Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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" ' ' " ' 1 1 ' 1 '' ' I M I I ... " I VOL XLIV NO. 72. . NEWBERRY, S. O.. TUESDAY' AUGUST *1. 1907. TWICE A WEEK. SI.50 A YEAR STANDARD OIL FINED TWENfY-NINE MILLIONS I \ MAXIMUM PENALTY FOR ACCEPTING REBATES. y / Declares Officials Who Are Responsible for Practices of the Corporation are No Better Than Thieves and Counterfeiters. Chicago, Aug. 3.?Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, today in the United States district court fined the Standard Oil company of Indiana $29,240,000 for violations of the law against accepting rebates from railroads. The fine is the largest ever assessed against " \any individuals or any corporation in J\he history of the American criminal ?v (jurisprudence, and is slightly more than 131 times as great as the amount received by the company through its rebating operations. The case will bo carried to the higher courts by the defendant company. The penalty imposed upon the company is the maximum permitted under the law, and it was announced at the end of a long opinion in which the .Vjethods and practices of the standf on vd Oil company were mercilessly the eiored. The judge, in fact, declared ;hasei his opinion that the officials of (he 'el. tandard Oil company who were responsible for the practices of which the corporation was found guilty, were no better than counterfeiters and thieves, his exact language being: "We may as well look at this situation squarely. The men who thus deliberately violated this law, wounded society more deeply than he who counterfeits the coins or steals letter? from the mail." <. Reviewed the Facts. Judge Landis commenced readinu his decision at 10 o'clock and occupied about one hour in its delivery. He reviewed the facts in the case, took up the arguments of the attorneys for the defense and answered them, and then passed judgment upon the company, which he declared violated the law for the sole purpose of swelling its dividends. The court held that the railroads have no more right to make a secret rate for ji ' shipper than a hoard of assessors would have to make a secret assess' ment of any particular piece of property. The court expressed regret that the law failed to provide more serious punishment than a fine, but insisted that the penalty should be sufficiently large to act as a deterrent'and not oi such a size as to encourage the defendants to persist in lawlessness. At the conclusion of his opinion am after announcing the amount of the fine Judge Landis directed that special grand jury be called for the purpose of inquiring into the acts o! the Chicago & Alton Railroad com pany, it having been proved in the **ftse just (dosed that the oil company <'eer/ Pted rebates front that corpora uon. This .jury is summoned for Aug >i Large Crowd in Court. The decision of Judge Landis arous cd almost as much public interest as did th". presence of John T). Rockefeller and other officials of the Stanelan Oil company in the court on July t> . The crush was so great that a larg< . ,'v force of deputies had much difficult} in controlling the crowd that was an xious to force its way into the coin" room. The government was represented it the court room by United States Dis trie! Attorney Sims and Assistant Dis triet Attorney Wilkerson. The at torneys who tried the case for tin Standard Oil company, John S. Mil lor, Meritz Rosenthal and Alfred D Eddy, were not present, the company being represented by Merritt Starr a partner of Mr. Miller, and Ch(auu coy Martyn, from the office of Mr. I0d dy. When Judge Landis look his sea on the bench he Maid quietly: "Tin United States vs. the Standard Oi company. Is the defendant represent %) "If the court please." said Mi m Starr, "on behalf of I lie defendan Hp and in the absence of the rcgula BL counsel, hut with their authority, desire to make a suggestion or t \vi pertaining to the final order in the ease before?" "Doesn't it strike yon," broke in Judge Ivandis, "that it would be well to wait until I have finished with this document ? Then I will hear what you have to say." l'he judge shook his manuscript as he spoke and Mr. Starr sat down. Spectators Laughed Loudly. During the reading of the opinion, when the court said something especially stinging against the company or its methods, the spectators would laugh loudly and the bailiffs were i compelled repeatedly to rap for order. The court had not proceeded far in his opinion when he was interrupted by some attorneys who were trying to tranact business with the clerk of the court. Leaning