Social Circle, situated between Atlanta and Augusta in Georgia, was required to pay a rate from Cincinnati made up of the rate to Atlanta plus the local rate from Atlanta to Social Circle, while Augusta, considerably more distant, had rates from Cincinnati no higher than those to Atlanta. The Commission in June, 1891, ordered the railroad to cease charging more from Cincinnati to Social Circle than for the longer distance to Augusta.[144] Hill and Brother, in the wholesale grain, flour, and hay business at Cordele, Ga., were in competition with dealers at Albany, Americus, and Macon, which were made basing-points and had lower rates than Cordele from the common source of supply. Cordele was shown to be nearer the coast than the other points, and to have several railway routes from Nashville, so that it could not be excluded from the low rate list on competitive grounds. The railroad men said it was excluded because it was not so large a distributing point as the other places, but admitted that if it had equally low rates it would largely increase as a distributing centre; so that the case stood thus: The railroads did not give Cordele equally low rates because it was not a sufficiently large distributing centre, and it was not a sufficiently large distributing centre because it was denied equally low rates; _i. e._, the railroads sought to excuse themselves for wrongdoing by offering the results of the wrong in justification. The Commission refused to allow the railroads to take advantage of their own wrong and condemned the Cordele rates.[145] The Louisville and Nashville charged $3.69 per ton on pig iron from Birmingham, Ala., to Cordele, Ga., 267 miles, and only $1.80 a ton from Birmingham to Macon, 332 miles. On coal the rate was $2.60 to Cordele and $1.60 to Macon. The Commission decided that the rates to Cordele should be no higher than to Macon.[146] La Grange is 71 miles nearer New Orleans than Atlanta, yet the rates to La Grange were made so much higher than to Atlanta that an Atlanta dealer could ship goods from New Orleans through to Atlanta and then back to La Grange as cheaply as the goods could be shipped direct to La Grange.[147] To keep traffic from going to Savannah and make it go to the Northwest or to Pensacola, the Louisville and Nashville made very high rates on shipments to Savannah. On Savannah traffic the Nashville haul was short and the receipts small; on shipments to the Northwest the Nashville receipts were much larger, and in Pensacola it had a special interest. So the Savannah cotton rate was advanced from $2.75 to $3.30 a bale, and the rates on naval stores were also made much higher than to Pensacola or to the Northwest.[148] The Commission ordered the railroad to discontinue the discrimination against Savannah, January, 1900, and the Circuit Court sustained the decision, July, 1902.