The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1903-01-13
'YOURSFOR TRUSTS"
FRANKLIN MURPHY.
Our G. 0. P. Governor Devotes One
Third Of His Message to De-
tending the Corporations.

iitoIe. new Jersey mas justly tWoh tiie
confidence of the country because frs law
protect alillh and with equal justice, The
rights of the people and the rights OF
property. Tho result of this confidence
has been, thar SO great n number of cor
porations have organized under her laws
that the fees@and taxes from this source
are sufficient to pay the annual expenses
Of the State, to pay large proportion OF
the cost of our public education and to
leave a handsome surplus besides. Other
States, envious of our prosperity, have
copied our laws, reduced our fees and so
icited our business. Their SUCCESS has
not been important Our revenues from
this source continue to increase. The ir-
ference is fair that it is because OF the
greater confidence the country has in that
public sentiment back of our laws that
makes our laws secure
As a matter of fact, there are few, if
any, real trusts, and the name is given
promiscuously to large corporations of all
kinds. especially if composed of a COM
bination of number of smaller concerns.
1t is a wrong use of the term and il car
ries an unjust inference, but II has come
into common use.
Whether with just reason or not, what
is generally known as the trust question
has become the absorbing question of the
time. The sensational press enlarges
upon it, and public speakers of intelli-
nd f1,o Il
was some huge and monstrous appari-
tion whose presence endangered the
rights of the people, if not, indeed. .ul-
timately. the very life of the nation.
The discussion has reached such a CON
dition and the public mind is interested
to such degree that feeling Of appre-
hensicn exists. What are the facts?
We are 2 contented and prosperous
people. Never 50 eontented never SO
prosperous. We have increased in popu-
lation, in intelligence, in wealth and
10 power. and to such an extent that
the figures that tell the story are beyond
our power to grasp. Labor was never
so fully employed. Wages were never so
high. The savings bank deposits were
never so large. In the development of
our prosperity small concerns have grown
to large ones, and those already large
have grown larger. AS their capital has
increased, competition has become more
vigorous, until in many instances it has
become destructive to profits. The own
ers of business will not long conduct it
without a return ON the capital invested
any more than a mechanic will long con-
tinue to work without his wage In
casting about for a remedy. combination
was devised to replace destructive COM
petition. 1t is a business plan, evolved
by the necessities of the case, to accom-
modate the conduct of business to the
changed conditions of the present time
Combinations means a larger concern,
but it does not necessarily mean a mono
poly. As matter of experience, it is
found that when it approaches monopoly
new capital is found for new establish
ments, and competition again appears
Opportunities for profit are not long
neglected Our people are too enter
prising to allow monopolies to exist. 1t
should be remembered, also, that the last
census shows that less than ten per cent
of the factory labor of the country is
employed by the so-called trusts. and
that less than fourteen per cent. of our
manufactured output is made by them;
and the large number of these concerns
that haye appeared, fourished their brief
day and then disappeared forever, should
not be forgotten.
NO GROUND FOR ALARM.
As matter of fact, the country has
more occasion for alarm than the Arab
has for an Ifrit or we have for the
Ogre of our childhood And was the
situation really threatening / would still
have supreme faith in the ability of the
people of the country to protect them
selves in any emergency that may arise.
The nation was born in war for human
rights. 1t has stood the strain of the
greatest civil war in history, fought for
human rights. 1t has given its treasure
and its blood without reward, to aid
its helpless and oppressed neighbor-for
human rights. 1t stands today resplen-
dent in the morning Of its existence, the
envy and the hope of the world Can
such people, or the rights Of such a
people, be in danger from corporations,
however powerful, organized under and
amenable to its own laws? Such dam
ger is impossible. The danger is not to
the people from the greed of corporate
power asserting itself unwisely, but to the
corporations themselves.
Because of this alleged danger it
has become the fashion of the day to
assail corporations on general principles,
and the public man who is bold enough
to say a word in their favor, runs the
risk Of bitter criticism as to his motive,
as if it were a crime to be stockholder
and immoral to be the friend Of a
stockholder. It is time the air should
be cleared The corporations have Their
rights as the individuals have theils.
MONEY LOANED PRIVATELY