Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL v N1O,72. NEWBERRY S. 0. TUESDAY' AUGUST o3.1907. STANDARD OIL FINED TWEN ff-AINE MILLION MAXIMUM PENALTY FOR AC CEPTING REBATES. Declares Officials Who Are Respons ble for Practices of the Corpora tion are No Better Than Thieves and Counter feiters. Chicago, Aug. 3.-Judge Kenesai M. Landis, today in the United State district court fined the Standard 0. company of Indiana $29,240,000 fb violations of the law against accepi ing rebates from railroads. The fin is the largest ever issessed agains ny individuals or any corporation i he history of the American crimins 'risprudence, and is slightly mor han 131 times as great as the amour received by the company through it rebating operations. The case will b carried to the higher courts by th defendant company. The penalty imposed upon the con pany is the maximum permitted un der the law, and it was announced a the end of a long opinion in which th ethods and practices of the stand r . d Oil company were mercilessl: ored. The judge, in fact, declare his opinion that the officials of th andard Oil company who were res ponsible for the practices of whic] the corporation was found guilty were no better than* counterfeiter and thieves, his exact language being "We may as well look at this sit uation squarely. The men who thu deliberately violated this law, wound ed society more deeply than he wh< counterfeits the coins or steals letter from the mail." Reviewed the Facts. Judge Landis commenced readini his decision at 10 o'clock and occu pi%a about one hour in its delivery He reviewed the facts in the case took up the arguments of the attor neys for the defense and answere, them, and then passed judgment up on the company, which he declare4 violated the law for the sole purpos of swelling its dividends. The cour held that the railroads have no mor right to make a secret rate for shiper than a board of assessor would have to make a secret assess ment of any partieular piece of pro perty. The court expressed regret that th4 law failed to provide more seriou punishment than a fine, but insistei that the penalty should be sufficientl: large to act as a deterrent' and not o: such a size as to encourage the de fendants to persist in lawlessness. At the conclusion of his opinion an< after announcing the amount of thi fine Judge Landis directed that special grand jury be called for th purpose of inquiring into the acts o the Chicago & Alton Railroad com pany, it fhaving been proved in th se just elosed that the oil compan: 4eepted rebates froni that corpora on. This jury is summoned for Aug Large Crowd in Court. The decision of Judge Landis arous ed almost as much public interest a: did the presence of John D. Rockefel ler and other officials of the St-andar< Oil company in the court on July.6 The crush was so great that a larg force of deputies had much difficult: in controlling the crowd'that was an xious to force its way into the cour room. The government waes represented ii the court room by United States Dis trict At-torney Sims and Assistant Dis trict Attorney Wilkerson. The at torneys who tried the case for thi Standiard Oil company, John S. Mil ler. Meritz Rosenthal and Alfred D Eddv. were not present, the compan: bein'g represented by Merritt Starr a partner of Mr. Miller, and Chpun eey Martyn, from the office of Mr. Ed dv. When Judge Landis took his sea on the bench he said quietly: ''Thi United States vs. the Standard 01 company. Is the defendant represent ''If the court please.'' said Mr Starr. ''on behalf of the defendan an in the absence of the r'egulah counsel. but with their authority. pertaining to the final order in the case before-" "Doesn't it strike you,'' broke in Judge Landis, "that it would be well to wait until I have finished with this - document . Then I will hear what you have to say.'" The judge shook his manuscript asl he spoke and Mr. Starr sat down. Spectators Laughed Loudly. During the reading of the opinion, when the court said something es pecially stinging against the company or its methods, the speetators would v laugh loudly and the bailiffs were s compelled repeatedly to rap for or 1 der. r The court had not proceeded far in his opinion when he was interrupt e ed by some attorneys who were try t ing to tranact business with the clerk a of the court. Leaning over the rail ,I ing in front of him, the judge in e quired with quiet sarcasm: "'I am t t not interrupting