The Daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1845-1850, 1849-02-09
DEBATE IN THE HOUSE.

A lively debate sprung up Wednesday, on cor
porations. On the day previous, on a bill to in
crease the capital stock of the Merrimack Com
pany of Lowell, from millions to IL millions,
Mr.. Walker, of North Brook6eld, made speech
OF some 30 or 40 minutes The editor of the At
las, in giving the proceedings of that day, in
note appended, sneeringly alluded to the remarks
of Mr.. W., and said the Wings of the House did
not think them worthy of a reply. 1t would
seem, however, that the Wings altered their
minds, or the Atlas was mistaken; for, upon the
question of increasing the capital of another cor
poration, Mr.. Smith, of Lee, came out in speech
in special reply to the gentleman from North
Brookfeld. Mr.. Kellogg, of Pittsfeld, also made
most imprisoned reply to Err. W., and even
the Colonel himself made violent, and in no
small measure, personal attack upon the same
gentleman.
Mr. Walker said that he felt called upon to re-
ply to the unexpected assaults made upon him,
in consequence of his remarks on the day pre-
vious; and, in the first place, he would say, that
his modesty was very much shocked by the terms
in which the gentleman from Boston, (Col.
Schouler, had spoken of him, as "the leader of
the Free Soil party in the House," He dis.
claimed any such Distinction; and he thought it
unfair to attempt to implicate the parties with
which he had the honor to act, in any of his pe
culiar views on the subject of corporations, since
ne had expressly stated at the outset, that he &C.
ted only as an individual, that he had not consul
ted the members of his own party, and did not
know their opinions; that he spoke as only man,
in the name OF humanity His remarks had been
sneered at as lecture on political economy, but
why did not the gentlemen who differed from him
examine the several positions he had taken, and
show, If they could, that they were false? This.
no gentleman had attempted; and yet they were
bound to do this, instead of resorting to ridicule
lie had stated facts-did the gentlemen disprove
those facts No. He had been misrepresented,
too, in one OF the morning papers, 1.-THE Atas,) as
having made speech "against corporations"
thus conveying the impression that he went
against all corporations. Now, every gentleman
on that floor knew that he had distinctly declared
that he had no opposition to charters for all pur-
poses for which they were Indispensable neces.
sary, for railroads. public charities, and all en-
terprlses that did not interfere with the business
OF the country. The gentleman from Pittsfield
as well as others, had dwelt much on the great
prosperity of Massachusetts as consequence Of
her corporations. Now Mr.. w. protested against
attributing, as was always done in this connex-
ion, the prosperity Of the Commonwe alth to her
corporations. 1t was true, that we had prosper.
ed, and that we had corporations in abundance.
But this was merely a coincidence We had
prospered by the indomtabe energy, the untr-
ing industry, the general intelligence, and great
enterprise of our citizens; not by our corpora
tions
By the same mode of reasoning, it might be
proved, that the Pyramids were the cause of the
fertility OF Egypt "The lands on the banks of
the Nile are remarkable for fertility. The Pyr-
amids are near the banks Of the Nile, consequent
ly the Pyramids are the cause OF the great fertil-
lty OF the lands on the banks of that river !''-
Would any one pronounce this sound reasoning /!
And yet 1t was the same reasoning which gen.
tlemen on the floor, and else where, always used
in regard to the corporations of Massachusetts,
He should always oppose the increase OF corpor-
ate wealth, for any purpose for which the capital
ofprivate was adequate but he should ever be
willing to grant corporate powers whenever the
object proposed could not be as well obtained by
individual capital and enterprise. He was glad
that there was disposition In this House to en-
quire into this subject, and he was highly grati-
fed at the, to him. unexpectedly large vote, ~ to
S6,against the engrossment of the bill yesterday.
to increase the capital of manufacturing corpor-
alton, already of the largest, il not quite the
largest in the Commonwealth--Bo Boston Bepub-
Hedn. N