Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-10-04
OCTOBER 4, 1905,
l NERVOUS j ! !. splRoSI RAjvlon,

. cases ag linst the betf trust
vent before the United States district
Judge in Chicago week before last and
pleaded guilty to having violated the
anti,reba.e law. The vice president
Of the Schwarzchild& Su|zberger
Packing Co. was dned $4,000 and the
Their three were 6ned IS, 900 apiece.
! The law Rxes = term in prison for
this crime, but In this case this penalty
was not enforced because the poor
vice president OF the corporation was
suffering from nervous breakdown
and 1t was feared that he could not
stand the shock OF being treated like
an ordinary criminal Before going |
into court the officials concerned had
made arrangements with United States
Attorney General Moody to have the
Imprisonment penalty left out in their
cases. l
This cases throws . light on some
things that we have been unable to
unc erstand up till now. There seemed
somehow to be difference in the sp.
piication of the laws that favored Ger
tain persons In nigh places. Ordinary
criminals were generally given the full
penalty, while those moving ia higher
circles were let of with q fine or .
scolding and sometimes even with q
presidential letter Of exoneration.
Now this Is perfectly plain to US.
These men in high places are of course
of q finer mould than ordinary NOR
tals. Their high. strung nervous or.
ganizations cannot stand any rude
shock. it would bring on nervous
prostration ard great suffering
Hence they must be treated with great
confederation. A foe OF, five or ten.
Thousand dollars does not mean any
thing to representative Of q trust
that can raise the money by slight
raise in the price OF Its finished, pro
ducts or . small reduction In the price
it pays for the raw material The beef
trust dictates what it shall pay for the
cattle ard what it shall receive for the
beef. So the fine is either paid by the
farmer who sells the cattle or BY the
consumer who buys the beef. These
pers ons are thus made to suffer vicari-
ously fer the poor nervous vice presi-
dent and his associates. The fine be.
ing thus spread out among . large
number Of people is not felt very Sc.
verely BY anyone, while If 1t struck
only one person it might be quite .
hard blow. 1t may be objected that
the farmer and consumer having had
nothing to do with the violation of the
law should not bear one kopeck OF the
penalty; to this II may be answered
that had not the common people raised
the cry about railroad discrimination
there would have been no law to vio-
late and conseq uently no 6neto pay.
Thus the people are primarily the
guilty ones and very properly should
pay the penalty: It being impossible
to distrio ute the Imprisonment part of
the penalty it must necessarily fol-
low that that part must be left out, so
.s to avoid the danger of nervous
lprostration. :s f. .zz.: - ~ .se.5 <. 4
There was Loomis. for instance
:Ie &as openly accused ofhaving used
mis- official position to further the In:
terests OF . private corporation from
which he had received Z large amount
OF money. But he was probably Of .
very nerv Gus temperament, and there
fore the president kicked out the rude
accuser and sent Loomis on : voy age
TO France in IN official capacity SO
that he should get strong enough to
stand the shock Of being quietly drop
ped from his place - soon as . re-
preventative Of the steel and ratlroad
truets could be found TO take his place
It looked strange 70 zee honest Teddy
thus shield : person accused 81 crime;
put We understand II now. Any other
course might have brought on nervous
prostration. VI. .i.,..
Then there was Paul Morton. &c
vas accused Of having vio'ated the
.ame law that the Chicago packe :.
vent up against. But Teddy would
not hear Of bis being brought % trial.
| He even went 30 ST 8 70 write an
open letter 81 exoneration before he
i let Morton out Of the cab net. Il
looked very strange; but we under.
stand Il now. Norton 4 ~ q even