The Van Buren press., 1899-09-16
10 TALK ABOUT TRUSTS.
Opening of the Civic Federation Con-
ference ON the Uses and Abuses
of Trusts in Chicago.
MANY OF THE DELEGATES WERE TARDY.
Chairman Franklin IL. Head Opened
the Conference, the Delegates
Were Duly Welcomed to City and
stnte, and the Reading of Pre-
pared Papers was begun.

Chicago, Sept. l4.---The Civic Feder-
alton conference, ON the uses and
abuses of trusts and combinations,
with representative men from nearly
every state in attendance or en- route,
opened here. Central music hall was
fairly filed with delegates and specta-
tors.
The meeting was called to order by
Chairman Franklin IL. Head, who sal
in part:
Chairman Heads Adress.
'1ndustrial combinations, whatever
their form, whatever their purpose,
whatever their explanation, are mat
ter of public concern. 1t is said we do
not know enough of this new form OF
industrial organization TO judge prop
erly respecting it. If this should be
true, and if, on this account, trusts
are to be allowed a probationary ex-
istence, it is the plain duty of the gov
errfment to hold ,hem, meantime, to
strict account If truss are what
they claim, that IS to say, the van
guards of a new industrial organiza-
ton which holds within itself great
industrial benefits, the sooner this
fact is recognized by the public, the
better for all concerned.
The Governments Right.
"If, on the other hand, there is dam
ger in the extreme application OF this
form of organization, the government
certainly has a right to possess itself
of all facts necessary Cor Judicial
opinion and for effective legislation.
Where competition controls, the gov
ernment may safely refrain from ill
references; but where competition IS
excluded. or where the conditions of
it's exercise are such as to give one
competitor an advantage over another,
nothing remains but public supervl-
sion; and the most important, indeed,
the essential agency for legislation or
for administrative supervision is
thoroughly organized bureau of status
ties and accounts, clothed with au-
thority over the auditing departments
of these industrial associations.
A Great Question.
"The question before this conven-
IlOn is 1luttu IL t,ltht NldSo'iOiif ~
moves in many directions and eIn'
braces of social theories and social
ideas. Its vastness will lie appreciated
when it is observed that its judieious
treatment will result in securing Tor
the people the advantages of the IN
dustrial development OF the past ccn-
tury, while to ignore or to fail in its
solution would result in prostituting
the wealth created by an hundred
wears of phenomenal Development to
the service of a class"
Many Delegates Tnrdy.
The roll call disclosed the fact that
the greater part of the delegates are
yet to arrive. The responses, as name
after name was read, were few and
far between. Gov. Pingree, it was an
nounced, would arrive by night. Sec
retary Easley said many delegates had
found it impossible to attend the
opening session. The New York dele
CATION, headed by w. Bourke Cochran,
was well represented.
The Delegates Welcomed.
DIR. Howard S. Taylor, as the repre-,
sentative of Mayor Harrison, well
coined the delegates to Chicago.
Atty Gen. E. c. Akin acting for Gov.
Tanner, who was too i'll to attend, de-
livered an address of welcome for the
people of Illinois.
The first taste of the real business
confronting the delegates came in tho
papers delivered by Prof. j. w. jerks
and Prof. Henry Carter Adams, both
under the caption problems Before
the Conference"