CONTROL THE TRUSTS BY CONGRESS 215 



that were closed are doing a profitable business, and the work- 

 men are again employed. 



Another direction in which kindred effort has been made 

 to enforce the law and prevent the abuse of monopoly deserves 

 a word of comment. The cotton interests of the south, grow- 

 ers, buyers, and shippers, complained of the hardships and in- 

 jury suffered by them from the methods of the railroads in 

 that section in handling and transporting the cotton output. 

 These carriers by combined action denied the right of routing 

 to the shippers — that is to say, the right of the shippers to 

 prescribe over what route his goods should pass, and by agree- 

 ment with each other determined the lines which should move 

 this important product and the percentage of total shipments 

 which each line should transport. In other words, there was 

 a pooling arrangement between the railroads in respect of this 

 traffic, in distinct violation of the federal statute. 



As the result of information, secured with much difficulty, 

 respecting this forbidden practice, a number of indictments 

 were obtained against the offending roads and their principal 

 traffic officers. At first the indicted carriers showed an inten- 

 tion to continue their unlawful combination, and steps were 

 taken by the department to institute similar prosecutions 

 against the same and other carriers for like misconduct at 

 other points in the cotton section. Since that time, however, 

 the roads have receded from their position. They now accord 

 to shippers the right to route their traffic, and avow their pur- 

 pose strictly to observe the law. 



The remarkable advance in the price of meats, coupled 

 with the disclosures elicited by the commission respecting 

 secret rebates enjoyed by the great packing houses, and other 

 information obtained by the department of justice, induced it 

 to direct an investigation into the methods of the so-called 

 "beef trust," as a result of which bills were filed under the 

 Sherman anti-trust law and injunctions issued restraining each 

 of the six defendant concerns from combining or agreeing upon 

 the prices at which they would sell their products in states 

 other than those where it is prepared for market, and like- 

 wise restraining them from combining and agreeing upon 

 cartage charges for delivering their shipments at destination. 



