The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-23

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strict District Attorneys Ia preas Tor a
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Thu Attorney. General made tho follow.
Ing statement In regard 90 tho decision ~
Judge Mcpheraon against the Armour,
Swift, Morris and Ciidahy packing COM
panie-. tho Burlington Railroad anil the indi-
Vidual defendants. TaRgar, and Thomas
The conspiracy was for obtaining rebates
on n large scale, making Determination 10
shippers highly Injurious TO the public wei.
fare. The methods adopted IN conoralluG
.the true nature OF the transaction showed
clearly that the defendants vilfully, know
ingly and deliberately sought to defy the
Law and were In gross contempt OF is pro-
hibitlon. After giving II careful consider
alton / concluded that the extent Of the dis
ordinations practised showed that II was n
case where the sentence OF imprisonment
was especially desirable. and ! directed the
District Attorney 10 urge upon the Court, In
case OF conviction. the desirability of such q
sentence.
regard the outcome of this case as OF the
first Importance. The sentence OF inprison-
ment imposed for the first time upon persons
guilty OF Rotating will. in my Judgment. have
the most potent effect in checking the wido-
spread pract icc of unlaW ful!discriminations,
It was said at the Department Of Justice
that the sentence of imprisonment in these
GASES was made possible through the method
put into effect by Attorney-General Moody.
He had always been Of the opinion that il a
person guilty of rebating could be inn
prisoned for it the practice would soon be
broken. AZ, however, the Elkins law oon-
contained no provision for such a sentence,
1t became necessary for Mr.. Moody. in order
to put into effect this theory, to find some
other means for doing SO. Upon an exami-
nation OF the authorities Mr.. Moody dis
xouaroJ chat i,nInr tho pnthnTitv nf tho
Supreme Court, in the case of Cune vs, the
United States, a conspiracy TO ommit a
crime against the United States itself
punishable only by a fine, might also be
punished by Imprisonment. He directed
the United States Attorney in each district
that in the event Of obtaining u conviction
upon a charge of conspiracy Of this kind
to present to the court the desirability Of
inhicting the penalty of imprisonment, to
the end that these unlawful practices, which
had received almost universal condemnation,
might be discouraged and prevented o. far
as existing law would accomplish : that
result.
- The determination Of the Administration
to prosecute Standard Oil is a natural Sc
quence of the investigation made by Com
missioner of Corporations Garfield. In his
report to the President and Congress Com
missioner Garfield said:
The Standard Oil has habitually received
from the railroads and is now receiving Sc
oret rates and other unjust and illegal dis
ordinations
The report goes on to say hat during 1904
the Standard saved about s7jO,0 Goo through
the secret rates discovered by the Bureau
of Corporations, and adds that "of course
there may be other secret rates which the
bureau has not discovered" This amount,
the report said, represented the difference
between the open rates and the rates actu-
ally paid. Further along in his report the
Commissioner said:
sMany of these determinations were
clearly in violation Of the interstate COM
merce law and others, and whether techni-
cally illegal or not had the same effect
upon competitors. On some State business
secret rates were applied by means of
rebates. These determinations have been
90 long continued, 10 secret, 30 'ingeni-
ously applied to new conditions Of trade
and 80 large in amount as to make it GER
tain that they were due to concerted
action by the Standard and the railroads.
THE Standard Oil Company il receiving
unjust discrimination in open rates. The
published rates from the leading Standard
shipping points are relatively much lower
than rates from the shipping points Of its
competitors. The advantage to the Stand
ard over its competitors from such open
discrimination il enormous, probably as
important az that obtained through the
secret rates. II an unfair discrimination
be obta med by one shipper through a
device. which in itself is seemingly not
prohibited by law, that fact shows that
the law is defective and should he strength
ened; it does not show that the discrimi-
nation is proper or just"
The ommissioner then enumerated a
few of the most important determinations
and the methods by which they were
obtained. He explained, however, that
many Of them had been corrected since
they were discovered by his bureau. He
says that for about ten years the New
England territory had been in control of
the Standard by reason Of the refusal Of
the New York, New Haven and Hartford
road and Of the Boston and Maine road
on all but a few division points to prorate
on oil shipped from west of the Hudson
River. This refusal increased the rail rates
from the West to the independents from
8 to 10 cents per 100 pounds.
The Standard had also been able to alb
eolutely control for many years the sale
of oil in the northeastern part of New York
and in a portion of Vermont by means Of
secret rates from the refineries at Clean
-.l D,alng,n. Tha DappI,,l,a,,a haI