Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-25
ELK|NS ACT UPHELD,
Anti-rebate Law Not Repealed
 by Hepburn Statute.
OIL TRUST PROP SHATTERED
In Great Northern Railway Case Stu
 preme Court Gives Blow to Standard Octopus Defense Against the S29,-
 100000 Fine-Arouses Great Interest.

100000 Fine-Arouses Great Interest.
 Washington, Feb. 25.-Great impor- tance is attached by the department of justice to the decision of the SUI preme court of the United States i'll the case of the Great Northern Railway company versus the United States, in which the court held that the Hepburn rate law does not repeal the Elkins act. Had decision against the United States been rendered in this case 1t would have seriously affected the con tention of the government in several cases of large importance, among them that of the Standard Oil compa- ny. in which a $29,000,000 fine was i'm posed.
 The case in which the opinion was rendered was instituted in the United States district court of Minnesota. It was alleged that there had been fifteen violations of the first section of the Elkins act, on which the court imposed fine of $15,O0O, or $1,000 for each violation.
 Pending Cases Not Affected.
 The alleged offenses were commit ted in the summer of 1905 and are al- legged to have been in the form of con sessions to the W. P. Devereux com pany on shipments of grain from Min neapolis to Washington. The company admitted the concessions and took the ground that in amending the Elkins act to provide for punishment by i'm prisonment rather than by fines the Hepburn act had so modified the Elkins act as to effect its repeal and render punishment under it impracti- cable.
 Justice White said that the effect of the Hepburn law in repeating the Elkins act must be considered in the light of section 13, revised statutes, which provides that the repeal of any statute shall not have the effect of re- leasing any penalty or liability incur red under the statute repealed. Quot ing section 107 of the Hepburn act, which provides that the act shall not affect leases pending in the courts," Justice White said:
 Views of the Court.
 'The difficulty of construction, if any, arises from the word following the general repeating cause, but the amendments herein provided for shall not affect causes now pending in the courts of the United States, but such causes shall be prosecuted to conclu- sion in the manner heretofore provided by law
 "rhese words, we think. do not ex- pressly or by fair implication conflict with the general rule established by section 13, revised statutes, since by their very terms they are concerned with the application to proceedings pending in the courts of the United States of the new methods of proce- dure created by the Hepburn law. Any other construction would necessitate expunging the words shall be prose- cuted to conclusion in the manner heretofore provided by law
 The New Remedies.
 "The provision commanding that the new remedies should not be applicable to causes then pending in the courts of the United States gives significance to the whole clause and serves to make clear the fact that the legislative mind was concerned with the confusion or uncertainty which might be begotten from applying the new remedies to causes then pending in the courts and demonstrates therefore that this sub ject. and this subject alone, was the matter with which the provision in question was intended to deal.
 "The argument that by the applica- ton of the elementary rules by which the inclusion of one must he considered as the exclusion of the other it follows that the power to further prosecute all but cases then pending in the courts was destroyed by the Hepburn law be- cause pending cases are enumerated in section 10 and are hence not saved by revi-ed statutes. section F. simply as- sumes that the provision of section 10 was intended to save the right to fur ther prosecute the cases then pending fin the courts and disregards the fact that the provision as to pending causes was solely addressed to the remedies to be applied in the future carrying on of such cases.'