The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-02-13

| and 10 nass a law that would set at naught
state sovereignty, believe the fate OF that bill
is sealed and that it Will be necessary for this
| Legislature to take action upon the character
and manner of a suitable display. If the state
| makes an exhibition it should be a creditable
| one, and time, energy, discretion and money
win be needed. IrecOmmend an appropriation
| commemorate with the necessities OF the case
| and the ability of the State.
DAIRY INTERESTS.
This interest is developing into significant
| PROPORTIONS and there IS no reason, with the
| States special adaRtability TO cattle Iaislng 9,
| that it should not form leading industry. II
! should certainly receive due encouragement
and such protection by law as VIII PleFen' 'n'
| adulteration of its products.
| STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
| Reports from this board hive been received
| and examined. Its efficient work in the pro-
| motion and preservation of the public healths
| the prevention of the spread OF contagious dis
eases, and the distribution of the health bull
| letin giving advice and inform alton upon de-
! tails of municipal, domieiliary and personal
hygiene, entities it to the renewed confidence of
the people and the continued support Of the
General Assembly.
This DO ard, appreciating the Importance Of
vital statistics, asks for such legisa tion as will
| enable them to secure a registration Of births
and deaths that occur N the State. AN enact
ment requiring physicians to send in at stated
times their reports OF births and deaths might
avail for this purpose.
The livestock interest has become so impor-
ant to the State that an enactment charging the
State Board of Health with the duty Of looking
after the health interest of this important in
dUstry would be Wise one. The unparall eled
progress of sanitary science during the past ten
|. years has rapidly oblterated the dividing line
which, until recently, has rendered distinct the
diseases of animals from those of man, and this
board, by their voluntary suggestions as to the
causes of diseases and the proper remedy, has
| done great service.
sanitary organization by counties might
avail in preventing the spread Of contagious
diseases among animals, from which our stock
raisers have suffered SO much.
COUNTRY ROADS.
Among the important subjects demanding
| your careful attention is tine one Of public
| roads. The diversified topography Of the State
| makes this question exceedingly difficult OF
| solution. A law might easily be decided on
| that would suit the middle section, with its
| quantities of rock and facilities for having
rock roads made, but the same law would not
| suit the western section, with its alluyial
| plains, or the eastern portion with its table
| land and mountains, so that am unable to see
| how a uniform law can be reached. 1 hope,
however. that the deliberations OF the Road
| Congress have been sufficiently exhaustive and
their conclusions practical enough to throw
| light upon this vexed question and enable you
| TO formulate good law.
PENITENTIARY.
The subject Of the removal of the peniten-
| tiary has been discussed so exclusively, that
shall say but little; action Is now needed more
| than discussion. 1t is hardly necessary to re-
| capitulate argument for it's removal as the facts
are patent to all that the present prison is not
| sufficiently large to accommodate the prison
| ers, and is lacking in the proper sanitary con-
| ditiOns needful for the preservation of health;
| that it cannot be so remodeled as to meet the
necessities OF the State; that 1t va constructed
I sixty when Oenifentiaries n
| little more than an experiment with the world,
| and is out of harmony with all modern ideas of
| prison architecture; that instead of being a
place OF reform it is a school OF crime; that its
present site is in the heart OF this, the growing
capital city, barrier to id progress and
| menace to its safety. penitentiary sufi-
| GENTLY large for the needs OF the State, con-
| structed upon the best approved plan, embrace
] ing the wisest modern ideaS OF improvement.
| with separate departments for different grades
of criminals, located at suitable distance
| beyond the corporate limits of the city, is at
| present IIthink the States greatest need. To
| devise the ways and means by which this shall
| best be done without impairing the credit of
| the State or placing too heavy 4 burden upon
| taxpayers will require your best judgment and
I business sagacity.
| CONVICT LABOR.
The system Of convict labor which has been
| in practice in this State for many years pre-
! sents some Objectionable features. 1t is said
| tDat THIS system is prbcLlSeu nowhere else
| the civilized world except in the Southern
| States. This may be true, but the Southern
| States have to grapple with problem such as
| no other country on the face of the globe ever
| had, and in the ruin, desOlation and indebted
ness incident to the civil war the lease system
| has been the best solution of this vexed qucs-
| ton which they have yet been able to reach. 1t
| would be injurious to CRIMINALS as well as in
| justice to taxpayers to keep convicts in idle
ness. To work them upon public works, public
roads, ETC., exclusively, would give them en-
ployment which would be of benefit to the
State and prevent convict labor from coming
in contact with honest labor, but so many
valid objections can be urged against the FEAST
bility of such plan that it is not practicable
at the present stage of the States efforts to ex-
tricate herself from her financial embarrass-
ments and maintain and extend her institu-
tions.
CORPORATIONS AND TRUsTT.
wish to emphsiZe what have said before
that corporations made up Of individual citi-
zens properly associated under corporate laws
reach results in the development of the States
resources that individual effort could never ac-
complish and should be protected in their just
rights by the strongest security that can be
guaranteed by law. The State had the public
welfare, and not private aggrandizement, in
view in creating corporations. The state never
intended for corporations TO usurp the offices of
a citizen or to relieve him of personal respon-
siblity, neither did it intend that objects suit
able IOr Individual effort and endeaVor should
be given over to corporations TO the extent that
private and partnership business should suffer
thereby. Such unlimited action, whereby every
character OF business and industry has become
the subject Of an incorporation, is q perversiOn
of the spirit of these laws and has resulted in
harm to the State.
The chief reasons that lead men to Incorpor-
ate to limit their liabilities and increase
their powers. A charter vests in a corporation
certain powers, privileges or rights that can
not be enjoyed by men in individual or
partnership capacity. One of these chartered /
privileges is the empowering OF board Of di- |
rectoTs consisting of five or more men to act
for and bind the corporation in matters of great
moment. When a number of such corporations |
formed in the same or different states they |
can readily through their board OF directors
combine, federate pool their capital, forming |
a 'trust," thereby destroying competition and |
raising lowering prices above or below the |
price that would otherwise be fixed by the nat |
ural law of supply and demand. They usually |
extend their powers by destroying or absorbing |
any new business that springs up to compete |
with them, and, being protected, in most in |
stances, by National legislation. from foreign |
competition, grow to formidable proportions, |
and have SO increased in numbers that |
at present almost all the necessaries of |
life controlled, both to the volume of the |
output and price, by "trust." Such a state |
of affairs exists in the very face of an almost |
uniform line of decision by the courts that such
combinations Illegal and in violation of |
public policy. While believe our system of |
National protection is the hot-bed in which |
these combinations get their first growth. get |
if the State Legislatures will frame careful |