Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-12
STOLEN SUGAR
TAX DEMANDED
GOVERNMENT WANTS MONEY
DUE TO BE PAID
IsHMENT OF GRAFTERS is
ALSO CONTEMPLATED
Annual Report of Attorney General
Wickersham Shows Department
Intends to Prosecute Un-
derweight Grafters
associate d Pressl

tAssociattd Pressl
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11.-That the
department of justice intends a Wig
OrOus prosecution in the efforts to re-
cover all money due the government
as result Of sugar frauds at New
York and to punish all who may have
participated III them is shown by the
annual report of Attorney General
Wickersham, made public today.
After briefly reciting the facts in the
case, which are of public knowledge,
he says:
The evidence has disclosed a net
work of corruption, not confined to the
American Sugar Refining company.
Extending over a period of years, al
fecting both importers and officers Of
the government, it Is as yet premature
TO state the precise extent of the con-
Sptracy or the amount of the revenues
of which the government has been de-
trauded.
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 participat-
ed in any respect in the frauds, Wheth-
er as officers or agents of the import
crs or as officials of the government.
l earnestly request a special appro-
priGtion of $4,000 to enable this work
to be effectively prosecuted"
Commodities Clause
Further litigation touching the
commodities clause cases" arising
under the interstate commerce com
mission law, is promised by the attor-
ney general. Discussing 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 COM
modities transported are owned by q
corporation, all, or substantially all, Of
whose stock is owned by the carrier
corporation at the time of transporta
tion, and especially where the carrier
shall have transferred all of its in
terest in such commodities to a COR
pOratiOn formed for the express pur-
pose of evading the prohibition of the
commodities clause, and all, or sub
stantially all, of the stock of which
is owned by the carrier.
Those questions will be presented
for determination in the courts. If
the prohibition of the statute can be
successfully evaded by the simple de-
vice of transfer of ownership of the
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
Land Fraud Cases
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 have been
for so long a time perpetrated in the
procuring for private individuals of
portions of the public domain con-
trary to the conditions under which
congress has authorized these lands to
be patented.
Important recommendations con-
tanned in the report include those for
a broadening Of the right of appeal Of
the government in criminal cases;
repeal of section $50 of the revised
statutes regarding evidence in Grim
inal cases: the enactment Of a gen.
eral immunity statute to meet the
conditions which arise in the endeaVor
to procure testimony for the govern
ment; favoring a national law proVid-
ing Tor indeterminate sentences, and
modification of the statute fixing the
punishment for embezZlenent or mis-
application of the funds Of a national
bank at imprisonment for five years.
The attorney general refers to the
unsatisfactory sanitary conditions at
the District of Columbia jail which,
he says, is a reproach to the national
government, and he earnestly recon-
mends an appropriation adequate 10
make necessary Improvements.