Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-10-23
FINDS FAULT
With AN Il
TRUST LAW
TOO EXTREME, SAYS
NICHOLAS M. BUTLER
Trusts Conference of National
Civic Federation Opens in
Chicago With Representa-
ton From Most States.
IBy Morning journal Special Leased wlre.i

IBy Morning Journal Special Leased Wire. !
Chicago. oct. 22.-The trust con-
ference Of the National Civic Fedora
tion which is to continue for several
days. opened here today About four
hundred delegates were present. rep
resentng forty-two states, and ap-
proximately eighty different organiza-
tions Of mercantile civic and munich
pal character
That the sherman antitrust law
commits the nation TO policy which
is too extreme and that the time may
have come when the act should be
amended In a way to relieve some Of
the limitations upon business activity
which the act imposes was suggested
bv President Nicholas Murray Butler
Of Columbia university, in an address
welcoming the delegates to the con-
Ventlon. lie said that the purpose Of
such an amendment would not be so
much to relieve the corporations as
the people themselves. He suggested
that II might thus be possible for the
people to secure for themselves the
benefits which come from co-opera-
tive activity, as manifested in cOrpOr-
ations and bv agreements between
seninR the protection which all desire
against the evils which have followed
upon the creation of great corpora
tions and upon agreements between
them in restraint of trade. He said in
part: y
on behalf Of the National Civic
Federation IL is my agreeable duty to
extend "a cordial greeting to the dele
gates who have assembled to consti-
tute this conference. We have before
us a rare opportunity for the free and
fair interchange of views, and for the
considerate discussion of some Of the
questions that are now. and for some
time past have been, uppermost in the
public mind 1t is by bodies such as
this. representing the voluntary as
sembling of hundreds Of interested
citizens, that public opinion itself is
formed.
We are here to try To shed light
upon some OF the most difficult eco
nOmic and political problems Of our
time. We do not expect to solve them
but IL Is not too much to hope that
we may contribute something toward
their solution. One Of the most ben
eficent results Of the development of
the nineteenth century was the rapid
growth Of the corporation as an in
strument for carrying on industry and
commerce Experience has shown us
however, t1dl We nave not bttH en-
tirely successful as yet i'm adjusting
our public administration and our le
gal theory to the situation which the
multiplication and growth of corpora
tiOns has brought about Not only
has there been, In far too many cases,
a sinister alliance between those who
have sought governmental privileges
for the corporations which they serve
and those who as governmental Off
n ppGfTtnn a fnflnpnpp the
granting of such privileges, but cor
poratiOns themselves, although the
creatures of the state. have seemed
to be in some ways beyond the power
of the state to control and outside the
reach Of its authority. Particularly i
this true Of those most important be-
les which are known as public servi .
corporations 1t will hardly be denied
that the power which called the cor
poration into existence must. In self
defense and i'm order 20 sustain an
equitable relation to every citizen, 50
supervise and control the operations
Of the public service corporation that
the latter shall not infringe either on
the powers Of the state itsAlf or on the
RIGHTS and just privileges Of any indi-
vidual citizen
Nv own opinion. which runs coun-
ter TO that of many others To whom
we are bound TO listen with respect. IS
that nothing Is necessarily To be fear
cd from a corporation, because Of Us
size. The character Of a corporation
does not depend upon fits size. but
upon the principles and policies which
actuate its management. Corpora :
lions themselves have no moral quail |
titles. II Is corporate officers and man I
agers who are good or bad, honest or
dishonest as the case NAV be. The Z
problem Of creating and developing a I
public service corporation that truly /.
SERVES the public Is simply the prob /
lem always and everywhere present in I.
our life. Of securing for positions Of /.
trust and power men who are not only #,
intelligent. but upright. who are not /
only efficient but honest. II is not
combination and cooperation that lre
90 be feared and antaRonized but only ]
monopoly and discrimination.
Problems Of grave importance. not /
only legal but political in the highest 1
sense. arise when we attempt to fix /
the ways and means by which the !
government shall control and suner- /
wise public service corporations our I
constitutional limitations, our polit- /
icli traditions and past party differ I
cnces. and the complex structure ot (
our whole governmental system, with +
its state and national agencies make .
the problem of governmental control I
one There are those who think they (
see short and easy methods % accom-
piishing the desired end. but my pre-
diction Is that. true 10 the character
istics Of our people. we shall work out I
"a just solution Of these involved prob /
lens not at one stroke or by wholly 4
logical processes but step by step and
after many experiments. and that not
q few unforeseen difficulties viii have
% be surmouuted or circumVented-
Above an else. unless We propose %
wreck the whole economic basis on
which our prosperity and our happi-
ness rests. We must have care that
We 80 speak and SO act as not % dis
furb that faith or confidence which !,
civilized man has in his fellows and &.
upon which rests the whole enormous /.
structure of our credit system. De- (
stroy that. and there VII not be many .
public service or other corporations k