The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-13
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property in trust for one life, or any
time. A man Is estate should be broken
up at his death and distributed, and
II the heirs are incompetent to man
age the property that is handed down
to them, then it is better to have the
wealth distributed. ,aT1' /
there ls' danger in the present con
dition OF public opinion that we will
Drift into asahysteria that will enact
legislation that will seriously hurt our
business and produce disaster. Espe-
elaliy is this true in reference to the
railways, and we must keep in mind
that the railways constitute the largest
BUSINESS force III the country. The real
menace, to my mind, is the Sherman
ANTITRUST law. I happen to know that
the author of this law did not think it
applied to railways.
III Railroads Defended. -. +:
1T is necessary, not only for the
railways, but for the public, that there
should be stable and fixed rates be.
tween points, say, between New York
and Chicago; it is necessary that the
railways should be able to meet and
agree upon these rates, and to enforce.
agreements among themselves; and
they should be allowed to meet and
agree what those rates shall be,~,and
which, under the present law, should
tbe published and maintained They
should also be allowed to divide the
:trafhc. And yet, under the construc-
ton of the courts, if they should SO
meet and agree, 1t would be a con
:splracy in. restraint of trade and they,
would be subject to fine and imprison-
:ment under the Sherman law. '.
; "The same reasoning, in many cases.
applies to other classes of business.
Almost everything now is construed to
pc trust, and everyone seems to-. be-
lleve that, prima facie, a trust is
wrong. There is hardly an agreement
between. employers but what, in the
END, under. this law, will be called
restraint Of trade. =
"The law should be taken up and
amended to suit business conditions of
the twentieth century. A AS T. said, be-
petition should be stopped, but proper
business methods should be encour-
aged and promoted.
"We., have had in the last year a
great awakening of the public con-
science in this country. Let us have
the laws SO amended that the great
moral uprising may: continue and 90
on hand in hand with our present bust
ness prosperity; that capital may be
secured and receive it's fair return and
the wages of the great mass of toilers
be- increased rather than diminished. -
Belmont Explains Views,
August Belmont's position as presi
dent of the federation, on the Question
Of ''The Income and Inheritance Taxi
was explained by him at considerable
length today.
In his opening address yesterday Mr..
Belmont touched on the subject and
he declared today that his remarks had
been misinterpreted by the newspapers.
% "'What L. said yesterday he said,
was that q wise and just method Of
taxation and the discussion of that il
a proper: manner would be of great
good to- this country; but that spolia-
ton was quite another matter. y.
!, II do not believe that men, as a.
general proposition, can accumulate
large fortunes dishonesty and i'm:
properly. There may be isolated cases Of
1t. The existing laws with regard to
wrongdoing are complete and seairching
enough. These fortunes mostly come
thru large corporations. The stock
holders have rights, and that these
fortunes are accumulated in in i'm
proper manner all over this country.
and. therefore, must be reduced in a
punitive spirit, was what I meant YES
terday to deny, Not that a tax on
inheritance should not be passed, but
that 1T should be done from the point
OF view Of just and wise taxation and
on on some economic grounds That was
all L meant to convey.'. 80: -.