you gentlemen, am s It" The attorneys fled and the read e ing was resumed. e Loud hand-clapping broke out when t the court said: - "When, after all' the circumstan ees of the trial have been brought out t and the defendant persistently main a tains that the constitution of the Uni . ted States guarantees to it the rightl F to make a priviate contract for a rail-) e I road rate, this court is obliged to con e fess that he is unable to indulge in t - the presumption that in this case the i defendant was convicted of its vir -~r , gin offense. s When the reading had been con eluded, Judge Landis turned to At - torney Starr and declared that he was s ready to hear what he had to say. t - No Promise of Delay. ) Mr. Starr said that it had been t 5 promised that there would be a de lay in the execution of judgement, ( but the court denied this positively. h r After some debate between the court z - and the attorneys for the government I . and the company, it was agreed that ' , the attorneys for the defense should - ho iven 60 days in which to file a y I bill of exceptions. -- "The court is as anxious to have p I this case taken to the court of appeals * I as anybody,'" said Judge Landis, t t "and I am willing that sufficient time t: " be ziven. It must go to the higher ul L court through the regular channels. f No exception will issue until the er - tiicate has been presented to the ~ - court and fully examined.''" It is expected that the case will be a heard during the January term of the United States court of appeals. Under the seven indictments still pending against the Standard Oil, company, an additional fine amount inz to .$S8,440,000 may be levied ag'ainst the company if it is found b guilty on trial. There are in these seven indictments a total of 4,422 ~ counts and the maximum fine in each count would be $20,000. 'b Judge Landis' Sentence. u ~ Judge Landis, in passing sentence p. . said: 'b ."It is the jdgment and sentence d of the court that the defendant Stan- ti dard Oil company pay a fine of $29,- t1 240.000.P "One thing remains. It must not I . be assumed that in this jurisdiction P the laws may be ignored. If they are .not obeyed they will be enforced. The plain demands of justice require thatt the facts disclosed in this proceeding P be submitted to a grand jury with aj view to the consideration of the con- P duct of the other party to these c transactions. Let an order be enter- g ed for a panel of 60 men returnable 0 at 10) o 'clock na the morning of Aug. b - 1 The Tnited State; (is;et at tornev is eriretel t:) prce accord- t1 inlv.'-t d b Teddy Has no Comment.. Oyster Bay. Au2. 3.--President Roosevelt reeived the news fn' m the1 Assocated Press that Judlge Landis, in the United States district ecurt in E Chicago. ha.d decided against the h Stand:rd Oil cemnant of Indiana, and l h:a: in"ed finee azzregatine $29.- ~ - 240.000. with '~reat interest. The c, preidnt :a no comiment to make on t< Rockefeller Didn't Flay Golf. t UOTHER SEVERE BLOW RI FOR STANDARD OIL TS DOMINION ACQUIRED BY Mt METHODS UNJUSTIFIABLE. U ,onclusive Proof That Rockefeller's Great Trust, by its Manipulation: of Oil Industry, Has Wrung Millions From Public. Washington, Aug. 4.-Signfieant d dr evelations are made puble today in report submitted to President Roose- the elt by Herbert Knox Smith, commis ioner of corporations, concerning the perations of the Standard Oil com- L any. In a previous report the means nd methods of the Standard were ex- hel lained. The present report sets; he 'orth the results of those methods and mo he effect they have had m ehe con-I umers of oil and on the profits of the be )tandard Oil company. It deals with ed rofits and prices, showing just how ea he manipulation of the oil industry Ty tbe Standard has affected the pock t books of the American people. Commissioner Smith says "the tandard Oil company is responsible o or the course of the prices of petrol- da um and its products during the 'last wenty-ix years. The Standard has sau onistently used its power to raise cha he price of oil during the last ten an ears, not ohly absolutely, but also gv e!ativel to the cost ot crude oil." The The standard has claimed. that ii his as reduced -the price of o.l; that it stai as been a benefit to the consumer and I at only a great comibinition like the lod, Itan lard cold have fiirnished oil at Sim e prices that have prevai'ed. Iy i '. Fach one of these claims." says ed .mnissioner Smith. "is 'Iisproved v thi.; report." Th increase in an- T ital profits. of the $tanAardf W q; ta. 1904 was over $27,000,000.. 