The Pensacola journal., 1907-04-28

| The fourth form which the trust as
sumes is the single corporation which
buys UP enough factories TO give it
control of a given business. This is
the form which the future trust is
most likely to assume, and it is the
most difficult one to reach. Mr.. Bryan
asserts in the Reader for May that
every argument that can be made
against the principle involved in any
other form of trust can be made
against the single corporation which
secures a controlling influence over
any line of business, and no time
should be lost III attacking the single
corporation trust.
The protective tariff and the railroad
rebate have been the mainstays of the
industrial monopoly. The former has
kept out the foreign rival and the lat
ter has enabled the trust to drive its
competitors from the field. A reduc-
ton Cf import duties would lessen the
ability of the trust TO extort from
consumers and a law authorizing the
admission, duty free, of articles enter
ing into competition with the products
Of a convicted trust would act as a
powerful deterrent to monOpolistic
combinations.
Mr.. Bryan concludes his article. in
the Reader as follows: The time is
at hand when the public must deal
with the single corporation which as
piIes to d monopoly of the market.
Fortunately, our dual form of govern
ment furnishes a means of applying
complete remedy. The states exercise
the right to create corporations, but
the federal government is supreme in
fho s.r,hnro of intHTStata n A
federal statute of a few lines will
provide for an Interstate license and
forbid state corporation to do buSi-
less outside of the state of its origin
without securing such a license.
A few more lines will set FORTH the
conditions upon when the license MAY
be secured-cond.tiurs which will
maze private monopoly impossible
II congress can withdraw from a lot
terry company the right To use the
mall or the express lines for-the carry
ing of q lottery ticket, ii can withdraw
from a would-be monopoly the right 10
employ the railroads, the mails or the
telegraph lines to aid its conspiracy
against the people.
This remedy was first suggested
about seven years ago: it was then en-
bodied ii the Democratic natioEel plat
form of 1900; it has since been in
dOrSed by the head of the Bureau of
Corporations AMI more recently by the
president. There can scarcely be any
doubt of the conStiIutionality of such
statute when it is remembered thas
the private monopoly has always been
an outlaw.
The license system would enable the
government to impose any reasonable
conditions and the EiOst effective con-
dition would be one arbitrarily filling
the proportion of the total product
that the licensed corporation would be
permitted to control Experience
would determine What that proportion
should be.
II is necessary to draw a distinction
between the natural man and the iic-
titious person called corporation.
MIn has natural rights. inalienabie
and invi0lable; :he corporation has no
rights excepting those given it by law.
There is measurable equality between
individuals; there is an almost im-
measurable inequality between cor
rorations. 1t does not. therefore. fol-
low that, because the natural citizens
of one state stand upon an equal foot
ing with the citizens Of other states
WI ppA S;llOllS ClNdNCei ny StdlC IltiSI
receive the same treatment accorded
to natural persons.
The end to be secured is the GissO-
luton Of every private monopoly now
in existence and the prevention of
new ones. When the people clearly
understand the principle involved in a
private monopoly and the evils that
result from it, they will have no 'iifi-
Guilty in making and enforcing laws
necessary for their own protection. As
vet only a few monopolies have been
interfered with, but public sentiment
is growing and the time for action is
near at hand.