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

as in the preceding section PROVIDED,
may be compelled to attend in the same
manner as q witness who is to be ex-
amined conditionally; and the exami
nation shall be taken and fixed by the
iudgeor clerk in like manner, and may
be read by either party on the trial"
Sec. SIS: THE examination OF the
party thus taken may be rebutted by
the adverse party"
Sec. 684: Effect of refusGlto testify.
If a party refuses to attend and testify,
as in the four preceding sections pro
vided, he may be punished as for a
contempt, and his complaint, Gnsrcer
or reply may be stricken out
Sec 586: ga person for whose i'm
mediate benefit the action is prosecuted
or defended, thouge not a party to the
action, may be examined as a witness
in the same anne and subject to the
same rules of examination as If he were
named as a party" T.
(When a corporation is a party to an
action, either plaintiff or defendant,
who are the persons for whose "imme-
date benefit" the action is prosecuted
or defended, who represents the cor
poration in interest, unless it be the
officers, agents and stockholders of
the cocporationi But of this further
on)
Sec. 695 of The Code provides the
manner in which special proceedings
to dissolve a corporation shall be COM
menced and conducted.
Now, Mr.. Eii5or, if you have careful
ly read and considered the foregoing
citations and reference to the laws of
North Carolina and have noted las |
know you have the general drift and
trend of popular sentiment on the sub
jet of trusts" then it must ne mani
fest that SO far as the language of the
law and wishes of tho people can be
understood, trusts and combinations
against freedom of trade are an abomi-
nation and q crime which the law and
the people Of our State have condemned
in no uncertain terms Is there a rem
edy9 Can it be found in the laws above
citedl II not, can a law be framed to
meet the wrong and right it, These
are the questions I will undertake to
answer.
We start out with the popular belief
that trusts exist; not with the difficulty
confr- nting us that a mere belief in the
existence of a fact, even though thai
belief be reduced to a moral certainty
is not sufficient of itself, without proof
by evidence, to sustain judicial pro
ceedings either civil or criminal. Are
there any trusts doing business in
North Carolina Contrary to the Crimi
nal law of the State and against the ex
pressed will of the peOplei Nobody,
claiming to be intelligent, denies it.
Have laws enacted for their suppress
sion been enforcedl Nobody claims
they have been. Everybody admits
that such laws have been a dead letter
and failures so far. Can such laws eve
be enforced9 That is the question which
agitates the popular mind and is one
that sooner Or later will be answered.
1t is a question, too, which reaches
down to the very bed rock upon which
all republican government rests. The
will of the people constitutionally ex
pressed is the law of every republic.
I undertake to say that trusts can be
reached by law and trusts can DO by
law abolished. What lawsP State
laws. Why not United States lawsP
Because United States laws cannot
reach the root of the evil. What is the
root of the evil9 Corpora ions, and
corporate associations in the nature of
corporations, which under our own
State constitution above quoted are put
on the same footing with corporations.
1t is State legislation that has created
and which continues in existence the
artificial creatures called corpora
tions"; and it is to State legislation
alone, if anywhere, that the people
must look for correcting the morals, so
to speak, of their own children. 1t is
to my mind an inconsistency and a
folly for States to create corporations
for business purposes and then play
the baby themselves by calling on the
national government to put their own
children under legal restraint. Here
we are to day, the great sovereign State
of North Carolina, that in it's sovereign
capacity helped to rea and organize
the United States, actually Emporium
ing the United States to take charge .
of and control our private business cor.
pOrations-Creatures of our own max