“This was done by secret arrangement between the two companies, under which the coal was apparently billed at the published rate of freight, although in fact the price of the coal was included. The railroad company collected the amount shown by the billing, and paid over part of it to the fuel company as the price of the coal, making the real charge for transportation less than the published rate by just that amount. At the same time the rates given and charged other shippers were the published tariff rates without any deduction. “This plan, and the way it was carried out, plainly indicate an intention to deceive the Government and the public, and to enable the fuel company to gain a monopoly of the coal supply at the points involved by giving them a strong advantage over competitors in the actual cost of transportation. The motive for thus favoring the fuel company does not appear in the evidence thus far taken, but the fact is clear. “This secret arrangement with the fuel company involved the carriage of hundreds of cars per month. The concessions from the established rates must have amounted to about a million dollars for the two and one-half years during which they were granted; and it is incredible that this scheme was devised and carried out by any authority but that of the chief officers of the railway company, who were in control of its traffic department. And it was the duty of each and all of these officers to see that the injunction (of March, 1902) was obeyed.” The special counsel recommended that “the Atchison Company and all its principal officers and agents who had, during the period above named or any part thereof, power and authority over traffic agreements and freight rates, be arraigned for contempt of court.” President Roosevelt has directed that proceedings for contempt be taken against the companies in the Colorado Fuel Case and the International Harvester Case, but will not proceed against individual officers personally in any case until the department is in possession of “legal evidence of wilful and deliberate violation” of law on their part. I went over the Santa Fe while these secret discriminations were in full blast, and met President E. P. Ripley, Vice-President Paul Morton, and other high officials, who impressed me so favorably in our talks about rates, discriminations, etc., that I wrote in my notebook: “I believe I have found one honest railroad in America, honest at least in intent, whatever deviations from principle the system may force upon it.” Mr. Spearman evidently got a similar impression, for he says: “The Santa Fe has eliminated preferential rates entirely from its own traffic problems; and this sturdy determination to put all shippers on a just and equal footing, to maintain open and even rates, is the keynote of President Ripley’s successful strategy.”[194]