The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-30

peal all charters of corporations as
will, and for cause or without cause.
There is not a single private corpora
ton In this State, chartered since 1858,
whether by general laws or special act,
whose charter could not be repealed by
the next General Assembly as easily
and with the same formalities az any
other law on the statute book, and I
doubt if any lawyer in the State would
~eontrovert this assertion. Every ohar-
ter granted by the State since 1868 has
been with express notice in the funda-
mental law of this provision. It is a
common knowledge that nearly all, Gf
not entirely alb the private business
corporations now existing under the
laws of North Carolina were chartered
since 1863, those before 1868 having
been swept away during the war, ex-
cept, however, few railroads and cor
porations of a quasi public nature
which survived the wreck of war.
But ours is not the only State consti.
EuGlOu "Ll1CA u6S SOOA q &pLONA SAO4s
Turn, for instance, to the constitution
of the State of Michigan, which as far
back as 1850, and still has, a provision
almost Identical with ours. 1t reads
as follows:
Article XV.-Oorporations. Sec. 1:
Corporations may be formed under
the general laws, but shall not be Gre
ated by special act, except for munich
pal purposes. All laws passed pursuant
to this section may be altered, amended
or repealed"
Now, Mi. Editor, lis the creature
greater than the creatorG" And espe-
| Gially so when the creator reserves the
right to destroy the thing created.
shall the clay say to the potter, what
does thoui" But you say it would be
harsh and cruel to exercise such power.
Is that sol When a maR or even a
woman commits murder, the State
takes the life of the offender. Why's
The answer is, in order that murder
may not be committed. The State IN
that case demands the life of the oheE-
der for the protection of The lives of all
her citizens. Is the life of q corpora
ton, the mere creature of the State, so
sacred that it may without cOmpunc
ton Of conscience lay its ruthless hand
On the bread and meat OF the men,
women and children, on whose lives
the we'll being and existence of the
State itself depends aAd reduce them
to perjury, want, and even ct starvation,
and yet the corporation be allowed TO
bid defiance to criminal la We and
escape punishment, because fOrsOOth,
If indicted, its officers, managers and
agents will not voluntarily testify
against it, and cannot be compelled IN
a criminal case TO testify against it lest
they condemn themselves and joOpar-
dIze their own hberJy2 1t would seem
not.
But apart from the constitutional
power OF the legislature to repeal the
charters of private business corpora
lions, Is there any good reason why
the Attorney General of North Caro-
lima cannot, without further leglsla.
tlOn, take the above provisions of law
and institute special proceedings
against any corporation believed to be
engaged in a trust, having a charter
granted under State of North Carolina
laws since 1858, to have It's charter dis
sOlvedf I think he has that power
and authority now, and the law points
out a way by which il can be done, as
| Will endeavor to show. The first and
most prominent legal course for dis
sOlvinga charter is the one above cited.
which 1 o repeas:
For any abuse of its powers to the
injury of the PUBLIC"
Now is it not an injury to the pub
lie" to do any act which Is denounced
as a crime and punishable as suchi
This ID too plain tor argument, and
it may be assumed to begin with that
a trust" is an injury to the public. "
We will suppose the Attorney Gene al
begins a special proceeding in the
name Of the State against a trust cor
poratiOn which we will call the EVA
tered Stock Boom Co." He alleges IN
his complaint upon information and
belief in general terms pointed out by
the act above quoted that said com
pany has combined with other COM
panies for the unlawful purposes de-
scrIbed-and, in a word, belongs to a
trust. The defendant, of course, comes
into court and files its answer denying
the allegation that it belongs TO a trust.