over the railing in front of him, the judge inquired with quiet sarcasm: "I am , not interrupting you gentlemen, am i I?" The attorneys fled and the reading was resumed. i Loud hand-clapping broke out when the court said: "When, after all' the circumstances of the trial have been brought out and the defendant persistently maintains that the constitution of the United States guarantees to it the right ' to make a private contract for a railroad rate, this court is obliged to con( less that he is unable to indulge in the presumption that in this case the defendant was convicted of its vir, gin offense." i When the reading* had been con: eluded, Judge Landis turned to .Attorney Starr and declared that he was i ready to hear what he had to say. No Promise of Delay. ? Mr. Starr said that it had been i promised that there would be a delay in the execution of judgement, but the court denied this positively. After some debate between the.court and the attorneys for the government and the company, it was agreed that - the attorneys for the defense should bf? given 00 days in which to file a 1 bill of exceptions. "T he court is as anxious to have 1 this case taken to the court of appeals ! as anybody," said Judge Landis, ' "and I am willing that sufficient time ! be liiven. It must go to the higher 1 court through the regular channels, ' No exception will issue until the certificate has been presented to the court and fully examined." It is expected that the case will l>e ! heard during the January term of the | United States court of appeals. Under ie seven indictments still pending against the Standard Oil company, an additional fine amounting' to $S.S,4-10,000 may be levied ( against the company if it is found ^ guilty on trial. There are in those seven indictments a total of 4,422 t counts and the maximum fine in eac! |t count would be $20,000. ? Judge Landis' Sentence. Judge Landis, in passing sentence . said: "It is the jdgnient and sentence of the court that the? defendant Stan dard Oil company pav a fine of $20, 240,000. j "One thing remains. It must nol . be assumed that in this jnrisdictioi I the laws may be ignored. If they art . not obeyed they will be enforced'. Tin i plain demands of justice require thai the facts disclosed in this proceeding - be submitted to a grand jury with i I view to the consideration of the conduct of the other party to thcs( , transactions. Let an order be enter . ed for a panel of 00 men rclurnabh . at 10 o'clock on the morning of Aug _ 1-'. The I'nilod Scales distnet at ? toincy is i pvcle 1 |:> proceed accord inglv.'* '' Teddy Has no Comment. 1 OystiT J?ay, A ug. ?IVcsidcnl Roosevelt received, tlie news fnin tin Associaed Press that Judge Landis in tin- United States district court ii t Chicago, had decided against tin & Standard <'i| ci mpany i?f Indiana, an. 1 had imposed titles aggregating- $20, - 210,000. with "Teal interest. Tin preside^ had no comment to make oi t the decision. t >' Rockefeller Didn't Flay Golf. , Cleveland. <>.. Aug :*.?.John ' I) Kockcleller, upon learning < f (|M ANOTHER SEVERE BLOW > I FOR STANDARD OIL: ! ITS DOMINION ACQUIRED BY | METHODS UNJUSTIFIABLE. Conclusivo Proof That Rockefeller's Great Trust, by its Manipulation of Oil Industry, Has Wrung Millions From Public. \\ ashington, Aug*. 4.?'Significant i evelations are made pubic today in a report submitted to President I{o0sevelt by Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner of corporations, concerning tlit? operations of the Standard Oil com- j puny. In a previous report the means and methods of the Standard were explained. The present report sets { forth the results of those methods and the effect they have had on the consumers of oil and on the profits of thd Standard Oil company. It deals with profits and prices, showing just how the manipulation of the oil industry by the Standard has affected the pocket books of the American people. Commissioner Smith says "the Standard Oil company is responsible for the course of the prices of petroleum and its products during the last twenty-six years. The Standard has J consistently used its power to raise i | the price of oil during f.ie last ten | I years, not only absolutely, hut also relatively to the cost ot'crude oil." The Standard has claimed that it'! has reduced the price of o,i: that it has been a benefit to the consumer and (hat only a great combination like the Stan lard cold have furnUhed oil at the prices that haw prevailed. "Kacli one of these claims." says , (' mmissioner Smith, f,i< disproved by this report." Th? increase in annual profits of th? Standard from issiii to 1004 was over *27,000,000. : The report says: " i'he total dividends paid by the Standard from 1S82 to 100G were .