New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1899-09-27
Now, believe that these concurrent

Vow, believe that these concurrent.
remedies should reach the difficult and
the people Of every state shall first de-
eide whether they want 70 create ascor-
poration; that they shall secondIy de-
eide whether they want any outside cor
poration TODD business in the state, and.
|if SO, upon what cond itions; and, third
y, that congress shall exercise the right
to- place upon every operation doing
business outside the state in which it's
organized, such limitations and restIic-.
tions as may be necessary for the protec-
ton Of the public good.
One method for the annihilation of
trusts has occurred to me, and, to me, it
seems a complete method. 1T may not.
commend itself to you. Il is this:
That congress shall pass . law pro-.
Yiding that no corporation organized in.
any state should do business outside of
the state in which it's organized, until
it receives from some power created by,
congress license authorizing it to do.
business outside Of its own state. Now:
if the corporation must come to this
body screated by congress to secure per-.
mission to do business outside the state,
then that license can be granted upon
conditions which will, in the first place.
prevent the watering Of stock; in the
second prevent monopoly in any branch
of business; and third, provide for pub
slicity as to all of the transactions and
business of the corporation. # it is Sun-
constitutional, and so declared by the
supreme court, am in favor Of an
amendment to the constitution that will
give to congress power to destroy every
trust in the coutly. The first condition
which | suggested was that no water.
should be allowed IN the stock. / do not
believe that an; state should permit the
organization Of any corporation with a
single drop of water in the stock of that
corporation. Why should the corpora
ton be permitted to put out stock that
represents no real value? No man car
defend stock that does not represent
money invested, and only in case of a
can you secure dividends upon
the stock that does not represent money
invested. You will find that if the water
ing of the stock is permitted, Their the
cry of the innocent purchaser is raised,
and you will be told that you must pro-
tect the man who bought this stock.
My judgment is that no man can stand
in the position of an innocent purchaser
who buys stock in corporation, if that
stock is not represented by actual money
invested, because he can find out what
the stock stands for if he will only in
vestigate. If this license is granted, then
the first conditions can be that any cor
poration desiring to do business outside
of the state in which it is organized shall
bring into the board or body proof that
that stock is bona fde aud that there is
no water in it. In my judgment, when
you take from monopoly the power to
issue stock not represented by money
you will go more than half way towards
destroying monopoly in the United
States.
"You can provide for publicity and
that annually or at such other times, the
corporation shall make a return of its
business, and when you provide for pub
llcity, so that the public shall know just
what there is in the corporation, you will
60 another long step towards the de-
struction of the principle of monopoly.
"a third condition, I suggest that this
license shall not be granted until the
corporation show that it has not had q
monopoly and is not attempting mon
opoly of any branch of industry or any
article of merchandise, and then provide
that if the law is violated the license can
be revoked.
ssNow, I may be mistaken, but it has
seemed to me that this method Of deal
ing with the trusts would prove an eff
fective method. do not say that there
shall be no private corporations, but /
say that if corporation is created by
law, it is created for the public good,
and it should never be permitted to do
. thing that is injurious to the public
good.
My contention is that there is a VIC
ious principle running through the vari-
Gus policies which we have been pursu-
ing that in our taxation we have been