Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-03
S29,24O,OOO FINE IMPOSED
ON STANDARD OIL COMPANY

crime is committed, the punishment
should be great enough TO be a Gu-
ture warning
The Standard was convicted of re-
ceiving 1,462 rebates from the Chi
cago & Alton road. The trial lasted
six weeks.
The Indictment was the largest one
in the history of the federal courts
Seven other indictments, contain
ing in all 2,000 counts, are pending
trial.
STANDARD Oil attorneys say they
will appeal the case to the highest
court.
Aimed at Oil Trust.
Technically the fine is imposed on
the Standard Oil company of Indiana.
Practically 1t is to be paid by the
demonstrated in the hearing in which
John d. Rockefeller recently testi-
fed.
1t was there stated that the stand
ard Of New Jersey was the parent Of
the Indiana concern. The latter is
companies. Its capital is $1,0OO,O0G
$4,000 ON Each Count.
When, under the indictment Sc
company of Indiana was found guilty
of violating the anti-rebate law, the
fixing of the fine for that offense de-
volved upon Judge Lands, and as he
had free hand in assessing any fine
between $1,000 and $4,000 on each
of the 1,462 counts in the indictment,
he was confronted with a rather diff
cult proposition. He did not know
how much punishment the company
could stand, and this is the reason
why he summoned John ID. Rockefel-
Ter and others prominently connected
with Standard Oil affairs, so as to
learn some of the financial secrets Of
the company which its counsel were
either unable or unwilling to tell.
The judge found that Mr.. Rocke.el-
Ter knew very little about the affairs
of the company of which he Is presi-
dent, and that little he was sure OF.
He divulged, however, that the capt.
ta' IA. -dard Oil company of
tt IS about 100000, ,000,"
ana It the annual dividends now
are 'about 40 per cent"
Standard President Kicks.
New York, August S.-Presldent
James A. Moffet, of the Standard Oil
company of Indiana, made the follow
ing statement today in reference to
the judgment Judge Lands pro-
nounced in the federal court at Chit
cago:
'"The facts in this case are sS>lp.e
and easily understood The STANDARD
OIL company of Ind -,s was convict
ed of receiving what the government
claimed was a concession from 'he
Chicago & 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 lawful rate was sixteen
cents per hundred pounds between
these points. The defendant c/ms,
first that the lawful rate was six
cents; and secondly. if six cen~ was
not the lawful rate, it was a rate
Issued to the Stan 1dr1 by the Alton
as the lawful rate, and the Stand
ard was justified IL believing from
its own investigation and from Ia
structions received from the railroad
commission that six cents was the
Lawful rate.
Wants square Deal"
1--WE insist that whatever may be
ones technical view, every equitable
consideration is with the defendant,
this defendant a square DEAL this
prosecution would never have been
instituted. The American public not
only believes in fair play in the alb
stract, but with all the facts before
1t, it has the capacity to determine
whether the defendant, rich or poor,
has received a square deal
The Standard oil company asserts
that it is not even technically guilty,
and that it ought never to have oeen
prosecuted because of the claimed
failure of the railroad company,
which has neither been indicted nor
prosecuted, to file its tariff, and that
the prosecution of this defendant IN
der the circumstances of this is a
prostitution of the spirit and high
purpose of the interstate commerce
act"
An official of the Standard Oil COM
pany said the amount of the fines
imposed by Judge lands is an evil
dence of injustice against the COM
pany.
''The amount" he said, fs fifty
times the value of the oil carried
under the indictment. The total value
of the oil was $67O,OOO, for each car
Is valued at about $3.50, and we have
been fined 100000 per car" Stand
ard attorneys pointed out the fact
that nothing approaching the sum the
company had been sentenced to pay
has ever been exacted before i'm a
proceeding for a violation Of a
statute.