The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-12-13

fen1,ou The exercise Of judicial
sp:rI. by Il DISTINGUISHED body repre-
gentinc the fet raj government, such
as would be provided by commission
On Cancellation and arbitration. would
| tend to create an atmosphere of friend
illness and cancellation between con-
| tending parties.
Control Of Corporations.
It cannot too often be repeated that
! experience has conc!usivelv shown the
| impossibiity Of securing by the actions
| of nearly half q hundred different state
| legislatures anything but ineffective
chaos III 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 q national license law or in other
| fashion. we must exercise, and that at
| an early date. a far more complete
control than q t present over these great
! corDoratious-a control that will, among
other THINGS, prevent the evils OF ex-
| cessiye decentralization and that will
compel the disclosure by each big cor
| porution Of its stockholders and Of its
properties and business. whether own
! ed directly or through subsidiary or
| affiliated corporations. This will tend
! 10 put stop 10 the securing OF lnor-
dinate profits by favored individuals at
! the EXPENSE whether of the general
public. the stockholders or the wage
workers. Our effort should be not so
| q
but so to supervise and control 1t as
TO sec that ii results in no harm to the
people.
Combination Of capital. like combina-
ton of labor. is 1. necessary clement OF
our present industrial system. 1t 10
not possible completely to prevent it.
and if it We're possible such complete
prevention would do damage to the
body polite. What We need is not
vainiy to try to prevent all combina-
ton. bat t. secure such rigorous and
adequate control and supervision Of
the combinations as to prevent their
injurng the pu lie or existing in such
form As inevitably to threaten injury,
for the mere fact that a combination
has secured practically complete con-
troll OF q necessary of life would under
any circumstances show that such
COM 5inat.on Was to be presumed to be
adverse to the public interest. 1t Is
unfortunate that our present laws
should forbid all combinations instead
OF Sharply Discriminating between
those com Jinations which do good and
those combinations which do evil. Re
bates. 20: instance. are as often due to
the pressure Of big shippers Jas was
shown in the Investigation of the
Standard 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
roads would like to combine for the
purpose Of preventing Il big shipper
from maintaining improper advantages
at the expense of small shippers aus
of the general public. Such combin;
, ton. i.~ttac OF being forbidden by law
should be favored. II other words, i
| should e permitted to railroads t.
! make agreen!cI eats. provided these agree
meltS were sanctioned by the inter
state commerce commission and wer,
. published. With these two conditions
= complied with it is impossible to se'
what harm such Il combination coult
90 to til" public At large.
Inheritance =nd Income Tax.
y The national government has Ion,
. derived its chief revenue from tariff
on imports and from an internal or eS
II else tax. In addition to these. there j
every reason why, when next our sys
tenn Of taxation IS revised, the natiOna
govertncn, ,hould impose graduate
Inheritance tax and, if possible, grad
Ii uated Income tax.
y am well aware that such subjec
L as this needs long and careful study +
Z order t!at the people may become "a
J. mIliar with what is proposed to b
J. done. may clearly see the necessity Q
y proceeding with wisdom and self RI
E. straint and may make up their mind
II Just how far they are willing to go i
the matter. while only trained legisls
tors can work out the project in nece!
sary detail. But feel that in the nea
J. futurc our national Legislators shOul
1. enact a law providing for graduate
; inheritance tax by which 4 steadily il
D. creaSing rate Of duty should be pl
y. upon all moneys or other valuable
70 coming by gift, bequest or devise
10 any individual or corporation. Thei
~ can be No question of the ethical pr
- priety Of the government thus dete
-, mining the conditions upon which an
: gift or Inheritance should be received
y AS the law now stands it is undoub
-. eddy difficult to devise national Il
:. come tax which shall be constitutions
y But whether it is absolutely impossib
is another question. and if possible
'" is most certainly desira BILE. The fir
= purely income tax law was passed /
" the congress in 1861. but the most in
~ portant law dealing with the subje
TO was that Of 1894. This the court be
u to be unconstitutional.