+55 1,022,004, averaging' thus 24.15 ! per cent, per year. The dividends, 1 .'owevc., were in?:e'> less than .lie to !ai ngs. It is substantially cer1 lain that the entire net earnings of the Siamiard in th:?- period were at least $700,000,000, nv.d possibly more. " Th:.sf enormous profits ha\e been based or; an investment worlli at the lime of 51s original acquisition not more than $75,000,000." \ , . l ciennssioner Smith says: I "The following f.icU are poved: I I'lie Standard lias not reduced margins during the period in which it has I been responsible for the prices of oil. I lbtring the last eight years, covered i by this report (1S<)S to 1005), it has! , raisvd both prices and margins. Itsl ^ dominion ha- not been actpiired or n aiulai.ic.l b> its sup^io'* ofiiciency, I but rather by unfair cop.petjlion and by methods < .'onmnically ; rd morally | unjustifiable. The St-iudard has su' perior efii? icm'y in ruiii-r.iy its own biisin,'?.;:: it has a.i equal elficieney i.i ? destroying :lie business ,.f compcti tors li i;eep? !or its^if I ie profits of - the first, and adds to these the monopoly pmills secured by the second. [ Its profits are far above the highest , possin'e standard >' reasonable com; mercial return, and have been steadily \ increasing. Finally, the history of t this great industry is a history of the r persistent use of the worst industrial , methods, the exaction of exorbitant . prices from the consumer and the se, curing- of excessive profits for the small . group of men who, over a long series ? of years, have thus dominated the business." In a few days another section of i' report will be made public, setting forth the importance of price discrimination in restraining the business of competitors and augment-' ^ ing the profits of the Standard. ) If they want to bury the deposed , Kmpcror for good, they migli make , him vice president of Korea. fine imposed upon the Stndard Oil ! company by Judge Landis at Chicago 1 today, said he had no comment whatever to make concerning the matter. Mr. '{ockefeller did not play golf j thi< morning as has been his dailv . tension) -iiu-e !ii- arrival at Forc-l inn. REIGN OF CRIME UNABATED IN NEW YORK MURDEROUS ASSAULT MADE UPON DEFENSELESS WOMAN. Tight Between Nogro and White Mar Starts Trouble Between Races in i Which Five Thousand Par1 ticipants Engage. j New York. Aug. 4.?Another mur I dermis assault was added tonight tc the police record of recent crimes against dofonseless women and girls Toniulit's victim was Miss Kllen Bui ger. a woman of middle ago. who was ' attacked in her apartments in th< Bronx. cruelly beaten and loft in i helpless state. The woman was removed to a hospital, where it- was found that her skull had apparently been fractured, her face and hands la cerated and her body otherwise bruis e,l. There was evidence that the wo man had made a courageous fight From what the police were able t< immediately learn from her, she \\ai surprised by a smooth faced stranger perhaps 40 years of age. lie was eoatless and wore an outing shirt ant dark trousers. He escaped. .Tust before Miss Bulger was as sanlted. (Jcorge Keshner, a Russian charged with attempted assault upoi an eitiht-yonr-old girl, was set upoi bv a crowd of men and all but killed The clothes he wore were torn fron his body and lie v. :i- t:-'" i to th< station house wrapped in a blanket Another crowd set upon llylo Sa loda. an Indian palmist, who was similarly accused, and only the time lv intervention of police reserves saved him from summary punishment. Small Race War. The lighting element among tin whites and blacks in the vicinity <> i:mth street and Fifth avenue line up according to their racial picjudi cos again today, this time to settle i baseball dispute, and when the aigu I ment was ended 50 persons requiret I medical treatment and of that num her two will die. Probably 5,000 per sons took part in the fight, but tin I .M00 policemen who dispersed the mol after every one was tought out ~o only nine prisoners and <>i these t wi I were women. I John MeCue. a t.iuk driver. X. I years old, and Matthews Murtha. age< ' h") years, an ice peddler, receive! fractured skulls and were removed t< ,\ hospital in a serious condition. Tin injuries of others ranged from brok en noses to serious razor cuts. The trouble started at a ball ganv where a white man and a colored mai had made a wager, and subsequentl; quarreled over the settlement. Pros fiitly the sivlit of a white man am ;i colored