Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1907-08-22
Miss Trumb,ll's Views.
News and Observer. !

Inc country has properly ap-
plauded Judge Kennesaw Noun.
tain Lands because he imposed
a nne OF twenty-nine million dol.
lars on the Standard Oil for lille.
gal practices. When uprightiudp
es measure up to their duty in
that manner all the world ap-
plauds. Why? Because for wears
the fr'lstshave ridden rough shod
over law and the people had be-
gun to fear that the law was too
weak to cope with the trust evil.
But while the able attorneys of
the Federal Government cannot
be too highly commended a n d
while Judge Landis has written
his name large upon the scroll of
Just judges, the real hero in this
conviction of the Standard Oil
trust is not a man at all. The
chief credit is due to Miss Ida M.
Tarbell. When she began to write
and expose the Standard Oh
trust years ago, at first the
trust magnates laughed at "the
stories the old maid had written
to make bread" and many folks
did not take her stories serious
ly. But she continued to write
facts with marked ability a n d
power, and she gave facts that
proved to show the inside of the
trust. Her statements convinced
the American people that the oil
trust was a law-breaker of t h e
first magnitude, and it was her
Investigations that made posi-
bic the recent conviction. When
the Standard Oil TRUST is COM
PEELED to go out of business
(and it's time will surely come if
the administration does not fall
down)-the one person who will
deserve the most credit is Miss l.
da NJ. Tarbell. What does Miss
Tarbell think of the fine and the
conviction? Asked her opinion,
Miss Tarbell is quoted as saying:
"The day of the Standard Oil
Company in its old form is over.
1t mnst either conform now to
justice and fair dealing or it will
fall utterly. l don't mean that
it's day is over this year or will be
over next year, but it is as ssurely
ended as right is right.
"After thirty-1ve years OF such
practices as the Standard Oil
Company has been found guilty
OF it is entirely just that, after
conviction, the maximum punish
ment should be imposed. I AIN
only sorry that the punishment
can not be something more than
a fine.
"What l have done has been
for the public. 1t is not that |
have been vindictive, as many
people seem to believe. On the
contrary, I have a tremendous
admiration for the Standard Oil
Company and for many OF t h e
men in it. In one way they have
done a great public service, but
they have wiped out OF any pos
sibility OF gratitude from the pub
lie for these services by their il
legal methods of operation in
connection with theirgood work.
.If the offences OF which they
have just been found guilty were
their first, we might say that the
fine was excessive and be doubt
full about the wisdom OF imposing
it. But in it is only the last Of
fence we know OF in thirty-fve
years. 1t wasiust thirty-fivey years
ago that the United States Gov
ernment had to investigate the
Standard Oil Company for it's
illegal contracts with railroads.
The State OF Pennsylvania arose
in what was almost a revolution
against the Standards practice.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and N Q "
York in the seventies passed laws
to try to stop the trusts draw
back and rebates which twas re.