms in the same block, no 0113 of ' which has more than a 30-foot front ] or a 50-foot depth. On one side of ; each room you can see the sign "Sub i scription Department," on the other ' 1 "Advertising Department," while on each rear wall is- hung a rough sign, J "Editorial Department." One Newspaper Office a Bedroom. One of the most fortuna e papers, after much maneuvering, has managed : to commandeer a second-floor bed ' room, the nature of whose previous | occupants is attested by the notice i still hanging from the chandelier, 1 which reads, "Don't Blow Out the Gas." In this tiny room, around two small tables, is congregated the Jour- | nallstlc talent that formerly conducted a world-famous organ from a suit" of 15 rocms i:i or.a of the most magnifl- 1 cent buildings In the west. I 10,000 Acres Burned Over. A well-known Oakland engineer states that tin area ■ evastat<'d by the fire 111 San I- rancisco approximates 10,- (I HI acres, or about 15 square miles. Theie are few cities in the world where so much valuable property is contained In an equal territory. Within this 1.l square ntlb' wi-re nearly 100 banks, tome of the ilnest butldtugx In the wot Id. thoii audi! of mercantile and m ir.tif.n t. ring e t ibll •iiments, and m >re than '.M-i.Ooo InliabttauU, besides 4iv"» trunisle.tts. ' I ff further proof were needed of th« leveling character of conditions it might have been seen yesterday after noon, when "Mike" De Young, of tha Chronicle, millionaire and political leader, stood in front of one of these little offices. Down the street In an automobile belonging to ex-Mayor James D. Phelan came Abe Reuf, the triumphant Republican boss. When he saw De Young he waved his hat and called out a hearty greeting, to which De Young responded with a gay salute. For one not. intimate with San Francisco to fully realize what this means he must be told that Reuf. Phelan and De Young are the respec tive leaders of the most bitter and antagonistic political factions in the west. If /Oti still doubt that the mlllenlum is upon us go down the street two j blocks to where the relief committee is working 24 hours a day from the | showroom of a vegetable grocer and | you will find Oavin McNabb and Abe Reuf with chairs and arms touching, laughing at the same grim earthquake joke? and putting the two craftiest heads in San Francisco together for the immediate relief of the afflicted. A vreek ago as the bosses respective ly of the Republican and Democratic ranks, America could have afforded no more striking instance of deadly rivalry than would have been adduced by mention of these two names. Resurrecting a Dry Goods Store. From another cigar stand white haired, esthetic Raphael Weil is resur recting the most fashionable dry goods store in the city. He is old, wealthy and practically retired. He could easily turn his back on San Francisco and live the rest of his days, the one other place of his delight; but says he:"I shall stay here and see It all tip again just as it was—with perhaps one difference, It will be about twice as good." Up and down all the streets one can see curbstone fires, where the peo ple are cooking their meals in obedi ence to the municipal order to light no fires in the houses. They being without large ranges, small kitchen stoves, improvised sheet Iron ovens and the old brick Dutch ovens are used and from which are turned oat some wonderful concoctions. Most of the servants have either run away or been sent away and the peo ple who get their own meals out of doors are among the best in the city. Cooking their dinners in the streets may be seen girls who have been edu cated at Stanford, Berkeley, Vassar and Bryn Mawr. Spreckels Heir Born on Sidewalk. But of all the astounding leveling feats accomplished by the fire and earthquake the most remarkable oc curred in front of the Pacific avenue home of Rudolf Spreckels, son of the president of the sugar trust. There on the sidtwalk, behind some screens, Mrs. Spreckels was safely delivered of a handsome and healthy son. It is a free state, everyone beginning over again, rich and poor alike, ju3t as the front rank broke front the line the day Oklahoma territory was opened to settlement. Not Fair Shake: Start Again. Young men who can sw'ing a small capital to-day will be millionaires in a few years. Millionaires who to-day are walking the streets mourning over their ill-luck will never again be flush. San Francisco, queen city of chance, born of tt.o gambling fever, bred of the gambling energy, dreamed out of a gambler's visions of wealth and glory, with a fierce and terrible grandeur, has smitten all who loved J her and said to the half million who had sworn by her: "It's not a fair shake; start again." Rescue