Mr. George R. Blanchard of New York, former commissioner of the Joint Traffic Association told the Industrial Commission[158] that “Discriminations against persons result from secret rebates, combination of rates on inward material and outward products, so as to affect the through charges; favoritisms in terminal facilities; quicker time in transit; unequal or hidden allowances in weights; dissimilar storage periods in cars or warehouses; preferences in supplying cars; differences in special charges, such as switching, loading or unloading, or in cartage allowances; the leasing of elevators to or making elevator contracts with large handlers of grain, to their exceptional advantage; the grant of undue allowances under the fictitious guise of commissions, etc.” Summing up the evidence gathered in its great investigation, 1900–1901, the United States Industrial Commission concludes that the main effect of the Interstate Act has been to concentrate the benefits of discrimination in fewer hands,[159] which tends to build up trusts and combines. It found discriminations everywhere prevailing. It says: “There is a general consensus of opinion among practically all witnesses, including members of the Interstate Commerce Commission, representatives of shippers, and railway officers, that the railways still make discriminations between individuals, and perhaps to as great an extent as before. In fact, it is stated by numerous witnesses that discriminations were probably worse during the year 1898 than at any previous time. “It is claimed that direct rebates and secret rates are still frequently granted; commissions are paid for securing freight; goods are billed at less than the actual weight; traffic within a State not subject to the Interstate Commerce Act is carried at lower rates; allowances and advantages are made in handling and storing, etc. Several witnesses refer to the practice of shipping goods under a false classification. Sometimes this is done without the knowledge of the railways, but in other cases they apparently connive. Thus fine hardware may be shipped as some low-class kind of iron.