The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-10-30

AZ one exercise of their
'ahe ciafge Of this govarom 'hey can
stdoie TO President. - - l>oIa coA-
800 legislatures and Corxrssa c1s
a' me people should -
-, ahd eject others. If ta+nto.S
ot;. II puo.lc Interest are hald nroa
- by judges, then the earo ~
= .e ihade the constitution CON 49,,
tho a,ss necessary, or if the fault l. IN
49, remove them and put hottar
49, III thelr places. The servant ! 80
1--we ms master, and judges and al ~
tho 49,. oi"clals are only servants of
~ psopie-and they are nothing moro
statutes making trusts illepa,
na'e not been enforced. Then lool, in+o
hooa WA public servants have
81 hacking III zeal to enforce the lau,
: nose VINO are friendly to the 1ructc
q 'iere are no trusts. The defence -,
these hirelings of Illegal comhtaot
~ man unless receiving benefit from
mem would defend them-sounds ira
piea set up by a young LAWYER wbooa
IiehI was sued for damaging a kettle
~ a porroWed. His plea ran this Way.
=, iHt kettle was not cracked when he
iet"ihed II. " 1t was cracked when he
So II. t5) he never had the blamed old
kettle. So these employees of the TRUSTS
say: N) Trusts are a necessary and nm
aVoldable evil. (2)They are very useful
ana beneficial. CD There are no trusts
lou Know very we'll that there are
.uSls' mat they have eaten up your
JUST earnings like the locusts of Egvpt
mat they are not beneficial to those not
III .ieln, ana you know that being illegal
ana injurious, the people can and ought
to suppress them.
ANTITRUST LEGISLATION.
You will ask how this is to be done
An honest, faithful execution of the laws
already upon the statute book would de-
stroy them. and this faithful execution
can be had whenever the public will
arouse themselves to select only such
pubic servants as Will faithfully exc
cute those laws. But it has been suggest
ed that additional enactments will be
useful. l would not be understood as
opposing any suggestions made by others
at this meeting who are more familiar
with the subject than 1, and who nave
, studied it more profoundly, but ven
ture to suggest some action that NAV
we'll be enacted by any legislature which
is really and genuinely hostile to these
cancers upon the body polite. First con-
slider the nature of the operation Of these
illegal combinations. They combine vast
masses of capital, then whenever thew
find an honest dealer or a competing
manufacturer making a reasonable profit
on the same goods they put an agent, or
open a store nominally in the name of
another, alongside of him and undersell
him till they have broken him up or forced
him to sell out to the trust, when imme-
dlately the price Of the manufactured
article is put up to the consumer and
the price Of the raw material is put
down to the producer. The monopoly hav-
ing no longer any competition, the pro-
Queer IS forced to take an unjustly low
price and the consumer to pay an unreal
sOnably high one, and the opportunity
of countless thousands of men who would
have been dealers and manufacturers,
supporting their families, is destroyed.
Those dealers and manufacturers would,
by their competition. have guaranteed
just prices to the creator of the raw ma
t~erial. and reasonable prices to the con-
sumner. But the trusts destroy all classes
alike and put the profit into their own
Golfers.
The additional legislation which has
| occurred to me is: /. The trusts being
Illegal, they should be treated as all
other outlaws and forbidden the use of
the courts to collect the debts due to
them. When they sell their goods on
a credit, the defense that the cred
itOr IS a trust may be plead
ed, and if proven should bar any
recovery. Enormous as are their illegal
| accumulatiOns. even the trusts must do
some business on credit. Such an act
as this has been passed in Missouri, Ar
kansas and Texas, and possibly in other
States. The statute in a modified and
milder form was introduced in the last
General Assembly by Mr.. Stevens and
passed the lower House, but the agents OF
the trusts were able to persuade the Sen
ate that it was a dangerous measure-as
it was. but to the trusts alone. That
the trusts should rave so earnestly OPP
posed it is conclusive answer to those
who say the law would have done no
good. The trusts may be trusted to know
their own interests. When the stevens
bill is introduced in the coming Leglsla-
ture, if public opinion is expressed IN
m~istakably in its favor it will not surfer
a second defeat.
2. There is needed a rigid enforcement
of the Craig law which forbids any cor
p~oration chartered in another State t6
do business in this State until it has peer
re-chartered in this State and has be
come a North Carolina corporation. The
Craig law has been held constitutions
by the Supreme Court of this State, ano
similar acts have been sustained by the
United States Supreme Court. BY It's en-
forcement every corporation doing bust
ness in this State will be subject to State
control and regulation, and if any of then
.ra nroven TO be trusts or otherwise
doing an illegal business, they can De
wound up and forced to cease their opera
tions in this State.
A TAX ON EARNINGS.
9 Another just measure is one recently