The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-12-12
Senator Dryden on Trusts

Washington. Dec. 8.-The features
of President Roosevelt's message to
Congress which gave rise to the
most comment were those relating to
recent trusts and the tariff. In con-
nection with the conservative tone
of the Presidents message, the COM
ments of Senator John +. Dryden of
New Jersey. president of the Pru-
den ial Insurance Company, on this
subject are of Importance on account
of his large experience in corporation
matters. and because he is repre-
sentative in the Senate Of the State
in which most of the great corpora
tions have heen chartered.
"The subject is one of such mag
nitude and of such far-reaching
importance, and one upon which any
many interests that are vital to the
prosperity of the country" MIR. Dry
den sal that nothing should be
done without the most careful con-
sideration.
"In the first place, it should be
ascertained what the evils in the
present system are. and. in the sec
ond place. it shOuld he ascertained
what are the remedies for the evils.
| think that this would be much
better than to make haste to provide
remedy and then try to find some
evil that the remedy could be made
to fit
The shortness of the present Sos
sion will probably make it impossible
to do much 1t is very easy to gem
eralize, and there has been a great
deal of generalization as to the evils
of large corporations and as to the
remedies which should be applied
but there is not vet any clearly de-
fined and generally accepted opinion
as to the nature of the evils or of the
remedies to beapplied.
"That this condition exists, even
among those who are most jealous
for immediate action, is shown bv
the perfect snow storm of bills pro-
posing widely different plans of leg
islation OH this subject now being in
troduced in Congress.
"If we study the question histori-
cally from the time when our ances-
tors emerged from state of feudal
ism. Think we will find that we have
little to complain of in the present
conditions. No legislator of the
present day would think fer q NOM
ent of voting FOR charters granting
exclusive and monopolistic privi-
leges such as were formerly granted
not only by the English Parliament
but by our own Congress aud hv
our State legislatures. The very
men who founded the Constitution
OF the United States granted char
ters, such. for instance. as that of
the United States Bank, which alb
solutely excluded competition.
"The State of Virginia gave to
corporation the exclusive right to
navigate the waters of that State, and
New York granted similar monop-
oily to Fulton and Livingston. In
my own State of New Jersey, Alex
ander Hamilton drew charter for a
manufacturing corporation which
granted such sweeping privileges
that member of the New Jersey
Legislature charged Hamilton with
having drawn charter which would
give the company an absolute mono
ply of manufacturing, not only in
New Jersey, bnt in the United States.
"No such monoplies are granted
now. The charter of the United
State Steel Corporation gives it 20
exclusive right. 1t has competitors
and will continue to have them. It's
stock is sold inthe open market. and
anv man with 800 or $500 or 81. 600
can buy it aud become partner in its
profits. do not know that it ls an
evil if a great corporation is able to
manufature so economically as to TO
be able to sell cheaply to oar own
people and to foreign nations
Z" Il must be beneficial to the entire
country if our manufacturers are able
to go into the markets of the world
and bring the money of other nations
here for distribution among our wage
earners and farmers. the men on
whom the prosperity of the country
has always rested and must continue
to rest.
"We are now in a state of transi-
tion, and it is inevitable that the
changes going on should hurt some
individuals, just as the transition
from stage coaches to railroads hurt
individuals, but we should be careful
lest in trying to remedy some evil
which has not yet been clearly de.
fined, we may injure the industries
of the country and those dependent
un0n them aE iuVaatora and waUa-