Insane People. Many stories of heroism lie buried in the ruins, but some tales that make the heart tingle are slowly filtering through official sources. This is the story of the noble work performed by Mrs. Kane, matron of the Detention hospital, and Policeman John McLean, who was de- 1 tailed there the night of the great earth- j quake. The insane patients at the ruined city hall were kept in locked cells, from which only t>he keys of the stewards could free them. At the hour of dawn on that fatal Wednesday morning, the structure in which the courts were housed was the first to fall. The weight tense nervous energency and the officer the detention hospital, which was on the ground floor. Steward Manville was so badly injured by the falling ruins that he died two days later. Mrs. Kane and Policeman McLean, however, man aged to rush outside to momentary safety. Both of them are well advanced in years, but the nurse is a woman of in tense nervous energy and the officer is a man of giant frame. As soon as they reached the open court they were greet ed by the terrified shrieks of the insane that pierced through the smoking ruins around. They refused to leave their helpless charges, and both went back into the chaotic debris. New Buildings Are Planned. The work of rebuilding San Fran- 1 cisco will proceed rapidly. Mrs. Her man Oelrichs of New York has agreed to repair the lUalto building and to build again on the site of the C'rossley. She and her sister, .Mrs. W. K. Vander bilt, Jr., have also stated that they will put up solid office structures on their | Montgomery street site. To Ask Lon'i of Congress. Congress may lie a Red to impropri ate $100,000,000 to rebuild a new metropolis on the Pacific coast on the site of the devastat d city, the money | to be loaned on real estate sccuritv I for 25 years at two per cent. \)»'r an I num. This project. It is said, will be laid I before tin- president anil the leaders ' of Imiili political prtles In congress by ! Herbert l.aw, a San FrancWeo rapital- | Ist, after a conference with the bad lug business tuen of the city. Balcom & Lloyd. j I WE have the best stocked (jJ general store in the county 3< and if you are looking for re jj liable goods at reasonable p prices, we are ready to serve you with the best to be found. p j] Our reputation for trust /, worthy goods and fair dealing U l! is too well known to sell any it || but high grade goods. I ■ 1 ijj Our stock of Queensware and !| Chinaware is selected with fi| Jl great care and we have some of the most handsome dishes || ever shown in this section, fj both in imported and domestic p jjj makes. We invite you to visit 1 133 and look our goods over. || 11 11 I 1 ipj —————————-—— B | Balcom & Lloyd, j fc m. **k *ik m Jtt m. *%. m. mmt*k m.m. *at **. * * 4*. m. HA h* m.m. m* | | |J LOOK ELSEWHERE BUT DON'T FORGET THESE PRICES AND FACTS AT g II LaBAFS | | M II —■- M n Tzzzzizziz: m We carry in stock r~~ - 1 M the largest line of Car || pets, Linoleums and JL' iT^^'ir'S ha N™ Mattings of all kinds '/ W £ J ever brought to this tfflfflfflHl I !J J* town. Also a big line M of samples. lIIDuJjOQQLIIIM M A very large line ot FOR THE SSS» f s J Lace Curtains that can m wtre e fo^le any - COMFORTABLE LOOSING »; |d Kg Eg Art Squares and of fine books in a choice library PJ Rugs of all sizes and select the Ideal pattern of Globe- Pi kind, from the cheap- Wernicke ''Elastic" Bookcase. M est to the best. I Furnished with bevel French I plate or leaded glass doors. M Dining Chairs, I roB SALIO * I H Rockers and GEO. J. LaBAR, £* High Chairs. sole Agent for Cameron County. I |b| A large and elegant I—————————.—__J r* line of Tnfted and ?? Drop-head Couches. Beauties ;;nd at bargain prices. g,j II I# It 4 S3O Bedroom Suits, OC S4O SVdeboard, quar- (£9fi Vj* solid oak at 4)<£j ti red <ak 4)OU ir* S2B Bedroom Suits, Ol |32 Sidebcard, quar- COC pf| solid oak at J)ZI tered oak 4 )ZO ** M |25 Bed room Suits, (112 Ofl $22 Sideboaid, quar- CIC M M solid oak at I tired 0ak,... 3> ,D M N A large line of Dressers from I CI iffoniers of all kinds and N $B Op. all pri( 1 s. ijt / — H |jj The finest line of Sewing Machines 011 the market, kj the "DOMESTIC" and "HLLRIEGE.' All drop- £4 ?2 heads and warranted. A fine line of Dishes, common grade and China, in J2 " sets and by the piece. ij M As I keep a full line of everything that goes to L-'1 14 make up a good Furniture store, it is useless to ciium- M erate them all. M M 1 'lease call and see for yourself that lam telling kg you the truth, and if you don't buy, there is no harm kg f|| done, as it is 110 trouble to show goods. » GEO. J .LaBAR. •; UIVDERTAKLIISTG. IZZZZZZZIIZX
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers