Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-06-12

can do m the way OF building up infant
industries has already been accomplished.
The ErSwth Of S our enormous iron and
the result of our protective tariff, can be
more surely traced to our enormous re-
sources in the iron mines OF Michigan.
Wisconsin n Minnesota han frcm all
other sources. The cheap production of
the highest grade of ore In these mines
and the low rates OF transportation to
Lake Erie ports have done more TO build
up the iron and steel Industries of the
United States than all the tariffs that
have ever been placed upon the statute
closed, our superiority in the iron and
steel trade OF the world would be gone
forever.
On trusts.
There Is another subject I think viii
not be devoid of interest to the manufac-
turers of nlin~is, and that is the so-called
trusts or co 'ations of capital: In a
country as e as ours, carrying on
enormous Undertakings, large amounts
of capital are necessary, and this capital
can be more readily furnished by cor
norate ownership than in any other way.
There are a few individuals in the coun-
try who might furnish fifty or a hundred
millions of dollars with which to carry on
any particular branch of business, but
there is no certainty that they would fur
nish one dollar. A man with that amount
of money does not need all the trouble
and annoyance attending a large bush
ness Of any kind, so that IT is necessary
that this work shall be done through COR
porate effort, and no harm is likely to
come to the country growing out OF the
magnitude of the business. Has the
enormous business of the Krupp COM
pany in Germany injured the German na-
ton, or any of its people? On the con-
trary the nation and the people are proud
of the name of krupp. Can anyone in
this country point out an injury inflicted
on the people which can be traced to the
magnitude of the Carnegie company?
The only serious objection TO trusts has
hPpn the method of p,rputinQ than f NOT
for the purpose of manufacturing any
particular commodity in the first place,
but for the purpose of selling sheaves OF
printed securities when represent moth
ing more than good will and prospective
If 1t is the desire of the general govern
ment through congress to prevent the
growth of such corporations, il has al
ways seemed to me that a simple remedy
was within their reach.
Under the constitutional provision al
lowing congress TO regulate
between the states, all companies desir-
ing to transact business outside Of the
should be held to a uniform provision of
federal law, that they should satisfy a
commission that their capital stock was
actually paid up In cash or in property,
at a fair valuation, just as the capital OF
the national banks are certified to be paid
up by the controller OF the currency. 1t
Is only fair to a dealer in Minnesota or
California or Oregon, that If a company
claims to have ten, twenty. or fifty mil
lions of capital, desiring to do business In
that state, that the dealer should know
that the company's ~soIvency has been
passed upon by a federal commission and
hat its capital was what it was adver-
tised TO be. With that simple law, the
temptation TO make companies for the
purpose Of selling prospective profits
would be at ar end, and, at the same
time. no legitimate business would suf-
fer; nor would any number of indivi-
duals. desiring to. engage in business
through a corporation, suffer any hard
ship because their actual capital was as
they advertised it to be. We nave been
as a nation too ready TO look to state
and federal legislation for remedies
which are beyond their power to give.
The laws of trade are as certain in their
operation as the avs of gravitation. You
might as we'll try to set a broker arm by
statute as to change a commercial law
by legislative enactment. You may OBJ
struct and delay for a time, but, in the
end, the ineXorable law of experience,
ana the survival of the t~ittest, will pre-
vail.