The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-28
BAR ASSOCIATION
 PROPOSESRE
Lawyers Aghast at Growth of
 Trusts Seek Relief
TAXATION THE BEST PLAN
It Is Proposed to Increase Scale of Taxation on Amounts of lncor. poratng Fees. Governmental
 Competition Suggested.

poratlng Fees. Governmental
 Competition Suggested.
 Hot Springs, Va, August a.-At the meeting of the American Bar assocla- ton today the report of the committee on | legal education was presented by Joseph H. Beale of Massachusetts. Walter s. Logan of New York made a verbal report from that committee on commercial law. He commended the national bankrupt law and then discussed the trust question. If combinations continue, competition will cease, and commercial jurisprudence will eventually be entirely changed The com- mittee, he said, had reached the unan- imous conclusion that modern industrial combinations should be stayed.
 Hon. Charles F. Manderson of Nebraska said the report was calculated to rend the association asunder and he resented the attempt to turn the body Into politi- cal hustings. He asked that the report be read. There was opposition to the motion and considerable confusion en-
 
 report at once. It was read by Chair man Logan and was very fully discussed.
 The report after recounting the rise of the trusts asserts that the United States has already progressed more than half way toward the monopoly which will control all industries, and continuing the report says:
 Monopoly Is Economical.
 "A monopoly is economically desired. It is for the monopolists. The United States Steel corporation can produce it's goods no matter what 1t sells them for cheaper than the clements, out of which the com binatlon Is composed ever produced them. The Standard oil company Is economical ly holy, for it pays 40 per cent dividends. The sugar trust Is economically correct for, whereas, the individual sugar refiners lost money on small capitalization, the sugar trust pays big dividends on a large capitalization. The railroad combinations are economically impregnable for they pay. We cannot therefore, rely on nat ural forces, on the laws of supply and demand to limit the growth of modern combinations. If they are undesirable, If the people of the American nation would be better off without them or with limitations put on them. they must put those limitations on by the action of their legislature. their congress and their | courts
 "The American Bar association must take the~lead."
 Remedies Proposed.
 The report proposed the following rem edies:
 "First--we can tax them to death, or, if that is too radical remedy, we can tax them until their growth and enlarge ment is impeded. There are constitu- tional provisions requiring direct taxa tion to be uniform and in view of these provisions 1t Is probably impossible to discriminate in the matter of direct tax ation against corporations holding large amounts of taxable property. There is however, franchise tax imposed by most of the states on corporations at the time of their incorporation and an- nually thereafter. The franchise tax Is in almost all states in some way graded so as to tax the small corporation at a higher rate than subsequent millions. In our judgment the gradation should be continued. but 1t should be a grading up instead of down. We would leave, perhaps, the first hundred thousand free and the first million cheap and raise the rate with each succeeding million. The United States Steel corporation has capitalization of over s1,0Oo, ,OOo. The graduation stages might be slow and easy enough to please the most conser- vative, and yet result in a taxation of l 10 per cent on the last hundred million. How long would the United States Steel corporation continue under that system l of taxation?
 | Can Get Better Service. l '2. We can compel them to render | better and cheaper service. If the com tnnt lon nf Mort f1,.art pne.tA | and the Great Northern railways is a great enough public disaster to have war l ranted the attention which it has attract I ed, 1t could have been prevented much | easier than by hundred sherman anti l trust laws by single United States sta l ute that required any corporation en- gagged in interstate commerce to reduce | its rates 50 per cent to and from every | point where competition has been pre- | vented by combination.
 ''3. If necessary the state itself can en- | ter the industrial field as a producer and restore the force of competition to it's | former supremacy by becoming itself competitor of the great trusts" l The report is signed by all the members of the committee consisting of Walter s. | Logan, Henry .Budd, Gardiner Lathrop, | George Whitlock and John Morris. Jr. There was much applause when Judge
 
 | port. Judge Ketcham of Indiana request ed that Judge Hammond of Georgia be asked to speak.
 | A resolution was offered by Mir. Busby of North Carolina providing that the re- port be received and filed, accompanied l by a note that it did not express the views of the association.
 | Judge Hammond spoke briefly endors- l ing the report saying that 1t was most encouraging thing that a body like the | commerce committee had seen fit to grap- l pie with such great question as indus 1 trial commissions.
 l There was animated discussion over | motion to table the report. There was great excitement on the floor and finally 1 it was agreed that the report should be l taken up at the night session. Night Session. l At the night session William A. Glas- | gowk of Roanoke read paper entitled, 1 "A dangerous Tendency of Legislation" | The paper endeavored to show that state legislation had tendency towards paternalism and melted many instances 1 in support of this position
 | At the conclusion of the paper dis cussion of the report of the committee on commercial law was resumed F. H.