The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-04
OF THE FINE
CAUSES SURPRISE
Penalties Imposed Many Times
the Value Of the Oil
Carried.

NEW YORK. August 3.-News OF
the unprecedented fine imposed upon
the standard OIL Company by Judge
Lands in the United States Court at
Chicago to-day was received in New
York with excited interest. The gen
been that the decision would be
unfavorable to the Standard Oil
Company. but apparently no one
looked for the imposition Of the
maximum penalty Of the 1852 counts
of the indictments reaching the cnor-
nous total OF s29,24o.00o
An official Of the Standard Oil Com
pany said the amount of the fines
evidenced the injustice against the
company.
"The amount of Judge .I4andss
fines, said the official to-day authors
tatively for the company, us fifty times
the value of the oil carried under the
Indictment The entire value of the oil
was s650,O00. For each car of oil, val
ued at about $3.50. we have been fined
$40, 900. An appeal will be taken in
! the United States Circuit Court OF
l5Appeals, but whether 1t Will be enter
4 ed at once or whether the full time
allowed bylaw VIII be taken. will be
determined by our counsel IN Chi
what the President Says.
President James A. Moffatt, Of the
Standard Oil Company of Indiana, made
a statement to-day in reference to the
judgment By Judge Lands pronounced
lin Chicago which. in part, follows:
&.The court having pronounced its
i Judgment in the case of the, United
States VS.. Standard OIL Company, OF
Indiana, there can now be no I'M
| propriety in stating our position to the
i American people
/ "The facts in this case are simple
. and easily understood. The Standard
/ OIL Company, of Indiana was convicted
OF receiving what the government
4 claimed was a concession from the
i Chicago and Alton in the shipment OF
/ oil from its refinery at Whiting, Ind.
! to East st. Louis, Ill. The contention
! of the government was that the law.
1 full rate was Is cents per@lOO pounds
4 between these two points. The de.
! PENDANT claims. first, that the Lawful
rate wasr cents; and secondly, II
i cents was not the lawful rate. 1t Was
n the rate issued to the Standard by the
4 Alton as the lawful rate. and thu
Standard was justified In believing
4 from It's own investigation and from
!. the information received from the rail-
J road company that cents was thu
Elawful rate.
!, "The 1S-cent rate was q class and
not Commodity rate, and the chair
! man OF the Chicago and st. Louis
Traffic Association. tina association
Issuing the 1s-cent class rate. under
oath testified that 1t was never ap.
s piled and was never intended to ap.
ply to oil.
: . ''Thousands OF tons of freight have
been shipped from these points under
a the same circumstances as the Stand
, ard Shipments and II the Standard |
. guilty in this case, 80 Is practical!
! every other shipper In this grea
!. manufacturing territory. Is there {
purpose in selecting the Standard a.
the Victim?
q "The American public not only be
lieves in fair play in the abstract. but
with all the facts before 1t, 1t has thu
: capacity to determine whether de
= PENDANT, rich or poor, has received (
!, square DEAL
"For all these reasons the STANDARD
:. OH Company asserts that it is no
h even technically guilty and that !
! ought never to have been prosecuted
8 because of the claimed failure of |
railroad company-which has neithe
been indicted nor prosecuted-to fl
its tariff, and that the prosecution o
u this defendant under the circumstance
Q OF this case Is a prostitution of tn
. spirit and the high purposes Of tn
. interstate commerce act"