The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-12-05
The exercise Of a judicial

teution. The exercise of judicial
spirit by a disinterested body repre-
senting the federal government, such
as would be provided by a commission
on conciliation and arbitration, would
tend to create an atmosphere of friend
llness and conciliation between con-
tending parties.
Control of Corporations.
1t cannot too often be repeated that
experience has conclusively shown the
impossibility of securing by the actions
of nearly half hundred different state
legislatures anything but ineffective
chaos in the way Of dealing with the
great corporations which do not oper
| ate exclusively within the limits Of
| any one state. In some method, wheth-
| er by national license law or In other
| fashion, we must exercise, and that at
an early date, far more complete
| control than at present over these great
corporations-a control that WILL among
| other things, prevent the evils Of ex-
| cessive overcapitalization and that will
compel the disclosure by each big cor
poration of its stockholders and OF Its
properties and business, whether own
ed directly or through subsidiary or
| affiliated corporations. This will tend
| to put a stop to the securing Of inor-
dinate profits by favored individuals at
the expense whether Of the general
public, the stockholders or the wage
| n,,y ha on
much to prevent consolidation as such,
but so to supervise and control 1t as
| to see that 1t results In no harm to the
people.
Combination Of capital, like combina-
ton Of labor, Is necessary element Of
our present industrial system. 1t is
not possible completely to prevent It,
and If 1t were possible such complete
prevention would do damage to the
| body polite. What we need is not
vainly to try to prevent all combina-
| ton, but to secure such rigorous and
adequate control and supervision Of
the combinations as to prevent their
njuring the public or existing in such
| form as inevitably to threaten injury,
| for the mere fact that a combination
has secured practically complete con-
| troll of necessary of life would under
any circumstances show that such
| combination was to be presumed to be
| adverse to the public interest. 1t Is
unfortunate that our present laws
SAould forbid all combinations instead
of sharply discriminating between
| hose combinations which do good and
;hpse combinations which do evil. Re
| bates, for instance, are as often due to
lie pressure of big shippers. (as was
shown In the Investigation of the
: andard OIL company and as has been
| shown since by the investigation of
| the tobacco and sugar trusts as to the
Initiative Of big railroads. Often rail-
rlads would like to combine for the
purpose of preventing IL big shipper
| from maintaining improper advantages
ut the expense Of small shippers and
| Of the general public. Such combina-
| ton, instead of being forbidden by law,
| should be favored. In other words. 1t
should be permitted to railroads to
, make agreements. provided these agree
ments were sanctioned 10y the inter
state commerce commission and were
| published. With these two conditions
complied with II is impossible to see
what harm such combination could
90 to the public at large
Inheritance and Income Tax.
The national government has long
',orved its chief revenue from tariff
| "a imports and from an internal or ex-
| cl5e tax. In addition to these, there Is
every reason why, when next our ,sys-
| tcr Of taxation Is revised. the national
| government should impose graduated
Inheritance tax and, IL possible, a grad
i:ited income tax.
| am well aware that such u subject
| \; this needs long and careful study In
~ ,er that the people may become ia
| .!ilar with what Is proposed to be
| lone. may clearly see the necessity Of
| proceeding with wisdom and self re-
| s,rulnt and may make up their minds
| just how far they are willing to go In
| ,he matter, while only trained legisla-
| tors can work out the project in neces-
| fa:y detail. But feel that in the near
| future our national legislators should
exact law providing for graduated
irhcritance tax by which q steadily in
crensing 1te Of duty should be put
rpon all moneys or other valuables
coming by gift, bequest or devise to
any individual or corporation. There
ran he no question Of the ethical pro
priety of the government thus deter
mining the conditions upon which any
gift or Inheritance should be received.
As the law now stands 1t is undoubt-
| l!y difficult to devise Il national In
come tax which shall be constitutional.
,:at whether it is absolutely impossible
is another question, and If possible 1t
Is most certainly desirable. The first
purely income tax law was passed by
i,ie congress in 1861. but the most Inn
portant law dealing with the subject
was that of 1894. This the court held
to be unconstitutional.
The question is undoubtedly very IN
tricate, delicate and troublesome. The