The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-23
Judge McPherson An
 1lounces Penalties.
TWO MEN ARE SENT TO JAIL
The Burlington Railway Also Must
 Pay Over Money.
Appeals Filed in Each Case and stays of Execution Granted Until June % That They May be Per-
 fected.

Kansas City, June 22.-In the United states District Court here today Judge Smith McPherson of Red Oak, Iowa, passed sentence on the seven defen- dants recently convicted in this court of making concessions and accepting and conspiring to accept rebates on shipments. Judgments in the nature of fines were assessed as follows:
 Swift and Company. $15,000.
 Cudahy Packing Company. $15.o0o.
 The Armour Packing Company. s15.- 0o0.-
 Nelson. Morris and Company. s15.ooo.
 Chicago. Burlington and Quincy Railway, $15.000.
 George L. Thomas of New York was fined $6,000 and sentenced to four months in the penitentiary.
 L. B. Taggart of New York was hn- ed S4.000 and sentenced to three months in the penitentiary.
 The fine of $15.0oo assessed against the Burlington covered all four counts, the aggregate amount of the fines in the seven cases totaIing $65,000. Appeals were filed in each case and a stay of execution was granted until June 2e. until tiny could be perfected. The bonds in the ease of Thomas and Taggart were fixed at S6,000 each.
  sona1ly and upon being sentenced promptly ftenished the required bond. The bonds in the case of the packing companies and the Burlington were fixed at s15.0o0 each.
 The sentence was passed in the va rious cases after which motions for new trials were made by John c. Cowan, of Omaha. and Frank Hager- man of Kansas City. for the packers. and by Judge o. M. Spencer of St. Jo- seph, upon behalf of the Burlington Railroad and Thomas and Tasgart. All these motions were overru1ed.
 Judge McPherson made statement of the cases before passing judgment, in which he reviewed the various charges brought at the trial Tn the case of the four packing companins convicted Of receiving concessions in accepting rate of twentv-three cents hundred pounds on exports ship rnents from the Burlington Raflroad. together with connecting lines between the Mississippi river and New York, when the published tariR was thirty five cents and the case of .he Rurlins- ton Railroad, convicted of granting these concessions, he said;
 A'I state these facts in writing to teyNto correct the oft repeated state l9nent that these are rebate cases. It Is not so It is a case of unlawful con- cession after August 9th, at rate of twelve oent1 less than shown by the tariffs then on file at Washington un- der a contract of June 16 ol twenty three cents, the lawful and duly estao- lished rate"
 He continued:
 stWhen the Clover Leaf increased the rate August to thirty-fve cents' the Lehigh Valley and othAr connecting lines in the east filed ~concurrcnces, that is to say. the eastern lines agreed to such increase.
 And in the trial of the pfck'ng house case, the agreed statement Of facts recited that the Burlinston Company agreed to such increase:
 'In the Burlington case, 1t refused to sign this statement. So that hke many other crimes, two must be ensag- Id. or to restate it. If gull ty the other is If the car Tier makes the concession IL is guilty and if the shipper accepts ehe concession it is guilty.
 And the only difference in the HV;- Aence of the case is, the shlppCrs agreed that the Burlington is party to the increase of rates ilt"o "F ''7 Glover Leaf. August 'th.
 contention of No Importance.
 'sThe truth is that the Burlneton Aid not file a concurrence with the Commission increasing the rate over inc Clover Leaf and Eastern cohhec tions, connecting with the Clover heaI' and as to that cont.4.tion the Burning = Ion Ia right But it is a contention or no fmportance. This is so because on the same or following day the Bur lington filed with t Interstate com merce Commission, tarin rate Of thir- ty-five cents from tke Mississippi river In Ne York. And after tn date no one of the public could ship from that river fo New Yor.: fo: lc5s than thirty fivs cents and 1t was the same whether the shipment went East from St. Louis over the Glover Leaf or Northwest over the Burlington or other points on the Burlington lines at the Mississippi river
 And the contention that the Bur 1ington did not file '7oncurrence to the new and increased tariff rate of the Glover Leaf is of no importance for another reason, namely:
 The Burlington, aft August 6, did turn the freight prepaid over to the Glover Leaf and in the language of the Elkins law participated in ny rates 60 filed or published
 80 that on and after August 6, all shippers of like products of like classi- fieation were compelled to pay thirty five cents, while Ihe four packing houses got their goods through at twenty three cents
 Tt is my opinion the contract of June 1T was of doubtful valadity when made and after August ', was device with in the meaning of the law.
 whether the statute covers exports shipments is a more serious question Like many other Iques.lons there is no way of concluding, the question except hy a decision of the highest vourt In the land"
 Judge McPherson said that the con clusions of the Interstate Commerce Commission on the point of exports are embarrassing, and added:
 But regardless of what the Commis aion said, those indictments have been returned and prosecuted to conviction
 "The constitution covers exports in the same clause that 1t covers com merce between the States,
 And the statutes in question do the same. and after great deal of concern and thought, I am not able to see the distinctions that defendants counsel seeks to make"
 The Verdlcts Just.
 Judge McPherson said that he was fully persuaded that the verdicts in the packing house cases and that of the 4urlington are right, and he assessed