Discussing the continuance of the payment of rebates and the reasons the Interstate Commission has not been able to stop the practice, Commissioner Prouty says:[358] “When I first came onto the Interstate Commerce Commission (1897), I used to see continually in the newspapers statements like these: ‘Rates sadly demoralized,’ ‘agreement between railroad officers to restore rates,’ and everything of that sort. I said to my associates, ‘Gentlemen, this thing will not do; we must stop the payment of rebates.’ They said, ‘How are you going to stop the payment of the rebates?’ I said, ‘We are going to call these gentlemen before us; we are going to put them under oath, and we are going to make them admit they paid these rebates, and we are going to use the evidence which we obtain to convict them.’ We employed Mr. Day, who is now with the Department of Justice. The rates which have been almost uniformly demoralized have been the grain rates from Chicago to the Atlantic seaboard. We called in the chief traffic officials of all these lines and we put them under oath. Now, I would ask these gentlemen, ‘Are you the chief traffic official of this road?’ ‘I am.’ ‘Would you know it if a rebate was paid?’ ‘I would.’ ‘Are any rebates paid on your road?’ ‘There are none.’ ‘The rates are absolutely maintained?’ ‘They are.’ “Well, every traffic official who came before us in that capacity—and we prosecuted it for three days at Chicago—testified that rates were absolutely maintained.” “SENATOR NEWLANDS. How many did you have before you? “MR. PROUTY. We had the official of every trunk line leading from Chicago to New York. They all testified the rates were absolutely maintained from Chicago to New York. Two years after that I examined the chief traffic officer of the Baltimore and Ohio, and of the New York Central—do not think it was the same man in either case—and of the other lines, and they all testified that rates had never been maintained. I would like to know what I could do as Interstate Commerce Commissioner to make those gentlemen admit that they paid rebates, and as they would not tell that they paid rebates, I would be glad to know how I could obtain evidence that they did.