The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-02-27
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
(By Clyde Fl. Tavenner, special
Washington Correspondent to The

| Washington Correspondent to The
| Reportcr.) 4
| Washington, Feb. 22.-For a
change the same kind of justice that
is melted out to poor men, was met
ed out to the rich, when Federal
Judge Holister of Ohio recently sen
| fenced twenty-nine officials of the
Cash Register trust to jail, sustain
| ing the view long taken by demo
Gratis that guilt is personal anc
making the first official response to
the will of the people that was ex-
pressed in the election of Woodrow
Wilson.
Now that sufficient time has elaps-
ed for members of congress to con-
slider the effect of the Judgment Of
the Ohio court, the concensus or
opinion among lawmakers at the na-
tional capital is that the Jail SEN
fences will de- more to cause Million
aire trust magnates to respect the
Sherman antitrust law, than any
thing that has occurred since trusts
and monopolies have come into ex-
iStence.
1t has been demonstrated that jail
sentences is the only thing trust
magnates have any respect for. They
are willing to build up giant mc-
nopolies in the necessities OF life II
their only punishment. in the remote
event of their prosecution and con
victiOn. is to be dissolution, the
details of which the Supreme court
will allow their attorneys to attend.
to the end that their stock VIII
double in value. Trust maghates
care nothing about lines. Fines are
considered simply on a business ba-
sis. The trust heads have no objec-
tions to occasionally paying So
900 or $4,000 fine, having made
millions in coruered markets and in
monopoies Of the necessities or lie.
But trust magnates are afraid OF
A cell, and if they can be conElncea
that if they violate the antitrust
law they will go to Jail. like the poor
go to jail when they violate the law,
no Que doubts that the Sherman law
would be obeyed and the problem Oh
illegal trusts, solved
The Sherman law provides Cor Jail
sentences for Trust magnates, Jlst
as other laws provide for jail SEN
fences for other kinds OF robbery,
but for twenty years and more the
Federal courts have not been I'M
pressed by the fact. This is why so
many persons have come to be sus-
picious of the courts, and to sincere
" believe that the poor do not re-
ceiya the same kind of justice that
is melted out to the rich; it explains
too, the recent remarkable growth OF
socialism, and the agitation for the
recall Of judges
In this connection it is important
to note that although the twenty
nine cash register heads were found
guilty and were sentenced to jail,
they are not in Jail, and are not
likely to be for two years, or per-
haps even longer The case will be
fought through the Supreme Court,
and as a general thing two years Is
consumed. 1t is said that the men
under sentence expect to escape jan.
and will pour out their millions IN
an effort to find some loophole or
technicality by which to escape the
ignominy of being branded a convtcs
If the judgment of the court T.
actually carried out, it is obvious
that it will do more toward causing
illegal trust magnates to respect the
law, and at the same time more TO
strengthen the waning commence
of the masses in the federal courts,
than anything that has happened IL
years.