136 'he. reprt says: up "The total dividends paid by the ces tandard from 188? to 1906 were bas 551,92:,904, averaging - thus 24.15 mer er cent. per year. The dividends, me oweve.. were mre' less than .he to- ber i Eari ngs. It is substantially cer- son oin that the entire net i-arnings of 300 te .t 4utoard in th4 period were at aft( ast "790,000,000, and pos.ibly more. on1 'Th%:.se enormous profits ha e been wer aed on~ an investment worth at the me of its original aecquisition not ye iorc .I iani $75,000,000.'' fram (kemrissioner Smith says: a h 'The following faicts are p) oved: inji le Standard hias not reduced mar- eni ins during the period in which it has TJ een responsible for the prices of oil. whe au-ing the last eight years covered had y this report (1898 to 1905), it has qua aised both prices and margins. Its ent] ominion has not been aeg1uired or~ a e< oiintained1 b its sup:1ic efficiency, eral ut rather by unfair con. ret ion and evel y methods . onomically a d morally wea n.istifiable. The Stand~ardl has su- con: erior eimeu'ey in ruar:1:! its own w~hi osin:-.:: it has a.1 eg'xal elficiency la pre< estroing the busines., dA competi- clul >rs. t keepe or itsedf the profits of of e first, and adds to the.'e the mono- wer oly proifits secured by the second. of Ls profits are far above the highest poii ossio1e standard Jf ;a reasoniable c:,mT- piet ercial return, and have been steadily coul ereasing. Finally, the history of oni is great industry is a history of the less ersis'tent use of the worst industrial chil ethods, the exaction of exorbitant Il ries from the consumer and the se- con1 iring of excessive profits for the small trol roup of men who, over a long series up1 years, have thus dominated the out usines.'," wer In a few days another section of one e report will be made public, set- mei .ng forth the importance of price dre iscrimination in restraining the neig usiness of competitors and augment ig the profits of the Standard. L the If they want to bury the deposed ton mperor~ for good, they migh make inlj m vice president of Korea. dou min T ne imposed upon the Stndard Oil pie. >mpany by' Judge Landis at Chicago ters d. said he had no comment what- irept ver to make concerning the matter. Mr. Rowcfeller did not play golf edi i amng as has been his dlailv had om inc hi arriva! :n Fores.~t iari 'IGN OF CRIlE M1 9NABATED IN NXIT YORK th -- se FRDEROUS ASSAULT MADE b( PON DEFENSELESS WOMAN. cil m ;ht Between Negro and White Man ge itarts Trouble Between Races in PC Which Five Thousand Par- fr ticipants Engage. hi to Tew York, Au(. 4.-Another mur- th ous assault was added tonight to hi police. record of recent crimes th inst defenseless women and girls. sa ight's victim was Miss Ellen Bul- gr , a woman of middle age, who was acked in' her apartments in the nx. cruelly beaten and left in a n( pless state. The woman was re- st ved to a hospital, where it was fe end that her skull had apparently TI n fractured. her face and hands la- S ated and her body otherwise bruis- at There was evidence that the wo- kr n had made a courageous fight. of >m what the police were able to te: ediately learn from her, she was re prised by a smooth faeed stranger, lo haps 40 years of age. He was tless and wore an out.ing shirt and el k trousers. He escaped. re 'ust before Miss Bulger was as- fu ted, George Keshner, a Russian, an rged with attempted assault upon an eight-year-old girl, was set upon th a crowd of men and all but killed, bo clothes he wore were torn from es body and he wa t-',i to the fo ;ion house wrapped in a h1anket. ta' nother crowd set upon Hylo Sa- sa i, an Indian palmist. who was ilarly accused, and only the time- DI ntervention of police ;reserves sav him from summary punishment. Smal Race War. 