going beyond Chicago or not? In one period of three months, 1098 cars thus through billed to New York were turned over at Chicago to a belt line road; and only 468 actually went on to that destination. About sixty per cent. of the traffic was being rebated by this means. Very complicated arrangements of this sort were rife in the Missouri river rate wars on grain in 1896. This was known as the "expense-bill" system; or "carrying at the balance of the through rate."[168] Many services or facilities are worth as much to a merchant as a direct refund in cash. He may be given free cartage. This was a very common expedient in the early days; being fully considered by the Interstate Commerce Commission.[169] Or free storage on wheels or in freight houses may be utilized as a cover for favoritism. A low carload rate might be given, and then the goods be held, storage free, by the railway at some central point; to be subsequently delivered piecemeal as sold. The dealer would be relieved of all expense for warehousing as well as of high less-than-carload rates from the initial point of shipment. The competitor who paid the less-than-carload rate on an equal volume of business would be sadly handicapped. Cases are on record where fish was thus stored free from November to February, being reshipped on order in small lots. Or an excessive allowance might be made by the railway for some service or facility afforded by the shipper. The beef interests first got their hold upon the carriers by demanding liberal rebates in return for acting as "eveners" in the partition of traffic between the trunk lines about 1873. Complaint against excessive allowances to favored grain elevator owners, was common all through the West for years. The elevator allowance cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1906-1910 concerning practices on the Union Pacific lines illustrate the delicacy of the issues involved.[170]