Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1907-10-03


gance and wild speculation of the last
year Or two must stop and economy
must be the rule. was once told in
my younger days by an old banker
who had been very successful in the
West, that there was but one way for
an individual or corporation to get
rich, and that was ''by doing without
things they wanted Let the psople
of this country apply this rule and they
will see how little time 1t takes to
change business conditions from their
respondent and hopeless condition to
those of energy and promise.
I would ask our public men to cease
the talk which gives the inference that
everything in our corporation life is
rotten, which disturbs business men
and harms our fair regulations all
over the world. 1t is not true that our
business is generally being conducted
on unlawful lines. I can state here to-
day, and defy contradiction, that the
railroads of this country, the great in
terests about which there is so much
talk and abuse, are being conducted in
accordance with the letter and spirit Of
law. The officials are trying, as far as
| in them lies, to manage the business
honestly and fairly and obtain the ne
cessary funds to pay their obligations
and their employees. This is true, I be-
lieve, of individuals also. It may
be that this is on account of the reform
measures Instituted by the Govern
ment. Grant that this is SO. It is all
the better for the country and shows
progress in the right direction.
Why not meet the reform in the proper
spirit and aid:and' encourage it, instead
of always crying wolf and bringing our
affairs and business men into disgrace
tal repute?
| "Why try to array class against
class by constantly harping upon the
WI ongs of the past? We have gone on
in this country preaching a crusade
against property and the accumula-
ton of wealth without making any
distinction as to how or why or when
it was acquired, until we have SO con-
fused the minds of the ordinary people
that they think all wealth and prop
erty is their foe, when the fact is there
are scarcely any people in this coun-
try but what, to some extent, are pos
SCISSORS of property and accumulators
: of wealth. The poor worthless class,
the social reformer who hopes, with
out work, to get some Of his neigbors,
property, are very few. We should not
encourage this number or lead our
people, who are nearly all compare
lively well off, to think that there is
ny class in this country trying to op-
press another. Above all, the Sherman
law, SO called, should be changed. l
have repeatedly stated, and I think
4 my construction of that law has been
: agreed to by the highest in the land
S that under it's present terms, and il
7 strictly construed, no man can honest
t ly engage in business without violat-
ing it. Amy agreement almost between
two parties is conspiracy. This spirit
S has been enlarged and re-enacted in
1 State Legislatures until it has pro-
= dueed even worse conditions. In my
own State legislation is lso strict that
S if two butchers on opposite corners OF
S the street should agree upon the price
} of beefsteak it would be a penitentiary
g o fense, and conspiracy can be proved
without the usual forms of evidence.
: How can you expect men to risk their
/ time in building up enterprises or con-
: tinuing in business if they are liable
t to be punished under Law like this?
4 You may say that no such construc-
5 tion has been applied, and yet is it
/ safe to have law which can be SO con-
structed, and if strictly enforced the
: liberty of individuals made dependent
r upon the will Of those who control the
< channels of prosecution? We have
| created great distrust of corporations
t on account of wrongs undoubtedly
committed by some in the past, and we
have wrought up such popular feel
, ing that today a com bination, whether
in the form Of q company or trust, seems
odious and criminal. when the fact is
that modern conditions are such that
com binations, whether in the form of
, trusts, corporations, or partnerships,
are as necessary as life itself. We must
so change our laws that a fair agree
ment or organization for the conduct
of business shall not be conspiracy,
and that only the unfair and unjust
com binations, which shall be SO found
, after proper investigation and trial,
shall be deemed unlawful.
"Our President has recommended
this change, our National Civic Fed
t Grafton has taken it up, and there is to
f be large meeting in Chicago the lat