The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-02-17
holding the stock Of other corpora

Mr.. Fuller. Of Durham. said that these
amendments to the Corporation Law
were not by any means for the purpose
Of fostering trusts. but for the good Of
the State Of North Carolina Tho New
Jersey law was not followed because
New Jersey had adopted il. but because
it had been shown TO bc a good law. en-
acted in the wisdom Of that State.
1t would be possible for a corporation
chartered in New Jersey TO come 70 this
State, and. in accordance with the laws
Of the State under which it was charter
ed. buy up the stock OF other corpora
tions and do tho things that the gentle
man from Granville seemed TO consider
so evil.
Mr.. Fuller made a powerful and olo-
quont plea for North Carolina to be
given every possible advantage with the
other progressive states OF the Union.
Let lis say to Industrial enterprises.
Come hero Lot US no longer be called
he Rip Van Wrinkle State"
Judge Graham replied that. instead Of
North Carolina being the Rip Van
Wrinkle state. She had the most progress
sive ana liberal corporation law of any
OF tho southern States.
Mr.. Bullard. Of Cumberland. favored
the bill. He, too. dwelt upon the point
that corporations chartered in other
states could come into our State and
90 these very things.
MT. Robertson, for the Corporation
Committee, stated that it had been con
sidered vice to pass this amendment be-
cause the conditions it provides for al
ready exist, the only difference being that
now North Carolina was deprived of the
tax from these companies desiring such
privileges. He mentioned a case not
long ago of a corporation that wanted to
get a charter from this state, but when
they found they would not have this
privilege, they went to Now Jersey, Sc
cured their charter and then came back
into North Carolina and did the very
things they wanted to do.
Mr.. Robertson hoped the gentleman
from Granville would not confuse the
House by calling a corporation a trust.
That was an antiquated idea; but a
lawyer of the reputation of the gentle
man from Granville must discern the
difference between a corporation and q
trust
Mr.. Billiard cited the case of two silk
mills in Cumberland which We're incor-
porated in New Jersey, and enjoyed
privileges denied to other corporations.
Moreover, great difficulty was experience
ed in serving notices upon them, and in
recovering damages in cases of suits by
citizens of Cumberland.
Mr.. GuiOn mentioned the fact that rail
reads could own stock in other railroads,
Mr.. Smith asked if this was not the
way trusts were formed. That was the
object Of all the discussion now going on
in the Congress of the United States, to
draw the line somewhere between cor
porations and trusts. If there was the
ard banks, cotton mills and other cor.
porations might as well have the same
privilege.
slightest danger of this law tending to-
} ward the formation of trusts, it ought
not to be passed.
Mr.. Guion emphatically declared that
q trust was not formed by allowing one
corporation to buy stock of another.
even if it were allowed to buy every
share of it.
He would suggest, in order to prevent
the formation of trusts in North Caro-
lima, that a law be passed preventing any
corporation from acquiring the property
of another. But as long as the indi-
vidual stoclholder could decline to sell
his stock to any corporation or individual,
a trust was impossible.
Mr.. Smith asked if conditions might
not arise under this law whereby an in
dividual stockholders would have to sell
his stock.
Mr.. Guion replied that such a condi-
ton most certainly could not arise.
lie declared that it would actually
cripple the smaller corporations not to
allow larger concerns to buy stock in
them.
1t was actually the fact that the State
was now left wide open to the opera
ton OF the very thing that is now feared
from this amendment. Corporations from
outside States We're flooding North Caro-
lima and buying up our own corporations,
and we got none of the benefits of it.
Mr.. Smith asked if New Jersey was not
called the Father of Trusts He fear
Cd any law based upon the law of that
State.
Mr.. Guion replied by recalling the fact
that our State had in 1901 passed a
corporation law founded upon the New
Jersey law, and he did not see why the
objection was not made at that time.
Moreover, moro trusts and combines had
been created since the passage of that
law than ever before. Trusts could be
formed under any law.
Judge Graham asked if Mr.. Guion had
rot stated that a %"ailroad company could
buy stock Of q bank or cotton mill.
Mr.. Guicn said he had not said 81.
What he had said was that this amend
mont would permit a bank to hold stock
of another bank, or a cotton mill to hold
stock of another cotton mill, in the same
way that the law OF 1885 permitted q
railroad company to own stock of anoth-
er railroad company.
MIR. Smith said that, if the present law
permitted the formation of trusts, as
Mr.. Guion had said, he hoped that gen
tleman would assist in repeating it, in
stead of bolstering it up with amend
ments. He moved the matter be deferred
until today.
Mr.. Lucas, of Hyde, arose to speak
and was applaUded by the whole House
before he had uttered a word. This was
the first time he had been in his seat
FOR several weeks, on account of an at
tack Of the grip.
He spoke of the constant policy CT
the Democratic party to oppose any