60 Minutes1968

Himself - Correspondent:
The conspirators had managed, in the decade from 1936 to 1946, to dismantle streetcar lines in forty-five cities. The key to the federal case was intent. Did the defendants just go along with the national trend, or did they destroy electric mass-transit on purpose? The juries and the judges said that they were big boys and they knew what they were doing. But Dixon thinks the punishment was ridiculous. The government had asked that individual corporate officers be sent to jail.

William Dixon:
The government did not get them, much to my disquietous surprise and personal disgust.

Himself - Correspondent:
What was the punishment for the individuals?

William Dixon:
Well, the judge said this was nothing more than a "traffic violation" by the defendants, and he imposed a one-dollar fine on the individual defendants as punishment.

Himself - Correspondent:
The corporations, on the other hand, were given the maximum penalty: a $5,000 fine.