Middletown transcript., 1907-07-06
WASHINGTON LETTER

1t is Admiral Baron Yanamoto, who is o
his way to this country with five othe
distinguished naval officers. They hav
been making tour of the naval countrie
of Europe inspecting arsenals and doc
yards and gathering statistics of navs
power and ship building capacity of th
various countries. OF course, this is no
their ostensible object. They are merel.
informing themselves on modern practic
in ship construction for the benef
of their home government. But it j
well understood that it is not onll
technical information that the Japan
ese government will reap. The admira
and his party will stay for some days il
Washington and will include in theil
visit all the American navy yards from
Brookly to Mare Island. This govern
ment is preparing to make their stay
pleasant for them, and they will be shown
all there is to see, and then they can &c
home and report on the sdvisability oi
surprising the United States with naval
attack without declaration of war, as
they did with Russia.
*x*
| The Department of Justice has been
watching with unusual interest the course
of Judge Landis, of Chicago, who has a
chance to impose on the Standard Oil
Company the biggest fine in the history
of courts and corporations. The Standard
this week tried its usual method of die
tating to the court what it should and
| should not do. The charge against the
company is combination in restraint of
trade, and there are so many convictions
against it that il the maximum penalty
were imposed in each case, the aggregate
would be the immense sum of $29, ,624, :
600. OF course it is not likely that any
such huge fine will be imposed. The
Standard could pay it, of course, and the
chances are that it would not begin to
cover the amount the company has gath
cred by violations of law in the past ten
years. But that the fine will be stiff
one is indicated by the fact that Judge
Lands demanded to know the income and
resources of the company before imposing
it. He said in explanation that be always
made point of doing this in case where
the amount of the fine was optional with
him. He did it, he said, as a matter of
justice both to the public and the crimi-
nal. The attorneys for the company
coolly refused to give the information,
whereupon Judge Lands eubpeonaed a
number of the principal officers of the
company including John D. Rockefeller.
The attorneys have been tuning and fuss
ing to get him to recall these subpeonaes,
but Judge Lands said that he knew how
to run his court and did not propose to
be dictated to. The Attorney General
approves thoroughly of the firm stand he
has taken and the outcome of the contest
is awaited with interest as an object lesson
to the legal fraternity and corporations in
general in their dealings with the courts.
So
The appeal that has been made to the
President to take hand in settling the
telegraph strike is likely to bear fruit.
Commissioner of Labor Neill, who seemed
to have the things settled a week ago, is
in Communication with the Chief Justice |
of the Supreme Court, and the other off,
GERS of the Industrial Arbitration Commits |
sion that was founded by the President |
with his Nobel Peace Prize money for just |
such case as this. If it is decided that
the Commission shall take hold of the |
case, it will be the first time that it has
interfered in a strike since it was estab- |
lished last October. OF course, it has no |
legal right to force arbitration on the con-
but if the commission drops q |
hint that the situation is getting out OF |
hand and public policy demands settle- |
ment, there is little doubt that the parties |
to the controversy will arbitrate. At the |
same time some of the Illinois representa-
tives in Congress who happen to be men,
bers of the commercial telegraphers'
union, are preparing a bill that will be
submitted to Congress at the next session,
for thorough investigation of |
the whole telegraph problem with view
to recommending government ownership |
or government control. As this country |
is the only great power in the world that
does not own and operate its telegraph |
lines, there is enough that is tangible and
practical in the suggestion to make the
companies feel little ner-
vous. At the same time, it must be said
to the credit ofthe private companies now
operating the telegraph lines, that the
service all round is good deal better here
than it is abroad. The government SER
vice~in England and her colonies is not
first rate, and the situation on the conti-
nent OF Europe, while little better, is by
no means SO good as in this country
though it should be remembered that
service everywhere else is much
cheaper than it is in America. Whether
the government could or would exert it.
self as the private companies do in the
press service is serious question, and il
is hardly to be supposed that with the
government running the telegraph as it
does the Postoffice there would be many
of the record breaking feats that are now
in the transmission of news
matter.
~
There has been another of the numer-
GUS stories set afoat about chaos and I'M
pending revelations OF scandal in the
Panama Canal service. The present and
particular story is to the effect that there
is to be an entire Reorganization of the
Canal Commission owing to the discovery
Of graft and Incompetence everywhere.
One thing is very certain, and that is that
Major Geothals and the other engineer Of
ficers who have been associated with him
On the work will not resign their jobs as
30 many of the civil engineers have done,
and they will not leave the scene of their
work till they are transferred by the War
Department. Now Secretary Taft says
that the story is made out Of the whole
cloth, and that be has no intention of re-
moving anyone, though he may send