The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-11-10
BOOMERANG
ROOSEVELT'S DUPLICITY COMES
HOME TO BOOST.
His Decision That Saved Paul Morton
from the Consequences of Wrong
doing Now Taken Advantage
of by Trusts.

OF by Trusts.
When President Roosevelt decided
IN the Santa Fee railroad rebate case
that the corporation and not the Of
ficials was to be punished he created
a precedent that is now coming home
to the Roosevelt roost. He was SO
anxious to save Paul Morton, who was
the official that had ordered the re-
batting and who was a member of his
cabinet, that the punishment of sim
liar trust law breakers in the future
was sacrificed to protect a member of
the presidents household. The Roose-
welt precedent is proving a boomerang
in the case against the Standard Oil
ishment under the Roosevelt ruling
is probable. Even if the Standard Oil
trust is convicted, it cannot be pun
ished, for a corporation cannot be i'm
prisoned and a fine would be obvious
ly inadequate for the offenses charged
and would be partly. at least, paid by
many innocent stockholders, instead
OF the real culprits.
When the president appointed those
two celebrated lawyers, Messrs. Jud-
son Harmon and Frederick n. Judson,
both Democrats, to investigate and re-
port on the Santa Fe rebating case,
they reported that Paul Morton, the
manager of the Santa Fe railroad,
should be prosecuted and not the rail
road. Their argument was briefly:
No proceeding should be com
menced without evidence. but facts
presumed or %judicial'y noticed are evil
dence. The proceedings we recon-
mended is not unusual or exceptional,
but, on the contrary, is the natural
and ordinary one in such cases.
What We have said is peculiarly
true of the great corporations of our
day. They cannot be imprisoned, and
punishment by fine is not only made
quate, but reaches the real culprits
only lightly, if at all. The evils with
which W. are now confronted are cor
porate in name, but individual in fact.
Guilt is always personal. SO long as
officials can hide behind their cor
porations no remedy can be effective
When the government searches out
the guilty men and makes corporate
wrong-doing mean personal punish
ment and dishonor the laws will be
obeyed."
The state of Ohio prosecuted Mr..
Rockefeller and the Standard Oil COM
pany at Findlay, and the attorneys for
Mr.. Rockefeller took advantage of the
precedent set by President Roosevelt
in the Paul Morton and Santa Fe rail
road case, declaring that only the cor
poration and not Mr.. Rockefeller can
be reached by the proceedings. Mr..
Phelps, the attorney for the state, fol
lowed the argument of Messrs. Har-
mon and Judson and contended that
the individual and not the corpora
ton should be reached, declaring:
"A corporation has no face except
a false face. 1t is a mantle that COW
ers the individuals in it, SO that when
the head of the company, its presi-
dent, speaks, that is the language of
the corporation itself"
How can those who have been de-
ceived into believing that President
Roosevelt is really intent on prose
cutting and Furnishing the trust and
corporation magnates, who conspire
to plumber the public for the benefit
of themselves and their associates, e
cuse his evident intention to protect
the real law breakers by creating the
dangerous precedent in the Morton
case. For six years President Roose-
welt has been boasting of trust busting
and controlling corporations SO that
their unlawful eXactiOns from the peo-
pie may be Ightened and lifted, but
can anyone point to a trust or corpo-
ration magnate convicted and in Jail
the result of these years of boast
ing? One such conviction and Jail
sentence would have more deterrent
effect on future trust and corporation
plundering than all the administration
has done in the six years of its exist
ence.