Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-07-18
SOME VIEWS OF THE
SANTA FE REBATE QUESTION
Selected From Fl Paso News

The New York Times is firm in the conviction that
Mr.. Morton's "wisest course, his best course, the only
straightforward and saving course before him is now to
ask the attorney general to take such proceedings as will
judiciaIly determine whether he must be held personally
guilty of the unlawful acts and the contempt of court
charged against him, or whether he was in no case per
sonaly implicated in the Atchison rebate matter. If the
court eXonerates him. then, indeed, he will be in the posi-
lion which Mr.. Roosevelt, with heroic devotion to a
friend, now declares him to occupy, that of having no
need to pay further heed to the accusations that have
been made against him"
Believing there-is a principle involved in the contro-
yersy that can hardly be ignored by those concerned for
The strict enforcement of the law against granting re-
bates, the New York Journal of Commerce cannot help
sympathizing with the views of Messrs. Harmon and Jud-
son that the only way to hold corporations to obedience
20 law is to hold their officers to a full responsibility, not
only for giving the proper orders but for seeing that they
are executed The Boston Evening Transcript also be-
lieves the position of Messrs. Harmon and Judson to be
impregnable, and that Mr.. Morton is left in the position
Of a man who has escaped trial by the charges against
aim being mol pressed. The transcripts Washington
correspondent presents a record of the case the conclu'
sions of which agree with those of the Baltimore Sun,
which latter remarks: THE presidents compliment to
Mr.. Morton does not appear to be borne out by the rec
ords in the case. 1t appears that Mr.. Morton was one of
a number of railroad officials who, when the interstate
commerce commission had prosecuted an inquiry with
such vigor as to have the corporations practically corner
ed. gave testimony which was in the character of an
acknowledgment that the law was being violated. The
records further show that Mr.. Morton was not the first,
but the ninth official who thus testified"
After stating that MI. Morton says he is innocent,
and Mr.. Roosevelt is sure of IL" the Springfield Republi-
can inquiries: Then why, if Mr.. Morton had nothing to
fear from a probing of the case and the prosecution of
any one found guilty-why did the administration seek to
block the case, or switch off the prosecution from against
Individual officers and direct it only against corporations
to be let off with fines that amount to nothing? We can
not answer that question, and the president, who can,
leaves it unanswered"
The Chicago Record-Herald believes that THE reluct-
ance of the attorney general and the president to follow
the advice of special counsel may be explained without i'm,
pugning their motives" at the same time it is of the
there can be no doubt that the precedent for which they
CMessrs. Harmon and Judson) were working would have
been of inestimable value in the future"
viii the presidents action in the Morton case de-
stroy his position as a railroadlrate reformer? A question
asker by the Baltimore News, is also answered by that
journal, to the effect that "the presidents letters to Mr..
Moody and Mr.. Morton constitute, on their face, an aband.
element there may have been in the railroad crusade"