Just after 16:40, Chester refers to a man who'd opened a restaurant alongside the track at the station in Topeka. That would be he Fred Harvey of the Harvey House chain of restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality businesses alongside railroads in the Western United States, which he'd founded in 1876 to cater to the growing number of train passengers.
Per the title, when one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, he is obeying the literal interpretation of the words of the law, but not the intent of those who wrote the law.