The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-12
ARE TIE TRUST MEN GUILTY OF CRIME? Hornets Nest Has Been
 Stirred Up ONE JAIL SENTENCE Has Been Imposed Under Sherman Law Since 1896 and That
 Was Not Really
 Effective
By JONATHAN WINFIELD

Since the. government has won signal victories under the Sherman antitrust law in the Tobacco trust case and the l Standard Oil case, questions are heard l in every quarter as to just what the government has accomplished for the people after years of work on the part
 of lawyers and after the expenditures
 of thousands of dollars of the peoples
 money
 The question Is asked. are officials
 and directors of the Tobacco combine
 and the Standard Oil corporation crim- inalIy liable for a violation of the law In view of the recent decisions? If SO
 why has the government not insisted upon sending these men to Jail the same
 as it would insist upon jail sentences
 in the case of an individual who had been arrested on charge of receiving
 stolen goods and later convicted by
 iury? In answer it is pointed out thai
 the defendants are men of wide in. fuence, and while they have technical. I iy" violated the law in the strenuous competition of business have in reality not been of the same danger to society as the common crook. Yet in the eyes of the law one violation of a statute Is just as much against the law as an other and theoretically ought to be punished without partiality.
 The hornets nest that has been stirred up over the question of im- posing jail sentences on violators of the sherman anti-trust law was pre- cipitated by Senator Pomerene of Ohio, who introduced a resolution in the Sem ate calling upon Attorney General Wickersham to tell that body what criminal prosecution had been begun against the Standard Oil company or against the Rockefellers and their as sociates This started the ball rolling and it was discovered after much diligent search that only one jail sentence un- der the sherman antitrust law had been imposed on a defendant since that law was passed in 1896. In that case 1t was found the defendant had not served any actual time in jail.
 This sentence was imposed in the case of the United States against the Naval Stores company and others in 1909 The defendants were tried and convicted on a charge of monopolizing
 
 under the Sherman anti-trust law and Justice Sheppard, United States circuit judge for the Southern district of Geor- . gie, sent the two defendants to jsan, as we'll as fining them and three others S17,500.
 | An appeal to the United States court has been entered by the defendants, who l have brought their case before the high est court on a writ of certiorari, and by l next fall decision will probably be en- tered in the case which will determine the defendants will have to serve their sentences or not
 It is pointed out by Attorney General Wickersham that 1t is not the fault of the department of justice that trust off, cials who have been adjudged guilty of acts in violation of the Sherman law are not sent to jail. The trouble, in these cases, he declares, is that the law gives the trial judge the diss~etion of imposing prison sentences; that Is the judge may send an individual convicted under the sherman act to jail, if he likes, but he does not have to do SO. And all judges so far, with the exception of Justice Sheppard, have stopped short of imposing a jail sentence.
 The department of justice, MT. Wicker sham states, on the other hand, has dur ing the past year. in all new cases in- voving violations of the Sherman act instructed it's attorneys in concluding ar guments In cases to urge the court to not only inf1ict a. fine in. the case, but insist upon the court imposing jail sen- tence.
 Ever since the case against the window glass trust, when the court in the south ern district of Pennsylvania imposed a small fine, the Attorney General has is- sued instructions repeatedly that attor- neys should ask the court to impose jail sentences. Prosecution of the "bathtub' trust, which has progressed to such Q point that the case will be heard shortly on it's merits, contemplates a substantial jail sentence for every defendant named in the bill At least this is the hope expressed by attorneys who have had the actual prosecution of the case in hand. Other suits started by the government, such as the prosecution of the electric trust, lumber trust, and Ohio Coal Oper- ators' association were conducted by the government with Siew of having the 1 court impose jail sentences.
 | MT. Wickersham lays the blame en- | tirely on the Sherman law for the faci | that judges have not imposed the jai | sentence. It says that upon conviction l for directly restraining interstate trade l the sentence may be Imprisonment not
 exceeding one year, or by both fine and | Imprisonment at the discretion of the | court"
 l According to some of the many prom
 inent attorneys who have been engaged 1 in these cases there is another reason l for not imposing jail sentences. It IS l that the court finds great difficulty in l fastening the responsibility on an in- dividual connected with corporation. Such individuals may simply be carry | ing out the orders of higher au- l thoritv and the imposition of a jail sentence would manifestly be improper and unjust Some managing officer, for instance may be violating the Sher- man antitrust law by obeying a spe- cifc order of the board of directors. Senator Keyon, who was the admin istraton's chief trust buster" before he became senator from Iowa, knows the weakness of the sherman law In this respect. and has introduced a bill in the Senate leaving the trial justice no alternative in the matter of impos- | ing jail sentences. by proposing an | amendment to the sherman act to ef- | feet this end. This bill provides that every person convicted of a violation I of the sherman law. whether acting in dividually or as a director of corpor- i a:ion, shall be punished by imprison- ment not exceeding one year.
 l Such an amendment, it Is thought by many of the brightest legal minds In | Washington. would work wonders in trust prosecution. The prosecutions of the bad trusts" 1t is claimed, would be decreased in number; all bad rtusts' | would inevitably have to reform their | organizations to come within Presi- dent Taft's designation of good trusts and in years to come the business con ditions of the country would be ma terially benefited by holding the shame of jail over the heads of interruptions trust officials.
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