River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-02-27
CT. NORTHERN
loses Rebate SUIT
SUPREME COURT RULES THAT
HEPBURN LAW DOES NOT
REPEAL ELKINS ACT.
The Governments Campaign Against
Special Privileges Thus Wins an
Important Victory. A Blow to
Standard Oil.

Washington, Feb. 25.-The question
whether the railroad rate law known
as the Hepburn law repeats section l
of the Elkins law, prohibiting rebates
by railroads, was involved in the case
of the Great Northern Railway VS..
the United States, which was decided
by the supreme court of the United
States against the railroad company
and against the contention of such
appeal.
The case was instituted in the Uni
ted States district court for the dis
trlct of Minnesota, which court fined
the railroad $1,000 each for fifteen
violations of the first section of the
Elkins law.
The decision upholds the fine of
$4,000 against the Great Northern
road for granting rebates to the w.
II. Devereux company of Minneapo-
lis, and in effect sustains the STAN
dard Oi's $29, 100000 fine, the Bur-
lington roads $4,000 fine in the
packing house cases, and Strengthens
the governments contentious in
large number of other cases, includ-
ing the thousand or more counts
against the Standard Oil, making it
liable to fines aggregating $50, 900, 900.
The company admitted the conces-
sions and fought the prosecution on
the ground that by amending the
Elkins act SO as to provide for pun
ishment by imprisonment rather than
by fines the Hepburn law had so mod
flied the original Us to accomplish its
repeal and render punishment under
it impracticable.
The Standard Oil company and
railroads and shippers convicted of
granting and accepting rebates made
the plea that they were immune from
punishment for OffenseS committed
previous to the enactment of the Hep
burn law by the provisions of section
10 of the Hepburn law which reads as
follows:
THAT all laws and parts of laws in
conflict with the provisions of this act
are hereby repealed, but the amend
ments herein provided for shall not
affect cases now pending in courts of
the United States, but such cases
shall be prosecuted to conclusion in
the manner heretofore provided by
law"
The cases against the Great North
ern and other railroads and the Stan
dard Oil company and other shippers
were not pending in the courts at the
time the Hepburn act went into effect.
The indictments were found and con-
victions obtained afterwards. In the
case of the Great Northern the indict-
ments we're not returned until Octo-
Der, 1906, but the act went into effect
Aug. 20, 1906.
That the decision is of far reaching
Importance is made apparent by the
fact that the point raised by the
Great Northern was identically the
same as that made by the Standard
Oil company in its appeal from the
verdict which led to the fine imposed
by Judge Lands of the federal dis
trict court in Chicago.
There were eleven other railroads
and shippers indicted at the same
time as the Great Northern. They
plead guilty and were fined, all of
them claiming immunity from pun
ishment of offences committed previ-
Gus to enactment of Hepburn law
The decision is far reaching and
greatly strengthens the hands of the
government.