In the investigation of the South Improvement Company, the Secretary, W. G. Warden, testified that the company was organized about January 2, 1872, with a charter similar to that of the Pennsylvania Company. The expectation was to get all refineries to join. Two thousand shares of stock at one hundred dollars each were taken, and twenty percent paid in.

The former rates to New York by rail were $1.25 per barrel. Under the South Improvement Company, they were $2.56 on crude oil, of which the South Improvement Company and all shippers acting with it received a rebate of $1.06. Calculations made by oil men who heard the witness were that rebates at these rates would amount to six million dollars a year, with an increase to the railroads of about a million and a half.

The refiners would not all join, and on account of the excitement in the oil regions, the contracts were not enforced and are now annulled.

John Alexander, of Alexander Schofield & Co. of Cleveland, testified that they sold their refinery for about forty-five percent of its value to the Standard Oil Company, which was to go into the South Improvement Company. They were forced to sell, as they could not afford to run against the combination.

W. H. Doan, a shipper of oil at Cleveland, testified that he did not get drawbacks from the railroad, and his occupation was gone because he could not stand against the discrimination in freights against him.

P. H. Watson, President of the South Improvement Company, has been summoned and was expected to testify before the Committee yesterday. He will be required to produce the contracts between the South Improvement Company and the trunk lines of railways leading into the oil regions.

Mr. Lombard, who has suffered since the fourth of March to the amount of nearly four thousand dollars on raised freights forced by the South Improvement Company, has also been summoned.