Evening star., 1902-08-08

inquisitorial reports" How the corporation
lawyer shudders at the idea.
The state does publish list Of the names
OF corporations chartered In the course of
the year. with the authorized capital and a
statement of the object. The list for the
year 1900 comprises a printed document of
z4o pages All the corporations were not
trusts, of course.
Some Big Figures.
Running through the 240 pages YOU soon
tire of s1,ooO.oO0 to 5000, 600 corporations.
They are so numerous as to be common,
You look out for good, solid corporations
with some substance A few might be
quoted at random through the list: Carne-
gle Steel Company, s16o,000OO0. TO manu-
facture steel, operate mines, railways ETC.
with perpetual charter; the AmerIcal
Railway Company, SIS, 900 600; American
Sheet Steel Company, $50, 600, 900; American
Snuff Company, $40, ,oo0, 600; American Tim
Der investment Company, s10,000OO0; Con-
soidated Electric Company, SIG, 600 600;
Cosmopolitan Power Company, $4,000 900;
Crucible Steel Company, $4,000, 600; Inter
national Crude Rubber Company, $50 O00.-
coo; National Asphalt Company, 5000 600;
National Sugar Refining Company So
100000; National Telegraph and Telephone
Company, S50,OO0,OO0; Shelby Steel Tube
Company, s15, 1000 900; Siegel Cooper Com
pany department store), s24 900 600; Stand
ard Milling Company, $11 800 900, and so on.
Those are big figures. To the average
man, perhaps, they are too stupendous to
represent anything tangible. but, after all,
they are not the most important feature Of
the case.
The real significance attaches to the al
most endless list of smaller interpretations.
representing from $3.50 900 to 81 900 600 In
capital. cap Their name is legion. Do you
know what they signify? They represent
the amalgamation of the little firms, the
small foundries, the novelty workers, the
manufacturer who had a shop and kept
hay l- Il 1t l.
The little fellow was swallowed by the
big one and got a block Of stock in the
larger corporation. Heaven knows what
the stock will be worth a year hence, or
whether he will ever get a dividend on
1T. If his share is small he may never
Know what the corporation is doing. There
is no law in Jersey to compel report and
the trust managers can tell him to go
hang.
No Trade Unrepresented.
Going down that list there is no trade or
branch of manufacturing known to man
that is not represented in 1t. In every sec
ton of the country where wheels turn and
shop chimneys smoke and the promoter has
an eye to business the combinations of the
little fellows have been formed.
The Jersey law is based upon secrecy
the Constitution intervenes, and no reports
can be required. The goods manufactured,
once across the line, are subjects of inter
state commerce traffic.
When the republican party in the Fifty
sixth Congress tried to get an amendment
to the Constitution to deal with the states
the democrats flew to arms. The old
specter of states rights, In its burial robes
of '65, escorted by a shadowy train of dis
tinguished names, stalked into the cham
Der. Far be it from your democrat to
make Jersey do what Jersey does not want
to do. Jersey Is sovereign state"
President Roosevelt demands ''pllhlcifVh
in dealing with the trusts. lie has a fine
field in Jersey. n. o. NJ.