The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-12-17

Was hington, Dec. 13.-That the de-
partment of justice intends a vigorous
prosecution, in the efforts to recover
all money due the government as re-
suit of sugar frauds at New York, and
to punish all who may have partici-
pated in them, is shown by the annual
report of Attorney General Wicker
sham, made public Saturday. After
briefly reciting the facts in the cases,
which are of public knowledge, he
says:
"The evidence has disclosed a net
work of corruption, not confined to the
America Sugar Refining COMPANY
Extending over period of years, af-
fecting both importers and officers of
the government, it is as yet premature
to state the precise extent of the con-
of which the government has been de-
frauded.
Asks $4,000 for Prosecution
while it is feared that the statute
of limitations may have run in favor
of many of the malefactors who are
responsible for these frauds, yet no
effort will be spared to ascertain the
precise amount of which the govern
ment has been defrauded, to recover
all moneys due and to punish all those
who may be found to have participated
in any respect in the frauds, whether
as officers or agents of the importers,
or as officials of the government 1
earnestly request a special appropria-
ton of $4,000 to enable this work to
be effectively prosecuted
Further litigation touching the "com-
modities clause cases." arising under
the interstate commerce law, is prom
ised by the attorney general. Dis
cussing the decision of the supreme
court in those cases, Mr. Wickersham
says it does not necessarily determine
the application of the statute to cases
where the commodities transported are
owned by a corporation, all, or sub
stantially all, of whose stock is owned
by the carrier corporation at the time
of transportation, and especially where
the carrier shall have transferred all
of its interest in such commodities to
a corporation formed for the express
purpose of evading the prohibition of
the commodities clause, and all, or
substantially all of the stock in which
is owned by the carrier.
'Those questions will be presented
for determination in the courts. If the
prohibition of the statute success fully
can be evaded by the simple device of
transfer of ownership of the property
to a corporation all of whose stock
shall be owned or controlled by the
carrier, congress should amend the
statute so as to make it an effectual,
and not a merely illusory prohibition,
or else repeal it."
To Undo Land Frauds.
In the matter of public land fraud
prosecution, the attorney general
makes clear his determination in no
respect to abate the effort to undo, so
far as may be, the frauds which for
so long time have been perpetrated
in the procuring of the public domain
contrary to the conditions under which
congress has authorized these lands to
be patented"
Important recommendations contain
ed in the report include those for a
broadening of the right of appeal of
the government in criminal cases; a
repeal of section $50 of the revised
rot
nal cases; the enactment of a general
immunity statute to meet the condi-
lions which arise in the endeavor to
procure testimony for the government;
favoring a national law providing for
indeterminate sentences; and a modi-
ficatiOn of the statute fixing the pun
ishment for embezzlement or misap-
plication of the funds of a national
bank at Imprisonment for five years.