Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-06
CONTROL OF TRUSTS
Senator H0ar Discusses the
Question at Length.
HEAPING UP WEALTH
POSSESSION BY INDIVIDUALS
AND CORPORATIONS.
Evils Following OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Removal of the Tariff and Gov
eminent Ownership.
HEAPING UP WEALTH

Senator Hoar's speech in the Senate to-
day was devoted entirely to the question Of
trusts, and partly to an explanation OF his
recently introduced antitrust BILL He be-
gan his address with the assumption that
all thoughtful men are agreed as to the
necessity of legislation, state or national,
for the control Of trusts. Any remedy to be
effectual must deal with corporations,
whether strictly trusts" or not, said he;
that as yet there had been only apprehen-
sion and alarm, but no serious injury, ex-
cept in the case of the recent coal strike,
on account of trusts. On the contrary. the
progress of our material prosperity mad
been greater in the past few years than
ever before had been known, and our work.
men were better off. Still there Is, he said,
actual peril, and 1t is none the less real
because 1t involves only the future and not
the present.
Accumulation of Great Fortunes.
The senator then took up the discussion
of the effect of the control of vast wealth
by individuals, saying that in such sys-
tenn there was much to threaten republican
liberty. Most of the vast fortunes Of the
present day had been accumulated within
it unlikely" he asked, that if one of these
vast fortunes has grown from hundred
thousand to a hundred million or thou
sand million in thirty years, that in the
hands of the next poSseSSOr, IN another
thirty or fifty years, the hundred million
may become hundred thousand million, or
the thousand million thousand thousand
million? Is there anything to stop the &C
cumulation of these snOwballS? Cannot the
same power and business ability and CAPT.
tai that can control all the petroleum in the
country by and by control all the coal!
Can it not control the railroad and the
ocean carrying trade? Can it not buy up
and hold in one mans grasp the agricul-
tural and grazing lands of new and great
states, and the coal mines and silver mines
and copper mines?
Corporate Control.
But, great as were the possibilities OF the
accumulation of great wealth by fndivid-
uals, he did not find in such accumulation
the same peril that is found in corporate
control of such wealth. This was true, he
said because the natural man dies and his
estate is distributed under the law, while
the corporation lives forever.
1T never goes through the probate court,
he said. Its internal transactions are kept
secret 1t is not Jealous for its own honor
or reputation, except so far as It's honor or
reputation is essential to its getting money.
1t has no soul and no conscience. In gen.
eral the men who are most powerful in its
mana cement can, IL they see mt, avoid re-
sponsiblity to public opinion. They always
expect to avoid personal liability for obliga-
TONS"
The senator said that now the great cor
porations are in good hands, but suppose
some Napoleon of finance should come into
the control of a thousand million collars
would not that possibility be real pubic
danger? Such q power can make wars or
It can prevent wars. 1t can threaten q
community with coal famine or wheat
famine. and 1t can execute Its threat. he
had no fear that the American people could
not meet such emergencies, but It were bet
ter to forestall them.
Evils Of the Trusts.
Mr.. Hoar then took up the question of the
trusts as they now exist. pointing out what
he conceived to be their chief evils. as fol-
lows:
1. Destruction Of competition.
Q The n,anagement of local industries by
absentees in the interest of absentee capital
s. Destruction of local public spirit.
4. Fraudulent capitalization.
B. Secrecy.
8. Management for the private benefit Of
the officials.
I. The power to corrupt elections. and in
some cases to corrupt the courts
8. The want of personal responsibility 10
public sentiment.
9. The absence Of personal liability for
contracts or wrOngdoing.
10. The holding or vast properties IN
mortmain-in the dead hand" II we may
use the ancient phrase of the English law.
But 1t has life enough for all purposes Of
power to serve the will that yields It. 1t
is dead only to the influence Of any nerve
which comes from the brain or heart Of the
people.
Dwelling especially on the want Of COM
petition. he said: There is one central
power alone with which the skilled work.
man must deal and one dominant will to
which he must submit There may be a
little help for him by joining labor union,
where he gets the advantage of associated
strength on his side, but the labor union
knows no difference between excellence and
the reverse. The inefficient man and the
lazy man and the dull man must stand on
one level with the brightest and keenest
and most ingenious Of his comrades
Advantages of Combination.
Continuing, Mr.. Hoar said that many as
were the evils in the great combinations of
capital some of them would be counter
balanced by corresponding advantages, and
added:
II confess 1 like to see Pierpont Morgan
buying up great lines of ocean steamships.
like to hear Of foreign potentates and
prncipalities and powers bowling down
when he visits the continent of Europe.