man lighting stinted ;i iren ,a 1 row. The crowd Ming abou evenly divided in color. Kvory sort o weapon was used and for blocks tli constantly augmented mob surirei while the police reserves from oigh precincts hammered away with thei clubs to break the tangle. Occupant ,?f homes along the lines of battl were not content to be spectators oiil ?f the st ?"i I e and fr -in windows am points of vaniage on the tool's ever, piece of crockery or furniture tlm culd be spared was hurled down up nil Ihe beads of the rioter:- with reck less impartiality. K.ven women am children .joined the I ray. It was two hours before the polie coiitrolled the situation and then pa trol wagons and ambulances pioke up those who were too seriously wor ,,ui to get away. Those most liarme. were taken to hospitals ami the pns micrs were locked up. charged wit inciting a riot. Tonight several linn dreds officers patrolled the disturbe neighborhood. Victim of Rioters. Louis Con '21 years old. wa Ihe victim of the blind fury of rioter tonight and will probably die ol hi injuries, lie was innocent of wron doing but fell before a crowd detei mined to have revenge on some out 'IV* dangerous temper of the pet pie. particularly in the foreign <piai Icrs. who have been aroused by tli reports of* attacks upon women an i'-iiU, was exhibited toiiiul'l in repeal ed instances. A cry that a >1 range had approached a child with I ami iarity was enough to start . moll. Sadie I laiiiberuer. ayed s \t.n. playing in the hallway i?I* hot' tenement home in Kast Ninetv-tlfth street this evening, cried out that a man had seized her. The child's father seized (Joorge Keshner, a Russian 1 bookbinder, by the throat. The excitement attracted f>00 men and women, who fought with each other to i get a chance nt the Russian. Thirty policemen rescued Keshner, blooding from a score of wounds, and when all his clothing hut his shoos had heen torn from him. The police wrapped the prisoner in a blanket and spirited > him away. Sadie's sister corrohrated the story of attack, and the father . says that he saw his daughter in the - grasp of the Russian. ' Noarly Lost His Scalp. ; About the same time llylo Saloda i nearly lost his scalp in Thirty-fourth street. He was accused of having of fered pennies to a girl of 12 years. ? The father wanted to know why, and Saloda showed tight. lie slashed - about with a penknife and then - knocked down a policeman. A crowd . <>t perhaps a thousand people at> tempted to reach Saloda. but police s reserves beat them back and took Say loda to the station. j" Louis Conconela was the victim of 1 circumstances. A man and wife quarreled in 117th street, ami their youthful daughter went out lo the sidewalk ' and wept, A passing hoy slapped her 1 and ran away. The girl's cries and 1 the running boy aroused the ncigli horhood, who chased the lad. The hov 1 escaped ami ('oncoucla, who had outfooted the other pursuers, was mistaken by the mob for the girl's as[ DISPENSARY WANTED AT NORTH AUGUSTA. e Georgia People Talk About Effect of p The Prohibition Law?The Town 1 Opposed to It. _ j The State. I he action of the legislature of 1 Oeorgia, establishing prohibition in . that state on January 1. 1008, has . resulted in a movement to place a disf pensary al North Augusta, in Aiken ) county, just a few miles from Angus-I I jta. At present there arc dispensat } ; in Aiken, although an effort has b<k.i I | made to have them voted out and a j >'petition is now in circulation by the I j prohibitionists who claim that the \ j rolls are badly in need of revision. The j , [Augusta llerald, in speaking of the' B , idea, says: -| "It was rumored last night at po- ' lice head(|uaters that arijfjngemonts i' , had heen made to open up :i disponi J sar.v in North Augusta at iin early p j date. -| ''Authentic information could not I I be secured, but Mr. L. .1. Williams, a -| citizen of the village, and the ext j chairman of the old stale dispensary f jJioard, staled that he was of the opiui* ion that the rumor was without fonn' I dation. The subject is discussed at I | nearly every corner, and from what ' | information could he secured vesfer* day. it appears that l)o installation (1 ?f a dispensary will t'.iuse the most v serious discord and antagonism the ' town has ever experienced. Those v who are acquainted with the trials of I the new county and the incorporation ' | stale that these two old liu'hts would -1 piile into insignificance whim com pa r'? ! ? <! with the present question. "While ii is no) at all impossible j for an institution of ihis kind lo ho " I inaugurated, il seems to !