Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-08-26

which. taken all together, we speak OF
as progress. 1t is worse than useless
for any of us to rail at or regret the
great growth in industrial civilization
of the last half century. We are not
going to get any complete or perfect
solution for all of the evils which come
to our minds when we think of the
trusts by any single action on our part
A good many actions in good many
different ways will be required before
we get many of those evils partially
remedied.
1t is a little difficult to set clearly
before us all of the evils, but think
that those gentlemen, and especially
those gentlemen of large means who
deny that the evils exist are acting
with great folly. l am far from being
against property when l ask that the
question of the trusts be taken up.
am acting in the most conservative
sense in proper interest. When great
corporation is sued for violating the
antitrust laws it is not move against
property; it is a move in favor of
property, because when you can make
it evident that all men, big and small
alike, have to obey the law you are
putting the safeguard of the law around
all men Cloud applause). ~
/ am inclined to think that much the
greater the trouble in any immediate
handling of the question of the trusts
comes from our system of government
Let me go back one moment. l want
to guard what l am saying. l want
you to understand that my words are
being taken at their exact face value.
Remember, l am not saying that even
if we had all the power we could COM
pletely solve the trust question.
Gentlemen, if what we read in the pa
pers is true, they are speaking of a num-
Der of international trusts daughter and
applause). 1t would be very difficult for
any set OF laws on our part to deal COM
pletely with a problem which becomes in
ternational in it's bearings, but a great
deal can be done in various ways now.
On the whole. our system of government
has worked marvellously we'll The sys-
tenn of dividing the functions of govern
ment. of arranging scheme under which
Maine, Louisiana, Oregon. Idaho, New
York and South Carolina can all come
in together for certain purposes and yet
each be allowed to work its salvation as
1t desires along certain lines. But while
| most firmly believe in fiXity of policy
| do not believe that that policy should
be fossilized.- and il it is to be changed
we must change our governmental meth
Cd to meet it. / believe with all my heart
in the New England town meeting, but
you cannot work the New England town
meeting in Boston. You have got to try
something else.
Now when this government was found
ed there was no great individual or cor
pOrate fortunes, and commerce and induS-
try were being carried on very much as
they had been from the days when Nine
web and Babylon stood in the Mesopota-
milan valley. The wagon train and the
pack train and the sailing craft-tho se
were the methods of commerce. Every
thing has been revolutionized in the bust
ness world ever since, and the progress
of civilization from being a trickle has be-
come torrent. There was no particular
thing at that tire to bother as TO whether
the nation or the state had control of the
corporations. They We're easy to control.
Now, however, the exact reverse is the
case, and remember | say corpora tons :
do not say merely trusts. mere comDina-
lions OF corporations or corporations un-
der certain peculiar conditions
For instance, some time ago the atIor-
ney general took action against a certain
trust. There has been considerable dis
cussion as to whether the trust aimed at
law by becoming a single corporation.
Now | want laws to enable us to Gea
with it, no matter what shape 1t takes,
cloud applause). / want to see the gov
eminent to get at it definitely so that the
action of the government cannot be evad-
ed by any turning within or without fed
eral or state statutes. At present we
have no really efficient control over a Big
corporation which does business in moro
than one state. Frequently the corpora
ton has nothing whatever to do with the
state in which it is Incorporated except
to get Incorporated. and its action may be
in .;
communities which may object very much
to the methods OF incorporation in the
state named.
| don't thing you can get any action by
any state, or action by all the states.
that viii give us satisfactory control of
the trusts or big corporations and the re-
suit is at present that we have a grea:.
powerful, artificial creation which has no
tapplause). OF course it is a
inert truism that the corporation
is the creature of the state, that the state
is sovereign. Now | want to make a zeal
and not a nominal sovereign. to have
some one sovereign to which the corpora
ton shall be really and not nominaliy re-
sponslbie At present if we pass laws
nobody can tell whether they will amoun,
to anything. Now that has two bad 81
fects.
In the first place the corporation be-
comes indifferent to the law making body.
and in the next place gentlemen the.
iaWmaking body gets into that most per
nicious custom of passing as law not Will,
reference to what will be done under it
but with reference to it's effects upon the
opinions of the voters. Now that is a bad
thing. When any body of lawmakers
passes law not solely with reference to
whether that law will do good or ill, but
with the knowledge that not much will
come of it, and yet that perhaps the
people as a whole will likely think it wa;
good on the statue books. it does no.
speak we'll for the lawmakers and it does
not speak very well for the people. either.
Now what | hope to see is power given
to the national legislature which Shall
make the control real