The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-08-06
STANDARDS VIEW
OF THE BIG FINE
AN OFFICIAL TALKS CONCERN
ING JUDGE lands DECISION.
Ask Only "Square Deal"-Not
Responsible for the Rate Issued
by the Chicago & Alton
Railroad.

by the Cmcago q AIto0
Railroad.
New York, Aug. 3.-News Of the
unprecedtei fine imposed upon the
Standard Oil company by Judge Lam
dis in the United States court at Chi
cago today was received in New York
with excited interest. The general
expectation for some days has been
that the decision would be unfavor-
able to the Standard Oil company, but
apparently no one looked for the i'm
position Of the maximum penalty Of
the 1,462 counts Of the indictments,
reaching the enormous total of $29,-
24O,O0O.
An official Of the Standard Oil COM
pany said that the amount Of the fines
evidenced the injustice against the
company.
"The amount Of Judge Lands
ffnes,' said the official today authori-
tatively for the company, els so times
the value Of the oil carried under the
Indictment. The total value Of oil
was $65O,0O0, or each car Of oil valu-
ed at about $3.50 we have been fnei
$4,000. An appeal will be taken in
the United States circuit court Of ap-
/ peals, but whether it will be entered
| at once or whether the full time al
lowed by law will be taken will be
! determined by our counsel in Chiea-
CO."
President James A. Moffatt Of the
Standard Oil company Of Indiana
made a statement today in reference
to the judgment by Judge Lands,
pronounced IN Chicago, which, In
part, follows. -. -
'"The court having pronounced its
Judgment in the ease Of the United
States VS.. Standard Oil company Of
Indiana, there can now be no impro-
priety in stating our position to the
American people.
Facts in the Case.
"The facts in this case are simple
and easily understood. The Standard
Oil company Of Indiana was convict
ed Of receiving what the government
claimed VISA a concession from the
Chicago & Alton in the shipment Of
oil from it's refinery at Whiting, Ind,
to East St. Louis, Ill. The eonten-
tion Of the government was that the
lawful rate was Is cents per LOO
pounds between these two points. The
defendants claim, first, that the law
full rate was 6 cents and secondly II
6 cents was not the lawful rate it was
the rate issued to the Standard Oil
company by the Alton as the lawful
rate and the Standard was justified
in believing from its own investlga-
ton and from the information secur-
ed from the railroad company that
.. cents was the lawful rate.
"The 1s-eent rate was 'class' not
commodity rate, and the chairman
of the Chicago and ST. Louis Traffic
association, the association issuing
the 1S-cent class rate, under oath
testified that it was never applied and
was never intended to apply to oil.
Thousands of tons Of freight
have been shipped from these points
under the same circumstances as the
Standards shipments and if the
Standard is guilty in this case, so is
practically every other shipper in this
great manufacturing territory. Is
there a purpose in selecting the
Standard as the victim?
"The American public not only be-
lieves in fair play in the abstract, but
with all the facts before it it has the
capacity to determine whether a de-
fendant. rich or poor, has received
square deal
"For all these reasons the STAN
dard Oil company asserts that it is
not even technically guilty and, that
it ought never to have been prosecut-
ed because of the claimed failure of
a railroad company-which has Meth
er been indicted nor prosecuted-to
file it's tariff, and that the prosecution
of this defendant under the circum-
stances Of this case is a prostitution
of the spirit and the higher purpose
Of the interstate commerce act. -