The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-17

corporation: that they shall, secondly.
decide whether they want any outside
corporation to Go business in the state,
and If so, upon what conditions. and,
thirdly, that congress shall exercise the
right to place upon every corporation
doing business outside of the state in
which it is organized similar restrictions
as may be needed for the public good. .
Colonel Bryan, at this point, read the
famous circular letter advertising the
Incorporation laws of Delaware. He
commented sarcastically on advantages
set forth in the letter.
A person in the audience inquired:
Delaware and New Jersey are both
Democratic states, are they not?" to
which Mr. Bryan replied:
They were not in 1896" He contin-
ued:
Not a Safe State.
IT have read this letter in order to
show that where a state can seek an
advantage from the Incorporation of
these aggregations of wealth, it is not
safe to place the people of other states
al the tender mercy of the people of
such a state as may desire to secure its
running expenses from the taxation of
corporations organized to prey upon
people outside.
"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. 1t is this:
THAT congress should pass law pro-
viding that no corporation organized in
any state could do business outside of
the state in which it is organized un-
til it receives from some power Gre
ated by congress a license authorizing
it to do business outside of its own
state. (Applause). Now, if the corpo-
ration must come to this body created
by congress to secure permission to do
business outside the state, then that
license can be granted upon conditions
which viii in the first place prevent the
watering Of stock, in the second place
prevent monopoly in any branch of bus
mess. and third, provide for publicity as
to all of the transactions and business
of the corporation.
Destroy Every Trust
eff it is unconstitutional and so de-
clared by the supreme court, 1 am in
favor Of an amendment to the consti-
tuition that will give to congress power
to destroy every trust in the country.
1.-THE first condition which I suggest
ed was that no water should be al
lowed in the stock. do not believe
any state should permit the organiza-
ton of any corporation with a single
drop of water in the stock of that cor
poration. Why should the corporation
be permitted to put out stock that rep
resents no real value?
mo man can defend stock that does
not represent money invested and only
in the case of a monopoly can you Sc
cure dividends upon stock that does not
represent money invested.
I'VE had a case in Nebraska where
we tried to regulate railroad rates and
one railroad in our state was capital
lied and bonded for more than five
times what it would cost to duplicate
the road, and yet the judge held that
in fixing rates we had to consider the
watered stock, as well as the actual
value of that, road. When the case
went to the Supreme court a decision
was rendered which was in substance
that. in determining what was a rea-
sonable rate we had to take into con-
Sideration a, number of things besides
the present value of that road measured
by the cost of reproduction, and you
viii finC that. if the watering of the
stock is permitted then the cry of the
innocent purchaser is raised, and you
will be told that you must protect the
man VINO bought this stock.
Stock Must Be Bona Eide
my judgment is that no man can
stand in the position of an innocent
purchaser who buys stock in a corpo-
ration. if that stock is not represented
by actual money invested, because he
can find out what the stock stands for
if he will only investigate.
IF this license is granted, then the
first conditions can be that any corpo-
ration desiring to do business outside
of the state it is organized shall bring
to that board or body proof that that
stock is bona fide and that there is no
water in it. In my judgment when you
take from monopoly the power TO issue
stock represented by no money you will
go more than half the way towards de-
stroying monopoly in the United States
You can provide for publicity and
that annually or at other times the cor
porations shall make returns of it's
business and when you provide for
publicity SO that the public shall know
just what there is in the corporation,
you will go another long step towards
The destruction Of the principle of mo-
nopoly.
Without the License.
"A third condition 1 suggest that this
license shall not be granted until the
corporation shall show that it has not
had a monopoly and is not attempting
a monopoly of any branch of industry
or any article of merchandise and to
provide that if the law is violated the
license can be revoked.
Now may be mistaken, but it has
seemed to me that this method of
dealing with the trusts would serve
an effective method. 1 do not say
there shall be no private corporations.
but ] say that a corporation is created
by law, it is created for the public
good, and it should never be permitted
to do a thing that is injurious to the
public good.
My contention is that there is
vicious principle running through the
various policies which we have been
pursuing; that in our taxation we have
been imposing upon the great strug-
Cling masses the burdens of the gov
eminent, while we have been voting the
privileges to the people who will not
pay their share Of the expenses of the
government.
Every unjust tax law is an indirect
form Of larceny. If we can secure a
government whose foundations are laid
in justice and laws eXemplifying the
doctrine of equality before the law, and
then, under such a government and
such laws, wealth is accumulated to a
point where ii becomes dangerous. then
we can meet that question when it ar
Tives and I am willing to trust the wis
dom of society to meet every question
that arises and remedy every wrong.
outgrowth Of Unnatural Conditions.
Il have faith that these questions
viii be settled and settled right. hut
want to protest against this doctrine
that the trust is a natural outgrowth
of natural laws. 1t is not true. The
trust is the natural outgrowth of un-
natural conditions created by man