Milford chronicle., 1907-08-09
The OIL TRUST
FINED S29,24O,OOO
Federal Judge InfiOts Greatest Pen
atty Ever Recorded.
ARE NO BETTER THAN THIEVES

Chicago. Aug. 5.-Expressing It as
BIS only regret that the law did not
permit him to infiot a prison penalty,
United States District Judge Kene-
saw Mountain lands rendered judg-
nent against the Standard OIL COM
many OF Indiana for the crime Of rsbat'
ing, and imposed a fine of S2e, e,240.0 900.
Pronouncing this tremendous judg-
ment. far and away the greatest fine
that has been imposed in all the his
tory of jurisprudence, the court read
a decision that is in keeping with the
monumental character of the punish
ment. It was a deliverance Of great
length and of almost sensational quail
tiles. If, after passing through the
tortuOus channels of the appellate
courts the decision handed down sur
wives. It expected that II will become
and remain a landmark in jurispru-
dence and a foundation upon which
interstate commerce litigation shall
rest for generations to come.
The Judge holds that the man,
whether in his private interest OF as
the o6icer of a corporation, who OBJ
tains and uses a preferential rate in
public traffic is equally criminal with
and no better than q counterfeiter and
a thief.
The Standard OILS trick of making
shipments as interstate from state
boundary to state boundary, and
shifting over state lines by short
a-t "a rau1rtn ffH1 fc
denounced by the Judge as worth
less evasion, and the principle as laid
down that a shipment whose ultimate
destination is in another state is an
interstate shipment from the moment
Il begins to move.
Answering the argument of the at. |
torneys for the Standard Oil company .
that the imposition of fine upon each /
Of the 1852 counts Of the indictment /
would violate the constitutional pro /
vision against excessive fines, Judge |
Iandis declares that the Standard Oil /
company Of New Jersey, with profits /
exceeding s4O,OO0O0O a year, is the
real defendant and when its great
wealth is considered, the fine is not
excessive. To impose a small fine, he
saws. would be but to encourage VIC
lation of the law, for the company
would accept It as a license and not
as a punishment. He declared i'm
pressively that, great as it was this
fine was not as great a punishment as
would be the deprivation Of a human
being of his liberty for a single day.
Judge Lands judgment was rem
dered upon an indictment tried by
jury before him. and upon which
verdict of guilty was returned on 1852
counts, each for a carload shipment
of oil from Whiting, Ind, TO st. Louis.
BY agreement with the Chicago & Al
ton railroad. which handled the ship
ments the Standard Oil company was
required to pay but six cents per 100
pounds freight, whereas the publish
ed rate filed with the interstate com
merce commission was Is cents per
100 pounds.
The Elkins law provides a punish.
ment Of not less than $1,000 and not
more than $4,000 fine for each of the
1892 carloads Of oil shipped under the
six-cent rate, the aggregate being $29,-
100000.
Even with this terrific punishment
the law is not done with the Standard
OIL. Judge Lands earnestly declared
that he believes justice to be still un
satisfied. 1t is therefore possible that !
he may direct the trial of seven other ]
that are pending against {
the Standard. These indictments in
clude a total of 1922 counts for rebat-
ing and the imposition of the maxi
mum fine of $4,000 upon each count I
would mean the appalling fine of SS4,- ]
440, 600. ]
=. u.