72 
Simons—Railroad Pools. 
the last few years. Instead of an indiscriminate granting of 
rebates to every one who applies, great concerns have been 
developed in all lines of industry who succeed in obtaining 
favorable rates to the exclusion of all competitors. In other 
words, discriminations have become concentrated upon a few 
great firms, while all others pay the tariff rates. The power¬ 
ful incentive which this gives to the movement toward concen¬ 
tration of industry is evident. The question then arises as to 
what will be the effect of the pool upon this new form of dis¬ 
crimination, as to how it will meet this new problem ? And at 
first sight appearances would seem to be strongly against the 
pool as a remedy in this case. Almost all of the great “depen¬ 
dent monopolies ” which constitute so prominent a factor in the 
industrial life of the country to-day had their origin during the 
period of pooling. More than this, almost all of them had more 
or less intimate connection with the pools. Indeed it has been 
alleged that they depended upon the pools for their existence. 
The so-called “Cattle Trust” or ’’Pool” was organized in 1875, 
and was firmly established with almost complete control of the 
market in 1879. It w^as long used as an “evener” (or instru¬ 
ment for the distribution of freight) in the great “ Trunk Line 
Pool ” from Chicago to New York. 9 The Anthracite Coal Combi¬ 
nation has a similar history. But it is of the Standard Oil 
Company that the greatest complaint is raised. It has been 
alleged that without pooling, this great combination could never 
have been formed. 10 
9 See United States Report on Internal Commerce, 1879, pp. 164-177. 
10 See Hudson, Railways and the Republic, pp. 209-10, and chapter 
entitled “ A Commercial Crime.” 
United States Report on Internal Commerce, 1879, pp. 178-9 : “The 
almost marvelous success of this association (the Standard Oil) has 
resulted mainly from the fact that its managers have succeeded in 
securing from many of the trunk railroads of the country special rates 
of transportation. The power which it has for several years exercised as 
an “ evener ” in the coal-oil pool, extending from the oil regions to the 
sea-board, has enabled it to secure a monopoly of that traffic. The rail¬ 
road pool controlling the transportation of coal oil to the sea-board now 
embraces three of the principal trunk lines. ... In carrying on this 
apportionment scheme the Standard Oil Company acts as an evener, 
