The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-12-13
NE PASSING OF TRUSTS
.r,rel Untermyer Tells Why
Combines Are Doomed.

=, Uniting COHPesA"eT SSAS Dc~
Zig Industrial Corporations
MI gradually Grow Weaker and
ne seniIe-SafetyL Line Reached,
claims Federal Control Sug-
ted as Remedy.
nscussing industrial combinations,
mueI Untermyer, a New York law
who earns in legal fees 100000
,r1v and has been one of the most
,orful factors in the great move
~ toward centralized industry and
.onca in America, said in a recent in
Low with James Creelman in the
Eou York World:
1--WE have reached the line of safety
oornorate combination. In my judg
ront the world will never again see
h Industrial corporation attempted on
f. scale Of the United States Steel
ornoration. 1t is unwieldy.
aTba working out Of these great in
,striaI combinations in the United
Bates has clearly shown the profess
EonoI financier what the extreme from
Eors Of his powers are in that direc-
H. CORPORATIONS have become too
sost too clumsy, too remote from the
Iriginal guiding hands and controlling
Ir1ins for continued success in the
'pmnetition with individual effort.
I'm nv Judgment the very big indus
Lio corporations will gradually grow
Epaker. will fall into what might be
billed state Of senility. They con-
in the elements of their own destruc-
son That much at least is plain.
~ refer to those in which the element
4 individuality is disappearing, which
miles to most of them. There are
|bme where the element of individual
bterest is retained. In those cases
heir power will increase, but they are
bw in number. l know of only three
ucb cases in which combination has
len great benefit and has served
hprely to accentuate the great ability
|pd resourcefulness Of the guiding
birts.
"Tbis movement toward centraliza-
on was not inspired by Wall street.
did not originate in the mind of the
On the contrary, the
bnkers were loath to support the idea
first and fought against it. 1t was q
bought Of the manufacturer pressed
Il cruel and ruinous competition and
/ the lawyer-financier."
'"And are the lawyers who reared this
brporate fabric agreed that it is I'M
Iieldly and perishableW
IL find a great diversity of opinion
hong the lawyer-financiers. AS for
Eyself, l am convinced that these
semendous alliances of corporate pow
are merely temporary phase of our
fe and that they will disappear except
rare cases."
He then explained in detail how the
pressed by competition.
fected a combination with his rival.
irSt came a pool Of business. This
las succeeded by "gentlemen's agree
Ient' regulating prices. Then came
Be consolidation of competing firms in
single corporation. The financial OPP
fatiOns involved Mr.. Untermyer de-
lrbed thus:
$50 long as the men who created and
laped these original establishments
De men responsible for their success
pd familiar with their working-so
|ng as these men retained the owner
pip by reason of their stock holdings,
llS Capitalization of business was on
pund and permanent basis.
FBut matters did not stop there. The
pnkerS gradually began to be interest
\ They offered some of the new Sc
prlties for sale and found them to be
POTABLE. Presently the public began
take the securities in immense guam
PIES. Then a fatal tendency devel-
PED. Manufacturers could not resist
Pe temptation to sell their securities
handsome prices. They sold their
pdlngs to the public. The public be-
Rme the owners Of the corporations.
Pc men who had created the business
fthdrew.
with the original personal force,
FFSonal incentive and personal expert
Ece eliminated from their various es-
lOhShments they cannot compete with
'uIFldual enterprise based upon real
pd not fictitious capitalization.
but the stockholders want their div
|endS' The stockholders want to see
y market values of their securities
Fiu up, If the president dares to fol-
|" what he knows to be a prudent,
FceSSary course, if the dividends are
y or passed-even for the purpose of
curing greater returns in the future
movement of the stockholders may
IeSehtly overthrow him from his
"ce' This is one of the unfortunate
buttons surrounding and often con-
O'lIng the management of our over
'oWh Industrial systems.
Inc individual manufacturer and the
pau corporation whose controlling