The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1902-10-16
ATTORNEY GENERAL SPEAKS
He Declares Combinations May be Con-
trolled by Congress.

Attorney General P. G. Knox de-
livered an exhaustive address at Pitts
burg Tuesday night upon 1.-The Com
merce Clause of the Constitution and
the Trusts" before the members of
the chamber of commerce. Seven
hundred guests were present.
In the couoSe of his speech Mr..
Knox declared that the power to
regulate trusts lies with congress.
The further power, he maintained,
rests in the common law, which he said
was always jealous of monopolles of
public necessities in any form.
Mr.. Knox said i'm part as follows:
:'Great combinations Of capital, now
numbering thousands, are the in
Strumentalities of modern CONNER
cial activity. Their number and size
alone appall no healthy American.
No right thinking man desires to I'm
pair the efficiency of the great corpor-
ations as instrumentalities of national
commercial Development Because
they are great and prosperous is no
sufficient reason for their destruction.
That there are evils and abuses in
trust promotions, purposes, organIza-
tions, methods, management, and
effects none questions, except those
who have profited by those evils.
That all or any of these abuses are to
be found in every large organization
called trust no one would assert who
valued his reputation for sane judy
ment.
1.-THE conspicuous noxiOus features
of trusts existent and possible are
these: Over capitalization, lack of
publicity of operation, discrimination
in prices to destroy competition, in
sufficient personal responsibility of
officers and directors for corporate
management, tendency to monopoly
and lack of appreciation in their man.
agement of their relations to the peo-
pie. for whose benefit they are permit
ted to exist, Overcapitalization is the
chief of these and the source from
which the minor ones flow.
Corporations and joint stock or
other associations, depending upon
any statutory law for their existence
or privileges, trading beyond their
own states, should be required to do
business in every state and locality up
on precisely the same terms and condi-
tionS. There should be no discrimina-
tion in prices; no preferences in SER
vice. Such corporations serving the
public as carriers and in similar capac-
tiles should be compelled to keep the
avenues of commerce free and open to
all upon the same terms, and to
observe the law as to its injunctions
against sitting competition. More
over, corporations upon which the
people depend for the necessaries of
life should be required to conduct
their business so as regularly and rea-
Sonably TO supply the public needs.
"They should be subject to visitorial
supervision, and full and accurate in
formation as to their operations should
be made regularly at reasonable in
tervals. Secrecy in the conduct and
results of operation is unfair to the
nonmanaging stockholders, and should
as well fer reasons of state, be pro-
hibited by law. If these serious evils
are eradicated and higher measure
of administrative responsibility re-
quired in corporate officers, a long step
would be taken toward allaying the
reasonable apprehension that the un-
checked aggression of the trusts will
result in practical monopoly of the
important business of the country