824 OLEOMARGARINE 



from the hands of the law, but to do this would mean the staying away from home 

 and relatives, and, above all, the constant strain on my mind, and with the sense 

 that I had done a great wrong I could not stand it. Trusting that you will allow me 

 to settle immediately, which will allow me to drift back into the channels of straight, 

 legitimate business soon, I remain." 



Notwithstanding that the authorities were induced to settle with him upon his 

 promise of abstention in the future from similar violations of the law, it appears that 

 he straightaway resumed his operations, undoubtedly taking courage from the success 

 with which he had compromised the first offenses in which he had been discovered. 



It is absolutely clear that for such a persistent violator of the law something more 

 than a money penalty was essential. The sentence of imprisonment imposed in this 

 case was peremptorily required by the circumstances. Nor can I say that the sentence 

 was anything but moderate. It is less than the average sentence imposed upon per- 

 sistent violators of the internal-revenue laws relating to the distillation of spirits, and 

 much less than the ordinary sentences imposed for violation of the laws against the 

 use of the mails for fraudulent purposes. 



Not only is the dignity of the law to be upheld against such persistent violations, 

 but the public is entitled to be protected by the salutary influence of stern punish- 

 ment against fraud and deception such as were practiced in this case, by means of 

 which the petitioners were enabled to impose upon innocent persons as genuine but- 

 ter a counterfeit article which, if sold for what it really was, would have brought 

 very much less in the open market. 



I do not think that the sentences should be interfered with. 



Who is this man Wilkins? 



As soon as detected in the act of removing oleomargarine marks at 

 Philadelphia, so that his Washington business was no longer profitable, 

 being indicted by the Federal grand jury, Wilkins was brought to 

 Chicago by Messrs. Braun & Fitts, the largest manufacturers of oleo- 

 margarine in the country, and given the responsible position of direct- 

 ing the salesmen, which class have for years coached retailers in the 

 art of swindling the public. 



Wilkins held this position as confidential man with Braun & Fitts 

 during the time his case was being fought in court and the effort being 

 made to pardon him, and went directly from their employ to prison at 

 Philadelphia. 



During the time when Wilkins's pardon was being most actively 

 sought by the influence of the oleomargarine manufacturers two other 

 swindles of even as great magnitude, and of the same character, were 

 unearthed. Not, however, by the Internal-Revenue Department, but 

 by the agricultural department of New York. 



These swindles were gigantic in their proportions. The details were 

 excellently set forth in the Times-Herald of Chicago, in its issue of 

 Sunday, February 11. The Times-Herald's account of this swindle 

 follows: 



Seek fraud in " oleo" Suspicious of prime butter Revenue agents claim to have un- 

 earthed a swindle on the Government Shipment seized and arrests made More to 

 follow. 



Government officials from three States are investigating what they believe to be the 

 largest oleomargarine fraud in the history of the local internal-revenue department. 

 The work of the officers has resulted in the arrest of John F. Rooney, who has had a 

 preliminary hearing before Commissioner Mason and who is now on bonds of $2,500. 



Rooney is charged with selling oleomargarine as butter. The business was con- 

 ducted in the names of the Aurora Produce Company and the Elgin Produce Com- 

 pany. Checks produced in evidence upon the preliminary hearing tend to show 

 that Rooney and his associates bought as high as $1,000 worth of the product daily 

 and shipped it to customers in several States who had purchased it in the belief that 

 it was high-grade butter. It is charged that in the three or four months that 

 Rooney has been operating he has disposed of between $80,000 and $124,000 worth 

 of oleomargarine, upon which he made at least 40 cents on the dollar. Rooney's 



