The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-07-28

In the criminal cases or this sort. Tne
reversal of the Standard Oil case by
the court of appeals must be accepted
by the government as a true finding
under the law because the men who
controlled the action of congress have
evaded the duty of broadening the ex-
listing statute governing appeals.
zone important result at least will
come from this decision. The popular
demand that the responsible officials
of corporations found guilty of engag
ing in conspiracies in restrain, of trade
be punished with tehms Of imprison-
ment will become so strong that cong
ress will have to enact further laws to
give effect to it, if existing law does
not suffice Large fines punish stock
holders and creditors. Let the men in
control of corporations which break
the law go to the penitentiary."
Defeat Of Government.
On the other hand, the New York
papers, with the exception of the World
and the Press, viewed with ill-conceal-
ed satisfaction the crushing defeat sus-
| tanned by the government in its prose-
cu,ion of Standard Oil. Following are
extracts from their editorials:
World-"If by chance of incorpora-
ton from Ohio to New Jersey, or Illi-
nois to Indiana, the Standard Oil com
pany can appear as virgin offender,
| why should not any habitual burglar
escape a sentence as an old offender
merely by changing his name or TAX
ing a alias? The language of the re-
versing opinion, saying that Judge
Lands sentence of the Standard Oil
company was an abuse of judicial dis
creation, because the man who hap
pens to be the judge is above the law
will be quoted thousands Of times by
the enemies of the courts. 1t is I'M
| fortunate the most harsh condemnation
of a judge by his, higher associates
should have been for his attempt ade-
uuatelv to punish the Stndard Oil COM
| pany."
| Press-"The outcome of the attempt
| to collect this huge fine matters very
! little AS Judge Lands has pointed
out as Governor Hughes has so lucid
| ly demonstrated a fine levied upon a
! monopoly in an indispensable commodity
is equal to a license for the monopoly 10
do business. The fine is paid by the
corporation, but the money to pay it
with is exacted from the consumers Of
the product monopolized. The judg
ment of the court of appeals, which
calls for careful scrutiny and cool
reading. cannot alter the public con-
viction that the offenders behind the
Standard Oil corporation in its rebate
crimes deserve ii be in the penitentiary,
and will be sent there when the law is
enforced by those who take oaths to
administer it,
Reversal is Rebuke.
Times-"Better Evidence of the wis
dom of setting up courts of appeal was
never furnished than in the case of the
great Standard Oil fine, where the
United States circuit court of appeals
has now reversed Judge Lands and or
dered a new trial. If it may ever be
assumption may be made in this in
since, and with peculiar warrant, for
with quite unusual plainness of speech
the court of appeals, in it's unanimous
opinion, declares that the law is laid
down by Judge Landis' strange doc
trine in Anglo Saxon Jurisprudence.
and, if it be law, it is because the man
who happens to be he judge is above
the law"
Post-"The reversal Of the decision
against the Standard Oil company
which carried Judge Lands exemplary
punitive fine of $29,24O,OOo, will come as
a surprise to the public. 1t is fortu-
nate from a public standpoint, that the
appellate bench is unanimous. A dis
senting opinion might have served as
a firebrand. Many will argue anew on
the one hand that the fine was specta-
cular play to the gallery; others must
regret that gigantic corporations can
ever count on the laws delays or tech
nicalities to shield them against the
penalty of violating troublesome sta
tutes. The reversal, indeed, lets loose
a swarm of interesting conjectures.
Will Mr.. Roosevelt read the judges
lesson in public? What effect will the
event have on the pending canvess?
There is one thing which needs further
explanation, however,
Tribune-"The courts rulings that
the number of offenses was arbitrarily
multiplied and that the judge cannot
fit his penalty to the supposed resour-
ces of remote persons not before him
as defendants preclude the possibility