>< clearly ' j evident that the majority of citizen* "rare decidedly opposed to the dispen' (sary. Mr. <'. L. ,Tone<?. who express( led his aversion to the movement, slal1 I ed. that he for hi- personal gralifica" I lion had thoroughly looked into the ' . >ubjeci and had found f ha I the pco j pie at large would have absoluieiv ! nothing- to do with the establishing or s ; non-establishing- of the dispensary.! sjlle said lliat under the bill passed at | s | I he last session of the slate legisla1 fure, the advisability of placing dis pensaries was lefr entirely in the ...hands of ihe cotirdy board of control. j I* roin his statement it appears obvious ..(that if the hoard be prevailed upon (> i to open an institution of this kind, il (j | will be done.'' i | Maxim fiorky >ays the Americans - j aIV* a -:I? 111. gloomy people,'' Kvidenll.v iioiic . f ih"in I old Ma\ jus| what ih'-y ihoughi of him. STANDARD'S VIEW OF THE BIG FINE AN OFFICIAL TALKS CONCERNING JUDGE LANDIS DECISION. Ask Only a "Square Deal"?Not Responsible for tlio Rate Issued by the Chicago & Alton Railroad. New York, Aug-. ?News of I ho unprecodted (iuo imposed upon the Standard Oil company by Judjje Landis in 1 ho United States court at Chicago today was received in New York with excited interest. The general expectation tor some days lias been that the decision would be unfavorable to the Standard Oil company, hut apparently no one looked for the imposition of the maximum penalty ot* the 1,-102 counts of the indictments, reaching the enormous total of $20,240,000. Ait ollicial of the Standard Oil company said that the amount of the tine* evidenced the injustice against the company. "The amount of Judge Landis' 'Hues," said the ollicial today authoritatively for the company, "is 50 times the value of the oil carried under the | indictment. The total value of oil was $(i.)0,000, or each car of oil valued at about $!.)() we have been fine.I $2(1,0110. An appeal will be taken in | the I uiteil States circuit court of appeals, hut whether it will be entered at once or whether the lull time :illoweil by law will be taken will he determined by our counsel in C'hicaPresident .lames A. Moffatt of the Standard Oil company of Indiana made a statement today in reference to tlio judgment by .ludge Landis, pronounced in Chicago, which, in part, follows. "The court having- pronounced its judgment in the case of the United States vs. Standard Oil company of Indiana, there can now he no impropriety in stating- our position to the American people. Facts in the Case. .ic facts in this case are simple iid easily understood. The Standard Oil company of Indiana was convicted of receiving what (lie government claimed wsa a concession from the ( liieag'o & Alton."/ 'he shipment of oil from its refincV Whiting, Ind., to hast St. Louis, ill. The contention of the government was that the lawful rate was IS cents per 100 pounds between these two points. The. defendants claim, tlrst, that the lawful rate was li cents and secondly if (i cents was not the lawful rate it was I lie rate issued to the Standard Oil company by the Alton a< the lawful : rate and the Standard was justified in believing- from its own investigation and 1 i'oiii the information secur' ed from the railroad eompauv that (i . ren ! - was 1 lie la w ful ra I e. I "The IS-eeut rate was a 'elass' not | Voiiunodity rale, and the chairman 1 of the Chicago and S|. Louis Traffic association, the association issuing . I!:? IS-cenl class rale, under oath jtcstitied that il was never applied and , was never intended to apply to oil. 4 Thousands of tons of freight | ha ve been shipped from these points I under I lie same circumstances as the St : tidard '> shipments and if t lie. | Standard is guilty in this case, so is | praetieally every other shipper in this a' manufact tiring* territory. Is | there a purpose in selecting- the i Standard as the victim? I lie American public not onlv believes in fair plav in the abstract", but li with all the facts before it it has the capacity to determine whether a defendant, rich or poor, has received a 'square deal.' l'or all these reasons the Standard Oil company asserts that il is not even technically guilty and that it ought never to have been prosecuted because of the claimed failure of a railroad company?which has neither been indicted nor prosecuted?to file its tarill. and that the prosecution of this defendant under the circumstances of this case is a prostitution of I lie spirit and the hig'her purpose of the interstate commerce act." rl! '> i" I he West are ofI It li candidate raiih ink- fre-h op] "!'. unit ies.