The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-02-22
TRUSTS AND
POOLS 80
BY JAMES J. HILL.
President Great Northern Railroad

- HE most offensive word to the American people is "pool"--
railway pool. Any administration or congress that at.
.tcnpts to LEGA1lZE railway pools will be quickly
turned out by an uprising Of the people.
There is a very simple method Of dealing with the
trust question. Let it be made necessary for any industrial cor
poraton that wishes to do an interstate business to secure a FED
ERAL license, but before that license is issued the corporation must
prove that its capital is REAL MONEY and based upon actual
value.
A majority of trusts nowadays are the products of promoters who
hastily gather in two or three concerns, whitewash them over and
over again, issue sheaves of printed securities and carry them down to
Wall street TO FEED THE LAMBS.
The general business of the country is not booming; it is only
quietly and MODERATELY prosperous.
EVERY RAILROAD WOULD BE HAPPY TO HAVE REBATES
ABOLISHED AND THE LAW AGAINST THEM ENFORCED. THE LAW
NEVER HAS BEEN ENFORCED NOR ANY ONE Prosecuted.
A pool isl game in which you hand over your property to another
man to divide, a device by which a weaker concern seeks to obtain
an EQUALITY with the stronger.
The inevitable law of nature is the survival of the fttest. You
cannot change that law by legislation. 1t may work for a short time,
but IN THE LONG RUN nature will triumph.
A RAILWAY POOL WOULD HELP ONE TOWN AND RUIN THE
NEXT.
1t is not the magnitude of a business that works damage. Has
the enormous business of the Krupp company injured Germany
Can any one in this country point out an injury inflicted on the people
which can be traced to the MAGNITUDE Of the Carnegie company
mind, say the magnitude.
The serious objection to trusts is the method of their CREATION
not for the manufacturing of any particular commodity, but for the
purpose Of selling securities WHICH REPRESENT NOTHING
more than good will and the prospective profits to the promoters.
l do not include ALL trusts in this classification, but a large
majority of them.
Any company desiring to do interstate business should be com
PEELED to satisfy a federal department or commission that it's capital
stock was ACTUALLY PAID UP IN CASH OR PROPERTY
at a fair valuation, just as the capital of national banks is certified
to be paid up by the comptroller of the currency.
If a company claiming to have ten, twenty or fifty millions Of
capital desires to do business in Minnesota or California it is only
fair to the business man Of the state that he should know that the
companys sovcncy and soundncss have been passed upon by the
federal government and that its capital is what is professed.
Germany is our most active and hardest competitor today in the
markets of the world. That is because the German nner neyer
ceases, day or night, to work and press forward the best business
interests of his country.
There has been some playing with fire in Washington, and they
don't know just how to put out the flames.
We as a nation have been too ready to look to state and federal
legislation for remedies which are BEYOND THEIR W
to give. The laws of trade re as certain in their operation as the
laws of graviaton.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL TRY TO SET A BROKEN ARM BY STAT.
UTE AS TO CHANGE A COMMERCIAL LAW az LEGISLATIVE
ENACTMENT. LET US LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.
That which is good let us keep and that which can be made bet
ter let Is approach with intelligence and work together for the ac
complshmcnt Of results that will benefit not only one, but ALI.
TIE STATES of the country, and in that way secure the pros
pcriy of the individual and corporate interests as well.
- 49, n