The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System.
President’s Office.
Chicago, August 22d. 1905.
Dear Sir,—I did say to the Press that Mr. Biddle’s action in making the rate was exactly right. The whole trouble arose from a mistake in our tariff printing department in confusing the actual rate charged with the amount to be collected at destination. It was our custom, and that of all the other fuel roads in Colorado, to collect at destination the price of the coal as well as the freight rate. Inasmuch as the tariffs printed are a guide intended quite as much for the information of our own agents as for the public, the clerks included the price of coal in the tariff as a guide to collecting agents, but it did not occur to them that the information was liable to mislead the public, especially as it was a well-known fact that no shipper except the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company could possibly be interested. The whole transaction was a perfectly innocent one so far as regards any intent to injure any interests or to deceive the public in any way, nor was any person injured by the transaction. I think that all this will transpire and be recognized by the court in the case now pending at Kansas City, though, of course, I am not in position to anticipate a court decision. The trouble with the whole matter was the fact that Mr. Morton was a member of the Cabinet and that certain portions of the Press made use of the incident for the purpose of discrediting the Administration.
The matter was unfortunate in so far as it may have constituted a technical violation of the Interstate Commerce Law and of the Injunction, but that is the worst that can be said of it.
(Signed) E. P. Ripley.
The Equitable Life Assurance Society.
President’s Office.
New York, August 24, 1905.
Dear Sir,—Referring to your query relative to the remarks alleged to have been made by me on December 31, 1904, to a reporter of the Chicago Daily News, I have to say that although I do not now recall everything that may have been said by me in conversations which were not intended for publication, it is quite possible that I did remark to some newspaper men that in my judgment Mr. Biddle’s personal action in the case was entirely justifiable, and exactly what I or any other railroad man would have done under similar circumstances. The contract between the Railroad Company and the Fuel Company was of itself neither unlawful nor unbusinesslike. On the other hand, it was perfectly defensible from a legal standpoint, as well as being good business ethics.