The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-11-05
ATTORNEY GENERAL
KNOX ON TRUST
EDITORIAL DISCUSSION OF HIS
RECENT UTTERANCES BY TIE
CHICAGO INTER OCEAN

There has been no more Timely utter
anCe on the trusts than the address &
Attorney General Knox at PittSburg
recently. Then and there Re took oc-
casion to state clearly his position and
that of the President on the paramount
question of the day.
He spoke of the great combinations Of
capital as the instrumentalities of
modern commercial activity whose
number and size should appall no
healthy American" and added:
No right thinking man desires to i'm
pair the efficiency of the great corpora
tons as instrumentalities of nations
commercial development. Because they
are great and prosperous is not sufi-
cient reason for their destruction.
This. coming from the man intrusted
with the prosecution of trusts that the
violating the law, has special signif
canoe. Conscious that his action had
been criticised, the Attorney General
spoke to the business men of Pittsburg
without prejudice and with no resent
ment toward the trusts or his critics.
Even when he enumerated the evils
and abuses in trust promotions, pur-
poses, organizations, methods, and
management, he said:
That all or any of these abuses are to
be found in every large organization
called a trust no one would assert who
valued his reputation for sane judg-
ment.
He declared that if the noXious fea-
lures of trusts, among which are over
capitalization in prices, could be eradi-
Gated and a higher measure of admins
trative responsibility secured in cor
pOrate officers "a long step would be
taken toward allaying the reasonable
tf.,r,
of the trusts will result in practical mo-
nOpoly of the important business of the
country"
Mr.. Knox denied that the Sherman
act exhausts the power of Congress
over monopOlies, and expressed the
opinion that Congress, under the exist
ing constitutional grants, may amend
and extend the Sherman law and so
effectively regulate national and foreign
commerce as to prevent the sitting of
competition, the regulating of output
and price, and the restraining of ma
tiOnal and international trade.
As Congress has power to prevent the
importation or transportation Of ar
ticles deemed injurious to the general
welfare, to safeguard the movement or
storage of explosives, to exclude dis
eased cattle from the country, to check
certain foreign and interstate move
ments on commercial hygeniic, or eth
zeal grounds, Mr., Knox asked why Con-
gress might not deal with the trust
question by extending the same princi-
pie of legislation.
The main purpose of the Attorney
General was to combat the theory that
I'VE are hopelessly helpless under our
system of government to deal with seri-
Gus problems which confront us in re-
spect to our greatest interests" He in
sisted that it was not for the trusts or
their opponents to say whether Con-
gress had the power to regulate corpo-
TatiOnS or not. 1t was for Congress to
decide whether it has the power and to
what extent it win execute it.
Referring to the cases brought by the
government under existing statutes.
Mr. Knox said: The President is MAX
ing an effort to secure an authoritative
exposition of existing laws and is sug-
costing additional ones to the end that
the public mind shall be set at rest and
these economic questions taken from
the domain of controversy and uncer-
tainty.'
If Attorney General Knox correctly
stated the purpose of the President,
every business man interested in the
permanent prosperity of the country
ought to second his efforts.-ChicagO
ocean.