Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1899-10-14
THE TRUST QUESTION.
Discussed at Length by
Mr.. Newlands.
CONTROL TRUSTS BY FEDERAL
TAXATION.
Views Of Congressman Newiands
Presented fn n Communication
10 the Secretary of the Chicago
Conference.

Congressman Newlands accepted the
invitation Of the Civic Federation at
Chicapoito address the recent conference
on trusts, held under it's auspices and at
which Mr.. Bryan and Burke Cochran
were such conspicuous figures. AT the
last moment, however, he was prevented
by business engagements from going,
and, having been requested by the Sec
rotary to communicate his views in writ
ing, sent q letter in which he discusses
the feasibility of controlling trusts by
Federal taxation, and from which we
take the following extracts
RENO, Nevada, Sept. 20. 1899.
Ralph NJ. Easley, ESQ.,, Secretary Con.
ference on Trusts, Chicago, Hl.-MY
DEAR SIR 1 regret my inability to com.
ply with the request of the Civic Fede-
ration to address the conference on trusts
at Chicago, and avail myself with pleas
ure of the privilege accorded me OF pre-
senting my views in writing. shall
confine myself mainly to the remedy.
what Is n Trust
First-The term trust " is a misno-
mer as applied to the combinations OF
capital which have aroused so much So
licitude. The old trust was q combina-
tion Of independent producers to fix the
price of a particular commodity. Such
q combination could be ~annulled through
the courts as IN agreement in restraint
of trade. To-day the same object is &C
complished in a legal way, viz: BY a
union of capital in one great corporation
which purchases the property Of the in
dependent producers and makes them all
stock holders in q common enterprise.
Capital has learned from the labor
union the wisdom of cooperation. and
cooperation is now largely substituted
both in laber and capitalistic unions for
the old principle of competition.
No Remedy I'm Tariff Tinkering.
Second-Tariff legislation will not
reach the difficulty, for combinations of
capital exist in England, France and
Germany to-day, and the effect OF low
ering the tariff wall would simply be to
substitute foreign trusts for domestic
trusts in the control of our markets.
The laborers now employed by our
domestic trusts would be idle ; their
places would be taken by laborers en-
ploysd abroad by foreign trusts.
The prosperity of the republic is foun.
ded upon the prosperity of American
laborers. All legislation should place the
American man above the American dol
lar, but it should not, in the endesvor to
rectify the abuses Of American unions of
capital take away the employment of
American laborers. What we should do
is to maintain for American laborers and
American capital the practical monopoly
Of American markets.
State Liquidation VIII Fall.
Third-All attempts to regulate capi-
tai by State legislation will fail. sim ply
because it will be impossible to produce
voluntary cooperation among the vari-
Gus States.
Federal Liquidation Needed.
~Fourth-The only adequate remedy is
through federal legislation. the operation
Of which will be uniform throughout the
republic. 1t is true that the federal gov
rnment cannot prevent organizations Of
State corporations, nor is this desirable,
but it can, through it's power regarding
the-regulation Of inter State commerce..
restrain their operation and it can use it's
taxing power in such . way as either to
destroy or to regulate and control.
The power relating to the regulation
Of Interstate is hardly cuff
cient TO meet the evil as evasion would
be easy. Any trust could restrain its
operations to the limits OF the State I'M.
der the avs of which il was organized.
At the same time purchasers from other
States could buy in such State. The sale
would be domestic. the transfer of the
product would be interstate, and Iegis-
lation aimed at the trust in it's inter
State business might be evaded.
lest and Only Remedy.
Fifth-The power Of taxation OF the
federal government is ample to meet the
difficulty, and it is much more far.resch.
ing than the power exercised under the
interstate commerce section of the con-
stitution. The power of taxation can be
used either to destroy or restrain, and il
has been so used within our experience.
Evils Can be Reached.
Why cannot this power be used with
reference to the modern trust, and in a
most efficient way! Through 10 twol