'he fighting element among the ter'a?i blkeks- in' ti ieirty~ of th street and Fifth avenue lined according to their racial prejudi again today, this time to settle a aball dispute, and when the argu- Ge it was ended 50 persons required th 6ieal treatment and of that num- , two will die. Probably 5,000 perw rei took part in the fight, but the P policemen- who dispersed the mob, co It . r every one was fought out got ia nine prisoners and of these twon e women. ohn MtOue, a truck driver, 32 pe rs old, and Matthews Murtha, aged pr years, an ice peddler, received ro ~tured skulls and were removed to. spital in a serious condition. The id ries of others ranged from brok oses to serious razor cuts.h he trouble started at a ball game ha re a white man and a colored man sa made a wager, and subsequently da rreled over the settlement. Pres-a .y the sig'ht of a white man and Ibe lored man fighting started a gen- e it row. The crowd bding about e h aly divided in color. Every sort of bo pon was used and for blocks the ior stantly augmented mob surged da le the police reserves from eightf ne inets hammered away with their ini >s to break the tangle. Occupants da homes along the lines of battle of e not content to be spectators only sei :he strife and fromr windows and to' its of vantage on the roofs every wI e of crockery or fueriture thatth I be spared was hurled down up- sts :he heads of the rioters with reek-- pa impartiality. Even women and ied dren joined the fray.I was two hours before the police foi rolled the situation and then pa- in~ wagons and ambulances picked evr those who were too seriously worn ar to get away. Those most harmed sai e taken to hospitals and the pris- ed rs were locked up. charged with ed, ting a riot. Tonight several hun-ti Is officers patrolled the disturbed 'ai chborhood. jphe Victim of Rioters. no' ouis Coneonela, 21 years old, was jno' victim of the blind fury of rioters, He ght and will probably die of his I th tries. He was innocent of wrong I tii ig but fell before a crowd deter- pe ed to have revenge on some one. ha he dangerous temper of the Fr- h particularly in the foreign quartho ,who have been aroused by the t >rts of'attacks upon women andjwi ,was exhibited tonight in repeat nlStnflcs. A\ erv that a stranger approached a child with fami!- are :v was eniough to start a moh. d STANDIRD'S .YIE OF THE BIG FINE AN OFFICIAL TALKS CONCERNa ING JUDGE LANDIS DECISION. Ask Only a "Square Deal"-Not Responsible for the Rate Issued by the Chicago & Alton Railroad. New York, Aug. 3.-News of the unprecedted fine imposed upon the Standard Oil company by Judge Lan. dis in the United States court at Chi cago today was received in New York with excited interest. The general expectation for some days has been that the decision would be unfavor able to the Standard Oil company, but apparently no one looked for the im position of the maximum penalty of the 1,462 counts of the indictments, reaching the enormous total of $29,. 240,000. An official of the Standard Oil com pany said that the amount of the fines evidenced the injustice against the company. "The amount of Judge Landis' fnes," said the official today authori tatively for the company, "is 50 times the value of the oil carried under the indictment. The total value of oil was $650,000, or each car of oil valu ed it aliout $450 we have been finel $20.000. An appeal will be taken in the United States circuit court of ap peals, but whether it will be entered at once or whether the full time al lowed by law will be taken will be determined by our counsel in Chica President James A. Moffatt of the Standard Oil company of Indiana made a statement today in reference to the judgment by Judge Landis, pronenee& in Ciagj which in part, follows. "The court having pronouneedits judgment in the* ease of the United States vs. Standard Oil -company of Indiana, there can now be no impw priety in stating our position to the American people. Facts in the Case. "The facts in this ease are simple and easily understood. The Standard Oil company of Indiana was convict ed of receiving what the government claimed wsa a concession from the Chicago & Alton in the shipment of oil from its refinery at Whiting, Ind., to East St. Louis, Ill. The conten tion of the government was that the lawful rate was 18 cents per 100 pounds between these two points. The ~defendants claim, first, that the law ful rate was 6 cents and secondly if 6 cents was not the lawful rate it was the rate issued to the Standard Oil company by the Alton as the lawful rate and the Standard was justified in believ ing from its'own investiga tion and from the information secur ~ed from the railroad company that 6 cents was the lawful rate. " The 18:-eent rate was a 'class' not 'commodity' rate, and the chairman of the Chicago and St. Louis Traffic association, the association issuing the 18-cent class rate, under . oath testified that it was never applied and was never intended to apply to oil. I"Th'ousands of tons of