The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-09-01

| hundred nnllion dollars IN building a
better one. The city o. New York
furnishes IT. people with water at a prof;
and the city OF Philadelphia has furnished
it. people with water at a profit and
the city Of Philadelphia has furnished
rs people with gas, also al a profit
Every penal and charitable institution
maintained BY the nation. by the state
or bt municipalities. has lrS workshop
where things are produced either for the
general market OF for the consumption
OF the nation. state or municipality itself
IThc>c are only examples. Tho machinery
OF the state which ha~ been found avail
able TO 20 % far IN the industrial field
can be utilized TO 20 stlll further X
the Meat Trust chsrgeS unWarrantably
high prIec> for meat. the United States
has several hundred million acres % pas
ture lands ~tIll unoccupIed whore II can
raise the beef for half a nation. II tie
Coal Trust Viii lot let u have coal at
reasonable prices. we can take the coal
fields by eminent domain and operate
lthem by the government. Ii railroads
irefu~c TO carry the mails at FAR prices
or charge too high rates on interstate
traffic. the United States rs big enough
ard rich enough 10 make Iis own iron
il. competition with the steel Trust and
TO buIid and operate is own railroads
in competition with the railroad trusts.
or it can take by eminent domain exist
InG roads.
The United States government. or any
one of the larger States, coming into the
| Industrial field in real earnest, would
cause the people interested IN the great
trusts or combinations affected TO have
very unpleasant dreams, and possibly the
government would in addition make a
II oft for itself out OF the business.
This might be called socialism, but It
is not. We believe in individual initiative
and stand for it. We hope never to see
the time when the individual VIII not
take the initiative. We believe that the
notwithstanding power Of the individual
should be preserved at all hazards.
But if we are to allow a combination
80 great and so strong and so powerful
a. to prevent individual initiative, We
believe that that combination should be
the state Itself, and that tho citizens, i
they must have a master, should be the
masters of themselves.
This is as far from socialism as pole
from pole.
Our remedy. therefore, is TO save com
petition, which IS the living force of our
present commercial system and which has
/ been the basis OF the development OF our
| III Sioi lo". w lHol ~
by making the largest and most danger
Gus Of the combinations Improbable. 1t
is not, therefore, necessary to consider the
question how to protect the people from
the evils OF monopoly If competition IS
entirely or substantially destroyed. We
do not propose to permit the DESTRUCTION.
We propose to save the old tree whose
genial Shade has protected tho race
through all the period OF its evolution.
1t Will be time enough TO discuss the
| question Of what antidotc there may be
to the poison of the new tree OF monopo-
~ when we have found that we cannot
save the old tree Of competition.
Your committee have no apology to
make for making possible a discussion by
| the American Bar Association upon a
question which may in some sense be
called political. The great questions Of
today are questions that must be settled
BY the lawyers Of today. The great
problems of our generation must be set
tied by the lawyers of our generation.
The American people look to the Ameri-
can bar for leadership on this question.
Someone must lead. If not the lawyer,
then it will be the dcmagogue. If we ac-
| cept our responsibility and are alert to
do our duty, the problems can be solved
and the difficulties overcome under the
intelligent and conservative leadership Of
the profession that holds the primacy
| among professions. 1t Is only IN case we
| should seek to avoid our responsibilities
and fail to do our whole duty by the
people that look to US that leadership
will be sought among classes Of men
who are i'll qualified for it.
The American Bar Association, in the
first article Of its Constitution, has de
clared that
Its object shall be to advance the
science OF jurisprudence. to promote the
| administration Of justice and uniformity
of legislation throughout the Union, and
uphold the honor Of the profession of
the law"
We certainly uphold the honor of the
profession of the law" by taking the lead
ership on all great public questions which
concern our national Jurisprudence when
ever duty points IN that direction.
Respectfully submitted,
WALTER S. LOGAN, Df n. Y. City,
Chairman.
HENRY BUDD, Pa,
GARDINER LATHROP.
GEORGE WHITELOCK,
JOHN MORRIS, JR.
There was applause when Judge Logln
concluded the reading Of the report. Judge
ketcham. of Indiana. requested that Judge
I1d4I1lnoHu, - btOI gid, DC dShtI " SItdh.
A resolution was offered by Nj.
F. H.. Busbee, of North Caro-
lima. providing that the report be
received and filed. accompanied oy
a note that it did not express the views
of the association. Judge Hammond.
spoke briefly, endorsing the report, saying
that it was q most encouraging thing that
a body like the commercial committee and
seen fit to ~grapple with such a great ques-
ton as industrial combinations.
William L. Royal. of Richmond, Va,
offered as a substitute for the report a
paper, the essential ideas of which we're
that the injury done the public by trusts
was through unreal competition: that i.
the giving away OF goods to destroy weak
rivals, or BY selling goods below cost for
the same purpose. Stop this. he said, and