The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-16
WISE AND WEIGHTY UTTER
ANCES.

n Shelton Williams, OIL IklCHmOuu, Nd'S was
selected to respond to the address of
welcome The address, published in full
in the Richmond Dispatch, was a brill
and notable one, and scored hit.
After a pleasant reference to New Or
leans, present and past, couched in hap
by and elegant sentences, Mr.. Williams
discussed the rise and use of trust COM
panies, closing with a strong and vigor-
Gus denunciation of those monopolies
that despoil their fellows and destroy
competition Upon this phase of the
most serious question confronting the
| American people, Mr.. Williams said
az recognize, as every thinking man
must that there is a limit beyond which
the combination of capital should not &C
Ia point at which the power of concen-
| trated capital should be halted. For the
accomplishment of wise and proper
! economies, for the development of eff
ficiency in service and the promotion of
the public convenience and comfort, COM
binations and aggregations of capital are
right and should be encouraged. When
they bend their energies to the Sitting
of competition and undertake to become
monopolies they should be met and
checked and must be, if our institutions
are to be maintained and we are to re-
main a free people.
GAS one identified with trust company
and banking interests and with railroad
| interests and as the chairman of the
Trust Company Section of the American
| Bankers Association, l say to you that
the power of money ought to be re-
strained and the power of corporations
| properly controlled. l believe that the
common sense of the American people
can be relied on to discern the danger
point and so draw the line there and an
nounce the edct hitherto shalt thou
come and no further, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed.
1--WE are interested alike as taxpayers,
as citizens. as workers. Those of us who
undertake to despoil our fellows today
may ourselves be the subjects of injus-
tice and the helpless victims of some new
and mighty combination tomorrow. AT
this moment it is charged that the COM
| merce and prosperity of the entire South
| are threatened with the blight and the
|
which are attempting the placing of the
control of the entire system OF railway
TRANSPORTATION in the keeping of one man
| or set of men and at the mercy OF one
| interest which may be guided by TINS
| impulse or that-which may demand that
our business shall be developed or de-
| pressed Whilst it is pleasant to feel that
there are still lines of transportation be-
yond the reach of any monopoly, yet 1t
is we'll for us to know that even this vast
! mower can be dealt with; and the people
may be trusted to deal with it. AS you
| here and your neighbors above made
levees and limits for the mighty Missls-
sippi, and directed it into usefulness and
restrained it's ravages, so this power or
capital can be checked and governed
and guided by the strength of the people.
! Monopoly, oppressive or threatening TO
be SO. invites it's own overthrow. NO
man, no trust, no accumulation OF capt.
tai or combination of interests, however
| stupendous, can stand against the wrath
of Justly grounded suspicion OF the
| American people or against the organized
resentment or resistance of any State OF
this great Union.
''The business of the corporation; OF
the trust company, of the bank, of every
combination of capital and brains and
| enterprise, is to give the public good
value for fair returns. The moment any
of us go beyond that and attempt to ex-
tort from the public unjust tribute or
| cxtravagant dividends or profit on un-
fairly inflated issues of securities, or to
| exercise unjust discrimination we cease
to be business men and become high
Waymen, in fact, if not in law When
we cease to become the servants and
partners and associates of the people
from whom we draw our living in return
for our investments of money and eX-
penditure of thought and energy. and I'M
dertake to be the masters OF the people,
and despots demanding blackmail from
them, we forfeit our claims to respect
and sympathy, and invite vengeance. we
incite ignorance to seek redress by VIC
lence and intellect to devise methods for
our destruction.
at is our duty to recognize our re-
sponsibilities and obligations to the great
public on which all of us depend for our
living, to respect its rights, to offer it
always fair value for what it pays US,
to encourage and accept honest competi-
ton as the best stimulant of our strength
and offering the most accurate measure
of our manhood.
'Your trust companies here have en-
abled you to do things you could not
have done without them. AS your peo-
pie, all through your long history as a
community, have proved their ability to
deal with every emergency of war and
every problem of peace, they can be
relied on in common with their fellow
citizens at the proper time and in the
proper and conservative way. mean
by conservative preserving and main
tanning and destroying no rights and no
value
1.-The real business men and builders
of the country-those who represent &C
tual values and substantial investments
and real money, want to be creators and
orignators, and not despots; helpers and
associates, and not tyrants or plunderers
legitimate competitors for business, and
not monopolsts or masters"
ThBe are the utterances of wealthy