freight have been shipped from these points under the same circumstances as the Standard's shipments and if the Standard is guilty in this case, so is practically every other shipper in this gre-at manufacturing territory. Is there a purpose in selecting the Standard as the victim? " The American public not only be lieves in fair play in the abstract, but with all the facts before it it has the capaeity to determine whether a de fendant, rich or poor, has received a 'square deal.' "For all these reasons the Stan dard Oil company asserts that it is not even technically guilty and, that it ought never to have been prosecut-. ed because of the claimed failure of. a railroad company-which has neith er been indicted nor prosecuted-to file its tariff, and that the prosecution of this defendant under the circum stances of this case is a prostitution of the spirit and the higher purpose of the interstate commerce act." Thnoe floods in the West are of avil in the hallway of her tene mnt home in East Ninety-fifth street is evening, cried out that a man d seized her. The child's father tzed George Keshner, a Russian okbinder, by the throat. The ex ement attracted 500 men and wo n, who fought with each other to t a chance at the Russian. Thirty licemen rescued Keshner, bleeding Dm a score of wounds, and when all 5 clothing but his shoes had been rn from him. The police wrapped e prisoner in a blanket and spirited m away. Sadie's sister corrobrated e story of attack, and the father ys that he saw his daughter in the asp of the Russian. Nearly Lost His Scalp. About the same time Hylo Saloda arly .lost his scalp in Thirty-fourth reet. He was accused of having of red pennies to a girl of 12 years. ke father wanted to know why, and loda showed fight. He slashed out with a penknife and then ocked down a policeman. A crowd perhaps a thousand people at npted to reach Saloda, but police ;erves beat them back and took Sa la to the station. Louis Conconela was the victim of -cumstances. A man and wife quar Led in 117th street, and their youth I daughter went out to the sidewalk d wept. A passing boy slapped her d ran away. The girl's cries and a running boy aroused the neigh rhood, who chased the lad. The boy aped and Conconela, who had out )ted the other pursuers, was mis en by the mob for the girl's as lant. SPENSARY WANTED AT NORTH AUGUSTA. orgia People Talk About Effect of Eh&ProhibiLia.a-Th&-:3N Opposed to It. e State. rhe action of the legislature of orgia, establishing prohibition in it state on January 1, 1908, hias ulted in a movement to place a dis isary at North Augusta, in Aiken inty, just a few miles from Augus At present there are dispensaries Aiken, although an effort has been de to have them voted out and a. ition is now in circulation by the hibitionists who claim that the s are badly in need of revision. The Lgusta Herald, in speaking of the a, says: 'It was rumored last night at po e headquaters that arrfingements been made to open up a dispen -y in North Augusta at an early 'Authentic inforination could not secured, but Mr. L. J. Williams, a izen of the village, and the ex airman of the old state dispensary ard, ated that he was of the opin that the rumor was without foun ion. The subject is discussed at arly every corner, and from what ~ormation could be secured yester y, it appears that the installation a dispensary will cause the most .ious discord and antagonism the vn has ever experienced. Those o are acquainted with the trials of new county and the incorporation te that these -two old fights would e into insignificance when compar with the present question. 'While it is- not at all impossible an institution of this kind to be uurated. it seems to be clearly dent that the majority of citizens decidedly opposed to the dispeni . Mr. C. L. Jones. who express his aversion to the movement, stat that he for his personal gratifica n had thoroughly looked into the >jeet and had found that the peo at large would have absolutely :hing to do with the establishing or ~-establishing of the dispensary. said that under the bill passed at last session of the state legisla e. the advisability of placing dis saries was left entirely in the ds of the county board of control. m his statement it appoars obvious et if the board be prevailed upon open an institution of this kind, it 1 e done.'' Jaxim Gorky says the Americans a 'silent. loomy people.'' Evi tlt none of them told Max just at th- tho0u2ht of him.