Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-01-27

the creation of trusts would be eXtin-
guished. We are sometimes told in
deed, that the trusts are an outcome
of an occult and irresistible economic
force, which itself is the result of con-
ditions Characteristic of our time. To
Mr.. Cronan's eye, there is nothing
occult, mysterious, or irresistible
about the force which is credited with
the generation of trusts. He asserts
that the only real force underlying the
trusts is the desire for power and
wealth. which seeks to crafty itself
through ability to control the raw and
finished materials whereby the mar
ket for the producer is limited, while
the price to the consumer is regulated
This desire could not be kindled or
gratified If overcapitalization were
forbidden. The many business estab-
lishments which for years have flour
ished in this country could not be
forced out of the hands of their former
conservative controllers without some
great and overwhelming inducement
That inducement is the power posses
ed by the promoters of trust to cap
italize at will. If a corporation or
business which promoters sought to
merge into trust discovered that no
substantial advantage beyond the
actual value was to be obtained by
turning over the corporation or prop
erty, there would ordinarily be no
temptation to do so. What would
probably be the answer, asks Mr..
Cronan, of the president of well-con-
Quoted and paying corporation, who
was invited to turn over his corpora
ton to form, in conjunction with 9TH
ers in like business, trust, solely
upon receiving the actual cash value
| thereof at the time? AS a rule, there
would be but one answer-a refusal.
Threats of destruction by competition
might be made, and difficulties might
arise from attempts to carry out the
| threats; but such things are ordinary
Incidents of business. Undoubtedly
Mr.. Cronan is right in averring that
the promoters of trust would meet
with grave, if not insurmountable, OBJ
stacles, in forcing a merger or con-
solidation of corporate interests, if the
power to fix the capital applicable to
the payment of the properties to be
acquired should be taken from the in
dividual promoting trust, and placed
in the hands of a commission invested
with full power to determine the true
value of the properties. Whence
should come the commission clothed
with such supervisory power? Our
author replies that the wide differ
ences in the corporation laws of the
various states preclude any hope Of
relief from that source, and he main
tains that the only hope of dealing
with the problem lies with the fed
eral government. Would the solution
proposed by him-namely, the ap-
pointment of such a federal commits
sion as we have described, be prac-
ticable and constitutional? Let us
glance, first, at the question of prac-
ticability. Mr.. Cronan insists that, in
defining the figures at which given
corporation might be absorbed in a
trust, but little difficulty would be ex-
perienced in determining the tangible,
active, or live assets of the business.
The difficulty would come in deter
mining the value of the good will,
trade marks, patents, etc. In the alb
sence of supervisory power, the val
uation of the latter elements of the
property IS left wholly to the pro-
moters of the enterprise. The result
is that, as rule, the capital apple
able to payment is inflated to point
many times in eXc3ss Of the value Of
the assets of the corporation to be abb