New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-24
TRUSTS HERE TO STAY.
SHOULD BE CONTROLLED,
Pennsylvania Chief Justice Differs
from President as to Combinations.
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRrBUNE.l

Philadelphia, Dec. 23.-"The North American"
will tomorrow morning publish the following
interview with Chief Justice James t. Mitchell,
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Repub-
lican:
The trusts are here, and have got to be
dealt with. The great progress that has been
made by nation in the last one hundred
years has been by the aggregated forces direct
ed through the medium of corporations The
development of these corporations-now called
trusts-has been entirely natural and logical.
1t has been the development of age uniting
not only individuals, but corporations. and that
spirit of combination which 1t represents is
here to stay My Judgment is that the proper
remedy is not TO try to break down this spirit
of combination and the aggregated forces that
dominate, but to regulate and control them"
VIII you state from the legal standpoint the
measures you deem essential to achieve the
regulation and control to which you refer?"
Justice Mitchell asked.
4 don't to touch on that phase of the
subject" he replied
You will admit, however that you differ rad
icaIly from the PRESIDENT" the reporter volun-
teered.
Well" answered the justice Il will say
candidly do not agree with him in his views on
the trust question"
"On what specific grounds do you differ from
him?"
Justice Mitchell pondered this question few
moments, and then answered: The President,
in my opinion, underestmates the trend of hui
man nature and Overestimates the power of
statutes The people have the power in this
Republic. They exerting their power
through aggregated effort, and they are going
TO continue to exercise it in that manner. They
tending more and more toward aggregated
effort 1t is this tendency which has produced
the aggregated forces with which ali
familiar, that has brought about enormous
development and prosperity. and no statute can
stop it,"
There seems to be only one inference from
your statement" the reporter suggested. You
do not agree with the steps that have been taken
under President Roosevelt's direction to make
more forceful federal regulation OF trusts"
L do not" the Chief Justice emphatically re-
piled.
My own opinion is that the federal power
has already been stretched far beyond its proper
boundaries in such matters"
Asked for specific instances Of such trespass
by the federal government upon constitutional
limitations the Chief Justice replied: The In
terstate Commerce Commission is an example.
In the power it is welding now, and which II
has welded in the past. it Is going far beyond
anything that the trainers of the Constitution
ever intended the federal government TO go"
1t follows then. does it not" asked the
porter that you do not view with favor the
proposition to take from the States the power TO
charter corporations that engage in interstate
commerce and vest that power in the federal
government"
Il regard that proposition as a distinct inva-
sion Of the principle Of States rights respond
ed Chief Justice Mitchell. 1T aims 10 carry the
federal government into the exercise OF powers
far beyond anything that was ever contem-
plated by the Constitution. 1 seek. however
only 20 indicate the seriousness of the problem,
and to advise that il Is one that will require
the highest intelligence and the most profound
elaboration for its proper solution. They can
not be brought to bear upon II hastily, and the
wiser course Is for the public TO restrain itself
until the problem can be properly solved"