The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1894-05-24
THE LAW ON TRUSTS.
JUDGE WHITAKER DEFINES II
IN HIS CHARGE
Builds Up the Rich and Pulls Down
the Poor-The Fashion and the
Curse of the Age.

builds Up the IStch ana Pulls Down
the Poor-The Fashion and the
Curse of the Age.
The May.term of the Superior court
for Forsyth county was opened by
Judge Whitaker a. $40 this morning.
George Miller and E. c. Clinard
were excused from serving on the
Grand Jury.
J. A. Sheek was chosen foreman Of
the Grand Jury which is composed of
the following named gentlemen: J.
C. Fleming, H. a. Styers, E. 2. Pfaf.
J. NJ. Shore, J. II. Wicker, EnOch
gins. E. w. Crews, j. A. Sheek, J. H.
fucker, W. r. hunger, Andrew Sink,
]. w. Bullard, W. S. Black, J. G. But
ner, j. NJ. Ham, j. a. Tucker. Mr..
Sheek asked to be excused from Serv-
ing as foreman, saying that he had
never served on the Grand Jury before
and feared that he would not be able
to perform the duties of foreman cor
rectly.
To this His Honor replied: you
arc the very man | am looking for:
swear him in Mr.. Clerk. The best ey
fdence of a mans intelligence is given
when he acknowledges his ignorance.
That is why the court accepted Mr..
Sheek He does not claim TO know it
all, therefore he will hear the courts
charge Some men know it all-yOu
cannot teach such men anything"
THE LAW or TRUSTS.
Judge Whitaker proceeded to deliv-
or very able charge on TRUSTS, :"
which reads as follows:
The legislature of North Carolina
in the year 1889 declared
Sect, THAT ALL combinations and
trusts as defined by this act are unlaw-
full, dangerous to the liberty of the
people, and are hereby forbidden to be
formed or carried on IN this State
Sect. THAT trust is an arrange
ment, understanding OF agreement,
either private or public entered into
by two or more persons or corpora
tions for the purpose of increasing or
reducing the price Of the shares
of stock of any company or
corporation, or Of any class of pro-
ducts, materials or manufacturer art!-
cles, beyond the price that would be
fixed by the natural demand for or the
supply of such shares, products, ma
terials or manufactured articles, aid
any attempt to carry out Such pur-
pose shall be evidence that such ar
rangement. understanding or agree
ment exists.
Sect 3-That any persons, COM
pany or corporation who shall form,
or attempt to form trust in this
State, or the agent or representative
of any trust IN any State or county
who shall attempt to carry on opera
tions in this State shall be guilty of a
misdemeanOr, and upon conviction
may be fined rot more IAN ten thou
sand dollars or may be imprisoned not
more than ten years for each offence.
l(NrR araslrl
or corporation who enter int an ar
angement, understanding or agree
ment not to mine, manufacture, buy,
sell or transport more than d certain
specified amount of any goods, pro-
ducts or commodities within a speci-
fled time, will have violated section
three of this act and will be liable to
Indictment therefor, and any person,
company or corporation who give
bond or make forfeit of any kind not
to break such arrangement, under
standing or agreement shall be guilty
of a miSdemeanOr, and on conviction
thereof shall be fined or imprisoned, or
both, in the discretion of the court.
Sect. 5.-That any merchant, brok-
er, manufacturer or dealers in raw
materials of any kind, or the agent of
such persons, who shall sell any parti-
cular class of goods, raw materials or
manufactured articles for less than
actual cost, for the purpose of break
ing down competitors, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanOr, and upon cOnvic-
ton shall be fined or imprisoned or
both, in the discretion of the court:
Provided that nothing contained in
this act shall operate or be construed
so as to forbid or prevent any person
or persons who desire and intend to
purchase any article or commodity for
his or their own use or consumption,
from combining or otherwise lawfully
acting so as to protect or help them
selves from imposition in the cost or
purchase price of such articles or COM
modities as they, or either of them
may design and intend to use or con-
sumo.
1.-THE nature of man requires that he
should have food to preserve, and
clothing to make comfortable his body
and protect it from the inclemency of
the Weather-as we'll as other things
which he must, or will have, such as
whiskey and tobacco, to add to his
comfort and pleasure. To supply
this demand the farmer makes cotton,
corn and tOEcacO. The cotton is made
into cloth by the spinner and weaver,
the corn into whiskey by the distiller
and the tobacco is prepared for use by
the tobacco manufacturer. If all the
growers of cotton, corn or tobacco
could combine, they might regulate
the prices of their products by
Withholding them from the market ex-
cept at certain agreed prices, or by
producing only agreed quantities Of
each; but this is impracticable, ever
impossible, because being so many in
number and so widely separated they
cannot get together or agree on any
thing, and because their immediate
and urgent necesS tiles are such thai
what they make they must sell al
whatever they can get without delay
To convert the cotton into cloth, the
corn into spirits and prepare the to
baccO for general use requires large
capital, and therefore this is done by
wealthy individuals, or by corpora
tions composed of many persons whose
combined means make large capita
and who work together under one or
few controlling spirits. The sicl
man, or the sick corporation, Car
wait, he can live on what he alread,
has and Withhold his goods from
not crying for bread, his wife is no
suffering for clothes, his creditors ar
not importuning and haunting him 70
their debts. The possession of none
creates a desire for more, and as
rule the more man has the harde
he will scheme and struggle to add t
his capital.
Thus it is that the rich are more In
clfned to be hard-hearted. selfish an
graspfug and more deaf to the cries o
want and distress than are the pool
Not satisfied with what they. hav