CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICAN TRUSTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 2 October 1907, Page 1

CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICAN TRUSTS.

AN ENORMOUS FINE. The American correspondent of tht "Lyttelton Times," writing under daU August llth, says:— The astounding fine of 29,240,000d01. imposed a few days ago upon the Stan dard Oil Company by Judge Kenesav. Landis, of the United States District Court, for violation of the law against accepting freight rebates from rail roads has supplanted the Japanrsa wa. scare as a topic of national convention. This fine is the largest eve! assessed against any individual cr tor poration in the history, of America! criminal jurisprudence. It is a littl* more than one hundred and thirty-on-times as great as the amount receivet by the Oil Company through its rebat ing operations. An appeal is certain tt be taken by the defendant. The Republican newspapers which stand in defence of the Administration hail the imposition of this enormous fim .u-xpon the mo.^t unpopular of all American trusts as one of the greatest events in your history since the Declare tton of Independence. The Democrats Press, both Radical and Conservative, has less demonstration. The lattei wing of Democracy, represented by Mi W. J. Bryan, the perpetual candidate for the Presidency, pertinently asks : "What's to prevent Standard Oil putting the prico of its product up another peg and so paying the big fine without depreciating its value or the bank accounts of its stockholders?" Then Mr Bryan goes into figures and shows how Standard Oil, disposing of 2,924,000,000 gallons of kerosene at the very slightly advanced price of a I penny a gallon, would have paid its debt to the Federal Courts and never , have known the difference. The radical i Democratic Press, headed by the radical Hearst and his radical newspapers, elaborate upon the probabilities of the punishment visited upon the trust being minimised, and suggest that three months in gaol for the directors would be more effective than fines of countless millions of dollars. There is some- , thing about the "languishing in j prison" threat that always appeal.' strongly to the proletariat. The id-jr-of millionaires locked up in stone dun geons and subsisting" «n bread ant' water is sure to delight the rabble Hearst and his sensational newspaper! know how they can touch popular sympathy and approval among theii- t.v.-n ! class of readers. i But while the dogs bark the fact ip 'mains: Rcorevelt has scored asrain, anr 1 j heavily. When one man criticises aw' ! questions two men applaud and cry his praises in to the very skies. Tlu real political prophets say nothin-j They are thinking, thinking, thinking, all tho time, wondering if the White Hmise i.s looking toward the third tcrnthat it was publicly refused more oft-" than Caesar refused the temptations n f ambition. Some recent events w-ult' almost indicate that Mr Rcos \AI would give the lie to Mr Roosevelt when the proper hour should come, and .Mr Roosevelt would be found to be the candidate to succeed Mr Roosevelt as President of the ' United States of America. Hardly secondary in interest has been tho pitched battle which has been fought hetween the sovereign state of North C'-rolina and the immensely rich nnd poweif'il Southern Railway. The fight, is now in a truce, with the honours so far very much resting with the State and Governor Glenn, its brilliant executive, who, because of his skill in this very matter, looms high as the Democratic candidate for the Preri denry next year. To understand thi? fight, which at one time threatened to resurrect the dangerous American issue of "State rights," one must consider the conditions that precipitated it. The Southern. Railway, of all our great railroads, is tho poorest- in equipment and operation, and the most exorbitant in its freight and passenger charge:. It is a great overlord, which. by rei*in of its virtual monopoly in many portions of the Southern States, holds the prosperity of cities and towns and great farming and mining districts in the hollow of its hand. It has not always used this great trust with wisdom. It has hindered rather than helped its dependencies, and about it and the man who were known to be responsible for its management has grown up a heritage of hate that has resulted in popular legislation being directed against it. In North Carolina the Southern railway was distinctly the issue at the last State election, and the legislature reflected that election this spring by enacting that passenger fares within that State should not exceed 2i cents a mile. The Southern railway ignored the mandate of the State, and did not make the least effort to revise its passenger tariffs, which averaged slightly more than three cents a mile. When the legislative became effective, within the fortnight, the State authorities moved without hesitation. They arrested two of the railroad's ticket agents, while a State Judge, moved by no sense of humour, sentenced the two men to thirty days- each in the penitentiary chain gang. That precipitated the situation. The officers of the Southern railway hurried down into North Carolina in their private cars and invoked the aid of the Federal Courts. Judge Pritchard had the ticket agents brought before him on habeas corpus and promptly released them pending a hearing on the matter by the highest Federal Courts. That was a red rag to the North CaroHn: 1 bull. "States rights" is still a delicate subject in the South. The season was midsummer and tjie climate torrid and the Federal Government had not interfered in a matter of State legislation in many years. Governor Glenr threatened to call out the State militip to uphold the position for his State Courts, and Judge Pritchard said that he would ask Washington to call out the I United States Army to maintain the diginty of his own Court, if it became necessary. The situation was much strained in North Carolina. This was asplendid opportunity for [President Roosevelt, and he proved himself too keen a politician to miss it. He quickly brought a truce, the ticket agents, who were really quite helpless in the matter, were released, and the Southern railway promised to lower its passenger charges until the matter could be finally decided by the Courts. The matter was hailed as a brilliant victory for Governor Glenn, and has resulted in his becoming the lion of the hour in the South, while the Administration opposition in the north has not been slow to voice its opinion that President Roosevelt had endeavoured to make political, capital for himself out of the incident. As this letter goes to you, Alabama is following in- North Carolina's lead against the same railroad corporation. Only she has gone further and has revoked the railroad'-s licenses and franchises in the State, making the Southern, for the time being, a practical outlaw within her bordeijj. ; • Washington has been appealed^to by* telegraph, and another tfruCfi is already being framed. I