The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-11
FEDERAL LAWS FoR Trusts.

Yesterday James p. Dill the well
known corporation lawyer Of New
York City. delivered an address at
| Harvard University on the subject Of
National laws TO govern trusts or
great industrial combinations" The
/ subject Is one that is attracting a
/ great deal Of attention. much more
/ than it is thought 10 be by those who
are not in a position to realize its i'm
| portance.
Trusts are organized to do business
beyond the limits o. the state from
which they get their charters. In fact,
some OF them do business in pretty
nearly every state in the Union That
being the case. it Is apparent that
they are liable 10 be greatly obstruct-
| Cd, and even harrassed, By the laws
/ OF the states in which they undertake
TO operate. It may be said that the
states ought 10 be left free 10 deal
with trusts as may seem to them best
that as trusts are organized for the
purpose Of getting all they can out OF
the people they are not entitled to
much consideration. That Is a very
narrow view TO take Of the subject.
1t really looks as IL trusts were here
TO stay-that they were the outgrOWth
OF the business Development Of the
country. II they are TO be permanent
institutions the best way for deal
ing with them should be sought and
adopted.
At present there is confusion grow
ing out Of conflicts between state and
federal statutes and between the
statutes of the various states. 1t Is
worthy Of notice that some states have
framed their laws for reyenue-that
is. to get all the revenue they can from
granting charters to trusts without
regard 10 the rights of other states.
It is said that at the present time
there is a bill pending In the 1egisla-
ture Of New York authorizing that
state TO grant charters to corporations
which are to be operated wholly out
side OF the states limits In other
words New York proposes to charter
trusts which cannot be operated with
in her limits, for the reason probably
that she thinks that such trusts would
be against her welfare. II is evident
that nothing of that kind should be
permitted. The only way to avoid
evils Of this sort is to enact national
laws for trusts which are to be oper-
ated in a number of states. This of
course looks like Capitalization, and
yet 1t is about the only thing that can
be done IL the difficulties under which
trusts now labor are to be avoided and
the proper control of them is to be
exercised.
In the course of his talk Mr.. Dill
Said that the American people have
not yet begun to realize the power and
force of these aggrega tons Of capital.
II is doubtless true that they haven't,
but they are alarmed at their power
to control the prices of the products
seem to be able to control them, 1T
would seem as IL the government
would have to undertake the super
vision of them.
In the March Atlantic Mr.. Merriam.
the director of the census, has an ar
ticle in which ne shows that up to and
inclusive OF the year 1900 there had
been 1873 trusts organized, having a
paper capital of $500. el5. sos. These
trusts absorbed 2,205 private industrial
enterprises, Since the census was
taken, however, a great many more
trusts have been organized-in fact,
the very greatest OF them all has
come into existence, namely, the
United States Steel Corporation. The
trusts, however, haven't absorbed
much more than a fraction of the
industries of the country. In 1900 the
output of the trusts was valued at
81 ,661, 00O, 900 while the output OF all
other industrial enterprises was valued
at between $4,000. 100000 and $4,000
100000. The combining OF industrial
plants and also OF railroads IS going
on all the time, however, and il there
are 10 be federal laws for their con-
troll 1t would be advisable to enact
such laws before the trusts become
sufficiently powerful to have them
framed in their own interests.