Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1903-01-08
TRUST PROBLEM
Mr.. BAER'S IDEA ANALYZeO BY
BRYAN'S COMMONER.
Whenever National Legislation Is Invoked
AGAINST Trusts the Masnates Become
Jealous Advocates Of Estate Sovereignty
and Seek the Federal Courts When a
State Acts.

St0SS StSSSs
President Baer Of the coal trust made
a speech recently at a dinner given in
New York by the Pennsylvania society,
and it is worthy Of notice only because IT
discloses the line which the trust mag
mates intend to follow, in their fight
against antitrust legislation. MIR. Baer
is very much alarmed lest the sovereignty
OF the state may be impaired If congress
attempt. to legislate against private mo-
nopolies. When one Of tie great cor
porations is sued it rushes into the fed
eral court, but it is ready to rush back
again and hide under the covers OF state
rights, whenever it scents d.nger from
Washington. 1t is we'll that we know
Mr.. Baer's position, for the public will
be the better prepared to answer his ar
guments. There is a clear line OF de-
marcation between the right Of state to
take care of it's own internal affairs and
its right to send its corporations out to
prey upon the people Of other states. The
difference between attending to ones
own affairs and attempting to trespass
upon the rights OF others is as plain and
clear as the difference between the keep.
ing of ones own money and the taking
of some one elhe's money. Mr.. Baer's
coal trust sells coal all over the United
States, and yet he disputes the right of
ay power outside of Pennsylvania to
control his company. AS the trusts seem
deter mined to make bulwark of state
rights, it behooves the democrats to pre-
pare themselves to present remedy
which will destroy private monopolies,
without interfering with the states
power to deal with the affairs which con-
Germ only its own people.
TIE Kansas City platform sets forth a
plan which meets these requirements
1t pr serves state authority within the
borders Of the state, and still employs
the machinery of the federal government
to suppress trade conspiracies which ex
tend beyond the limits OF the state. The
plan is to distinguish between the natural
man and the corporation, and there is
difference enough to justify the distinc-
ton. Natural men, no m tier where they
live, are inspired by purposes much the
same, have similar needs and are hedged
about BY an environment which makes
competition between them reasonably
fair Not so with corporations; they
differ in size, strength, length Of life, pur-
pose, power and privileges. In some
states the people control the corpc rations
and make them minister to the needs
and contribute to the welfare OF the PEG.
pile; in other states the corporations are
the masters and dictate terms to the peo-
pie. 1t is neither just nor fair that the
people who regulate the corporations OF
their own state should be plundered by
corporations created by monopoly-ridden
states. Neither is it necessary that the
people Of the state should allow a foreign
corporation to monopolize the trade Of all
the other states before it enters protest,
for it may be difficult for state to cope
with corporation after it has obtained
entire control OF an industry. II, for in.
stance, the salt trust should obtain con-
troll Of the entire output, the people OF a
state might punish themselves worse
than the trust if they prevented trust salt
from coming into the state. 1t is easier
to destroy the crocodile in the egg than
to kill it after it is full grown, and so it
is better and easier to stop the trust when
it attempts to leave the state Of its origin,
than after it has been strengthened by
widespread depradations. Under the
power 10 regulate interstate commerce
congress has authority to enact all legis-
lation necessary for the protection OF in
dependent industries. The private mo-
nopoly has always been an outlaw, and
the supreme court is not likely to inter-
fere in behalf OF greedy corporation
which is endeavoring to destroy compe-
tition and victimize the public.
The license, or permit, system is more
effective than system which requires
the hunting up and furnishing Of corpora
lions which violate general law. Just
as it is easier to require liquor dealer to
take out license in advance, than it
would be to collect tax from him at the
end of the year, so it is easier to compel
q corporation to show in advance that
there is no water in it's stock, and that it
is not trying to monopslize any branch
OF business, than it would be to prosecute
trust after it has violated the law and
grown rich on its ill-gotten gains. Some
have spoken of this method as the licens.
ing Of trust, but that is incorrect. The
license is given to corporation which
shows that it is not trust, but it is re.