Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-10
LA WLER HAS
STRONG
SANTA FE ATTORNEYS LOSE ON
DAYS HEARING
REBATE PROSECUTION PRO-
CROSSES IN COURT
Federal Attorney LawIer and Lawyers
for Defense Have Stormy Session,
Until Judge WeIIborn
". Calls Order

Oscar Lawier, the United States district
attorney. who is prosecuting the Santa Fe
railway in the famous rebate case which
has been pending in the federal court for
a number of days, had the floor entirely
to himself the greater part Of the time
yesterday.
Toward the close of the court session Of
Tuesday there arose number of legal
technicalities which thwarted further
progress of the case in many respects. so
that 1t was necessary to thresh out the
legal differences yesterday.
Mr.. Lawler arose before the bench a
little after IL o'clock, and after short
Introductory commenced citing various
rebate cases which had appeared In other
courts of the United States or state SUI
preme courts. In nearly all the citations
the opinions of the jurists who handed
down their opinions on the various cases
were more than favorable for the prose-
cution and proved telling points against
the railways attorneys.
When the latter knew which way
affairs were drifting they showed their
displeasure, and when the United States
district attorney in a forcible appeal to
the court commenced to emphasize his
position and draw happy comparison OF
the case under consideration with a
former organge shipment rebate case
against the Southern Pacific one Of the
opposing attorneys was up on his feet,
and in no uncertain tones declared: II
fail to see the necessity of the counsefs
present citation; the Santa Fe was not
connected with that long past affair.""
1--WE shall see," ALMOST shouted Mr..
Lawler; 1--WE shall see that later. sir. AS
for the present the remarks made are
personal insult to me- l understand their
significance. This Is not the first time the
gentleman has insulted me In this case.
So far have needed 1t but little. There
is a time, however, when even patience
ceases to be a virtue"
At this moment Judge Wellborn struck
his hammer on the desk and demanded
Order"
Mr.. Lawler then resumed his argu
ments and citations. After he had finished
with a certain noteworthy New Haven
case he remarked: There is one thing
l discover on reading these opinions that
the law invariably and unquestionably
demands that all shipping rates and other
relative requirements should be made
public to the shippers as a whole. and
that there should be no discrimination or
favoritism shown.
Violation Is Remarkable
From what the prosecution has learned
and from what the evidence has proven
so far, there has been a remarkable vio-
lation of the law made by the defendant
railway In this essential particular. 1t is
evident from the manner in which the
prosecution interprets the testimony of
George W. Smith and others that there
has been a decided favoritism, If you
please and Mr. Smith himself acknowl-
edged that he had failed to post any
notices of shipping rates in the station of
Nelson, Ariz., which fact, of course, left
the shippers of that place In total. ignor-
ance of shipping rates, and the result
understand has been discrimination in
rate charges. This is the situation.
'The law plainly states that every
shipper-mark the word 'every-should
know the rates which the railway have
decided on as uniform. The shipper wants
to know If he is being charged any more
than his competitor, and he has that
right"
Further important points were dis
cussed by Mr. Lawler, and when he took
his seat about o'clock yesterday after
noon 1t was with evident satisfaction.
Attorney Camp, for the railway. arose
and freely presented to the court his side
of the case. The best that was done was
to sadden the plight of the defense's case
still more and give the prosecution new
threads of argument to work on.
At O'Clock the court closed it's session
until this morning, when the final argu-
ments of the case will be heard.
Mention was made yesterday to Mr..
Lawler concerning the incrimination OF
George w. Smith, which was effected by
his failure to post the rate notices. In
reply the lawyer said that he was going
to indict the man before the grand jury
and let that body decide as to his guilt or
innocence.