The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-04

Chicago, Aug. S-Judge Kenesaw NJ.
Lands today in the United States district
court fined the Standard Oil company OF
Indiana SIS, $4,000 for violations of the
law against accepting rebates from rail
roads. The fine is the largest ever as
sessed against any individual or any cor
pOratiOn in the history of American Ju-
risprudence, and is slightly more than
13l times as great as the amount received
by the company through its rebatinS OPP
eTatiOnS. The case Will be carried 10 the
higher courts by the defendant company.
The penalty imposed on the company is
the maximum permitted under the law,
and il was announced at the END OF q
long opinion in which the methods and
practices of the Standard Oh company
were mercilessly scored. The judge, ia
fact declared in his opinion that the Of
ficials of the Standard Oil company who
We're responsible for the practices or
which the corporation was found guilty
were no better than counterfeiters and
thieves, his exact language being:
Severe Language of the Court.
I'VE may as well look at this situation
squarely. The men who thus deliberately
violate this law wound society more deep
" than does he who cOunterfeits the coin
or steals letters from the mail. The nom
mai defendant IS the standard Oll COM
pany of Indiana a milliOu-dollar corpora
ton. The Standard Oil company of New
Jersey. whose capital is Sl00,O00OU0, Is the
that if body OF men organize large
corporation under the laws of one state
for the purpose of carrying on business
throughout the United States and for the
accompls Of that purpose absorb
the stock of other corporations such cor
poFatiOns so absorbed have tnencefOrwaTd
but nominal existence. They cannot IN
itiate or execute any inherent business
policy, their elimination in this respect
being a prime consideration for their
absorption So when after this process
has taken place. crime Is committed IN
the name of such smaller corporation, the
law will not consider that the latter cor
pOratiOn Is the real offender. And where
the only possible motive of the crime is
the enhancement of dividends, and the
only punishment authorized is fine,
great caution must be exercised by the
court that the fixing of a small amount
may not encourage the defendant to fur
Their violations by esteeming the penalty
TO be in the nature OF license.
Fine Fits the Crime.
"The defendant argues that to hold
II for !, 462 ohenSes would be a violation
of the constitutional prohibition against
the imposition Of excessive fines, and it
is urged that congress could never have
intended to confer upon the court such
power. It Is the view of the court that
for the law to take from one of its cor
porate creatures as a penalty for the
commission of a dividend producing crime
less than One-third of its net revenues
falls far short of the imposition of an eX-
cessive fine, ana surely to do this would
not be the exercise of as much real power
as is employed when a sentence is imposed
taking from a human being one day of
his liberty. In this connection il may be
observed that the figures exhibiting the
net earnings of the Standard Oil company
of New Jersey during the period covered
ny this indictment are exceedingly in
stTUctive because of the peculiarly init
mate relations between the character of
the crime and the revenues of the Of
fender.
Schemes to Evade the Law.
THE law prohibiting preferential rail
road rates was passed twenty years ago.
Its adoption was preceded by vigorous oD-
position interpOsed by those who had been
the beneficiaries of the vicious practices
its enactment was designed to abolish.
Immediately thereafter these persons set
about to devise means for its evasion.
The records Of the court and of the inter-
state commerce commission show the en-
ployment of a large variety of schemes
to accomplish this result. During the
period since 1897 congress has repeatedly
endeavOred to effectively amend the law
with a view to the accomplishment of its
great object Finally, in 1903, the Ell1ins
law was passed. The court recalls that
at that time the earnest hope was very
generally entertained that at last a means
had been devised that would put an end
TO preferential railroad rates. and vet a
few months thereafter the Standard Oil
company procured 1900 carloads of prop
erty to be shipped at an unlawful secret
rate. And for this Offense the Elkins law
authorizes punishment only by fine an
obvious defect. remedied. however by
the present law. which pTescribes impris-
onment in the penitentiary for q like Of
Tense. However, it is the business of a
judge to administer the law as he finds
It, rather than eXpatiate on the made
quacy of punishment authorized for its
infraction.
Judgment and Sentence.
1t is the judgment and sentence OF
the court, that the defendant the Stand
ard OH company, pay a fine of S29. 240, goo
AUGUSTUS st CAIJD