Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-17
DEFENDS TILE TRUSTS
W. r. MERRIAM SPEAKS AT ST.
PAUL.
Courts Should See That They Do Not
Misuse Their
Power.

A dispatch from st. Paul, Mimi. last
night says: William r. Merriam, formerly
governor Of Minnesota and now the directo
of the United States census bureau
was the principal speaker before the St
Paul Credit Mems Association banquet ir
this city tonight, his audience also includ.
ing the members Of the Minneapolis Credit
Mems Association, who were the guests OF
the local organization.
After speaking briefly Of the unprecedent-
ed prosperity and the great Industrial COM
bination he said:
II cannot help coming to the conclusion
that the concentration In a few hands OF
80 largo a number of the Industrial con-
Germs throughout the country must have ar
effect like ballast on ship, to steady the
situation that the evolution which has gone
on so constantly during the last half dozen
years, by which all sorts of productive in
stitutiOns have been welded, has resulted
In placing the management of these large
concerns in the hands of men of the highest
experience and of great financial strength.
This is emphasized by the further fact
that certain industries, like the iron and
steel industry, controlled as they are by
comparatively few men owning the raw
material and the transportation facilities,
and finally producing the manufactured
article, must be in better situation to
restrict the output and adjust supply to
demand with less Of loss than could pos
s1bly be expected were their constituent
companies resolved into original ownership,
with consequent competition and cost of
administrau ton. In other words, ia 1t not a
fact that the iron and steel industry, that
the sugar industry, that the combinations
producing various articles of necessity, will
be enabled by their financial strength, as
we'll as by their able management, to ad-
just the affairs Of their corporations to
changing conditions and thus put off, or at
least greatly mitigate, the era Of depres-
sion which has been SO common in our
country as far back as 1897?
am not unmindful Of the necessity of
corporations to our modern methods of
commerce, but I desire distinctly to dis
avow any disposition to underestimate the
possible evils which may overshadow the
state from the greed of ownership or the
reason OF the unlimited power that follows
the massing of capital, as well as the dis
aster which inevitably comes to the citizen
In the attempt either to stife competition
or to destroy an unfortunate rival
After speaking Of various attendant evils
he continued:
MANY Of these great corporations do
not deal in articles that can be considered
capital and their ability to destroy prac-
tically gives them the .broadest field for
operations and l cannot help coming to
the conclusion that under the opinion pro-
HlulSated by the Court tof Appeals q few
days since, in which it. is distinctly pointed
out that while the right of private owner
ship Is bestowed upon every citizen Of this
country under the Constitution no man and
no corporation shall be permitted to utilize
that ownership to the extent of injuring
his nefghbor or menacing the public good
l would have you fully appreciate just what
this means. or II am right in this conten-
ton no corporation doing business in the
states can destroy. its rival by disastrous
cut IN prices or raise prices for products to
the point of oppression. Hence the conclu-
sion that the courts in this country while
recognizing the right of corporations to
transact their legitimate business, in no
way restraining them, yet whenever they
touch the citizen in such a way as to
prove a public menace, in that moment
become enemies to the commonwealth. dis
obedient to the law. and are liable to be
destroyed. The conclusion Is irresistible
that In the central government rests the
power to determine that the Individual or
the corporation transacting any business
which is interstate in it's character cannot
hold, maintain or operate any property
that results in injury to the public Surely,
such contention in effect materially tends
to centralize power in the national govern
ment."
he spoke at some length of credits So
called trusts and their management of the
big banking institutions, and then turned
to the subject of the currency, saying that
the present system is inelastic and needs
revision.