Flagler was therefore accepted, and in affiant’s judgment this was the turning-point which secured to Cleveland a considerable portion of the export traffic. That this arrangement was at all times open to any and all parties who would secure or guarantee a like amount of traffic or an amount sufficient to be treated and handled in the same speedy and economical way, the charges for transportation being always necessarily based upon the actual cost of the service to the railroad, and whenever any shipper or shippers will unite to reduce the cost of transportation to the railroad, to refuse to give them the benefit of such reduction would be to the detriment of the public, the consumers, who in the end pay the transportation charges. Affiant says that this legitimate and necessary advantage of the large shipper over the smaller he explained to Mr. Hanna and Mr. Baslington, and they recognised its propriety, and affiant offered them the same terms if by themselves or with others they would assure him like quantities with like regularity, thus securing like speed and economy in transportation. And further affiant saith not. J. H. DEVEREUX. Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this thirteenth day of November, 1880. J. C. CANNON, _Notary Public in and for Said County_. NUMBER 4 (See page 1055) TESTIMONY OF HENRY M. FLAGLER ON THE SOUTH IMPROVEMENT COMPANY [Proceedings in Relation to Trusts, House of Representatives, 1888. Report Number 3112, pages 289–290.] _A._ ... Neither of the Messrs. Rockefeller, Colonel Payne, nor myself, nor any one connected with the Standard Oil Company, ever had any confidence in or regard for the scheme known as the South Improvement Company. We did not believe in it, but the view presented by other gentlemen was pressed upon us to such an extent that we acquiesced in it to the extent of subscribing our names to a certain amount of the stock, which was never paid for. The company never did a dollar’s worth of business, and never had any existence other than its corporative existence, which it obtained through its charter. Through its president it negotiated certain railroad contracts, which, as I remember now, were signed by the company and by the officers of the railroad. Those contracts were held in escrow a few weeks and were destroyed or cancelled by mutual consent. _Q._ Who presented these views to you gentlemen? Who was the person that had charge of this South Improvement Company’s scheme? _A._ I think Mr. Warden and the Messrs. Logan were the great leaders in the South Improvement Company policy.