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THE GREEN BAG
camps of Alaska, from the oil wells of Ohio to the lumber yards of the Hawaiian Isands. With relentless energy he has followed the trail of the monopoly from state to state, and torn the truth from the deceptive lan guage of traffic agreements with great rail road corporations, and revealed the forbidden rebates, however hidden, or by whatsoever innocent name it sought apparently innoc uous expression. We are justified in claiming that his devo tion to a great purpose has been attended with a notable measure of success, which has come from his stern condemnation of the violation of the law whose minister he is, from his unswerving fidelity to duty, from his sincere belief in the justice of his cause, and from his ardent faith in the principle that our government is established to pre serve and defend the equal rights of all men under the law. Following almost the very words of his earnest exposition and statement of the law, in arguments that will be remembered in the traditions of our courts, it has been estab lished by final adjudications: That the buying of raw material in differ ent states, manufacturing and again selling it beyond the state of its manufacture is interstate commerce and is within the pro hibition of the Sherman law. That a corporation formed for the purpose of holding securities, and so the control of competing public service corporations, is a mere subterfuge, and so cannot escape the restraints of that law. That a corporation may be required to disclose to the public authority, by whose favor it lives, its books and records, showing its manner of business, and that it cannot plead immunity against self-incrimination. We cannot attempt to present even a sum mary of the docket of the cases instituted or carried forward by him. Decisions have been obtained giving absolute assurance to the people that the supposed reign of the destructive trust and monopoly approaches its end, and the people have come to know,
at last, that the law is mightier than its creatures. Through the insistence of the Attorney General, those offenders to whom a fine of whatever magnitude would ap pear to be a mere financial incident of their profitable business, have ruefully discovered that law breaking means personal ignominy, hardship, and mortification of the flesh. Mr. Moody quickly apprehended that the rebates allowed by the railroad systems were used as a most potent, though elusive, factor in the maintenance of monopolies and un lawful trusts. He has used the provisions of the Elkins Act with constant and farreaching efficiency, as is manifest in the sig nificant recital of twenty-seven indictments presented for receiving rebates, resulting in seven convictions, one acquittal, and nine teen cases pending; twenty indictments for granting rebates, with four convictions. In one case a defendant corporation was fined forty thousand dollars, two individual de fendants ten thousand dollars each, two cor porations were each fined fifteen thousand dollars, and one corporation penalized in the sum of one hundred and eight thousand dol lars, and individual defendants subjected to a fine of six thousand dollars. Five indict ments were presented for conspiracy to ob tain rebates, a form of proceeding where, upon conviction, the penalty of imprison ment might be imposed, and from these prosecutions three convictions have resulted with aggregate fines of thirty-six thousand dollars and with terms of imprisonment in the jail. Even this brief epitome of the service and achievements of the Attorney General must include at least a passing reference to his attention to other cares of scarcely less mo ment. He has had historic share in solving or forecasting many of the complex and ominous conditions of our insular relations, so delicate and so pregnant with issues which no man can fully anticipate. To so construe our Constitution as to make it embrace both citizens and subjects and still preserve its intrinsic character, has required a power of
