The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-02


service in all departments Of our State
government by election to'the Governor
ship Of the State.
The most conspicuous andlfit representa-
| tive of this same great and bdneticent work
in the Federal Government il Theodore
Roosevelt, President Of the United States.
Let me state some Of the corporate evils
with which he has u~ndertaken'to deal, not
all, but the principal ones.
SOME OF THE EVILS.
I. Many great corporations. nave united
in the ormati ion Of so-called trusts to get
rid of competition, create ~monopolies of
the busins = in which they are engaged,
restrict produ ct ion, and put down the
prices OF which they purchase raw ma
terial and put up the prices at which they
, sell their products.
>. MANY great corporations and trusts
have undCTtaken to crush out their remain
ing competitors by unfair competition,
and especially by securing lower rates of
freight from the railroad companies for
their products than their smaller cOmpeti-
tors, and as the railroads are hound by
law TO give the same rates to all shippers
this unfair advantage has taken the form
of score; rebates.
3. MANY railroad companies lave eX-
ercised their arbitrary power to fix their
rates by arranging them in such a way that
even without giving rebates they have
] - TAG re - fl'BBNAH III FltNioA w
! Calities and have been unreasonable toward
small shippers in other localities. By
these unfair means the big, rich corpora
lions have been continually driving the
small, weak men to the wall, taking away
their business and increasing their own
wealth.
4. The managers of many great corpora '
tions, not satisfied with the natural increase
of successful busipesS, have enormously
increased their equalization beyond either
chair iny1aGtrlanf nT he va Inc nf fhpir nrDn.
erty fairly used in business. MUCH of the
watered stock has been sold to innocent
investors, much of il has been secured
by the managers them selves. through
various devices. for insufficient considera-
ton. These greatly excessive capitals,
and the necessity of paying interest upon
them, have stood a. barriers against the
reduction of transportation rates or the
prices Of products to "A point which would
secure fair business returns.
5. The offending corporations have
clothed their vast and complicated business
affairs with a mantle of secrecy, so that
it has been almost impossible TO get at the
facts Of their offending and quite impos-
Sible for any weak, private person or small
corporation who has been injured by them,
o. One of the great obstacles to the redress
OF these evils has been the unwillingness
or inability Of the States to deal with them.
1t is difficult for any one State to control
corporations doing business in all the States.
The State cannot control interstate COM
merce at all. Many of the States have
by their laws as well as by their administra-
ton facilitated and encouraged the OBJ
jectionable practices.
g WI NEED A HUGHES AT ALBANY
Let me tell you that our own State is
not blamelesS in this respect, and that We
need q Hughes at Albany with uhe skill and
courage to deal with that sub ieCt as he
dealt with the insurance subject. On the
other hand, The Federal Government has
been met at every turn by the difficulty Of
controlling State corporations in the exer-
else Of the powers conferred upon them
by the State in which they were created.
Against these battlements Of wrong the
President has charged with all the energy
and sincere conviction OF his nature; he
has waged and il waginR open warfare not
against wealth. but against i'll gotten
wealth; not against corporations, but
against the abuse OF corporate pow erS;
not against enterprise and pro sperity. but
against the unfair and fraudu lent devices
of selfish greed.
The honest poor man who has felt the
crushing power of unfair wealth may take
heart, for the most powerful personality Of
our generation, from the vantage ground Of
the greatest Office OF our land, is leading
the battle in his behalf; the honest rich
man who fears that property may be en-
] daugered and prosperity checked may
calm his fears; not n single princiusr is in
yoked in this warfare against corporate
| w~rOnQdOinR mat mas not Tor centuries been
familiar to the common law of England
and America; no control is asserted over
business which was not recognized and
approved in the days OF Mansfield and
| Fldon. Marshall and Kent; but to exercise
| that same measure of control under the
new conditions Of our day new agencies
and new methods have had to he provided
| by law and sanctioned by the courts.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE
For the accomplishment Of this due
measure Of control. which from time i'm
memorial our laws have recognized as
necessary, the Government of the United
States has taken up the task where the
several States have failed and II performing
and purposes TO perform is duty not be-
yond but TO the full limit Of its constitutional
power.
The structure of our prosperity will nor
be W eakened. it will be made strong and
enduring by removing with the care of the
experienced builder the rotten timbers of
disobedience to law and disregard Of NOR
atty.
The Republican Congress has stood
Loyalty by the President; the act creating
the Bureau of Corporations, the act ex-
pediting the trial Of trust cases. the
bate act, the act for the regulation Of rail-
road rates have made possible redress which
was impossible before. Under the direction
of two successive Attorneys-General Of the
first order Of ability. sincerity and devotion
in hundreds Of courts, incessant warfare
has been waged and is being waged under
the Federal laws against corporate wrong
doors.
The Northern Securities Company, which
sought to combine and prevent compe-
tition between two great continental rail-
roads, has been forced to dissolve by the
Judgment Of the Supreme Court Of the
United States. The methods Of the beef
trust In combining to suppress competition
in the purchase Of live stock and the sale
of meat have been tried and condemned, and
the trust has been placed under injunction
TO abandon those practices by judgment Of
the Supreme Court.
COMBINATIONS FoRcE TO DISSOLVE.
The combination Of paper manufacturers