Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-22
WILL TALK ON TRUSTS
400 DELEGATES AT FIRST DAY
OF CONFERENCE.

| CHICAGO, October 22.-The trust
conference of the National Civic Fedora
tion. which Is to continue for four days
opened here today. About four hundred
delegates were present, representing forty
two states and approximately eighty or
ganizations of a mercantile, civic and mu.
| nici1al character.
That the Sherman antitrust law COM
mits the nation to a policy which is toe
| 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 i'm
poses was suggested by President Mich
oias Murray Butler OF Columbia Univer-
] slty In an address welcoming the dele
gates to the convention. He said that
| the purpose Of such an amendment would
not be SO much to relieve the corporations
| as the people themselves. He suggested
that 1t might thus be possible for the neo-
pie to secure for themselves the benefits
which come from cooperative activity, as
MANIFESTED in corporations and by agree
ments between corporations, without in
any way iessening the protection which
Ioilowed upon the creation Of great cor
pOfations and upon agreements between
them In restraint of trade.
we are here to try to shed light upon
some o. the most dificult economic and
political problems OF our time. We do
not expect to solve them but It Is not too
much 10 hope that we may contribute
something toward their solution. One of
the most beneficent results of the deyel- |
opment 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, that We have not been entirely
successful as yet in adjusting our pub |
NC administration and our legal theory
to the situation which the muitiplica tjon |
and growth of corporations has brought
ABOUT. MOI only has there been in Tar
100 many cases a sinister alliance be- |
tween those who have sought govern.
mental privileges for the corporations
Which they serve and those who as gov
ernmental officers were In position to in
nuence the granting of such priyile1es |
Out corporations themselves. although tba
creatures OF the state, have seemed tn
oe m some ways beyond the power of the |
state to control and outside the reach ~
ITS authority. Particularly is this true
OF those most important bodies which are
known as public service corporations
VIII hardly be denied that the DOW
er Wnlcn called the corporation into exist
ence must, in self-defense and in order
70 sustain an equitable relation to every
citizen, so supervise and control the oper-
atoms of the public service corporafion
that the latter shall not infringe either
on the powers of the state itself or on
the rights and just privileges of any in
dividual citizen.
problems OF Grave Importance.
+ problems of grave Importance, not
only legal. but political in the highest
sense. arise when we attempt to fix the
ways and means by which the govern
ment shall control and supervise public
service corporations. Our constitutional
limitations. our political traditions and
past party differences, and the comnlex
structure of our whole governmental svs-
tenn with its state and national agencies.
make the problem of governmental con
trol OF corporations an extremely difficult
one. There are those who think thew see
snort and easy methods of ACCOMPLISHING
the desired end. hut my prediction Is
that true to the characteristics of orr
people. we shall work out a Just solution
81 these involved problems, not at one
stroke or by wholly logical processes. hut
step by step, and after many experiments
and that not few unforeseen difficulties
VIII have to be Surmounted or circurn
vented.
above all else. unless we propose 70
wreck the whole economic basis on which
our prosperity and our happiness rest,
we must have n care that we so sneak
and SO act as not to disturb that faith or
confidence which civilized man has in his
fellows, and upon which rests the whole
enormous structure of our credit system.
Destroy that and there will not be MANY
pubic service or other corporations left
to regulate for some time to come
There Is now reason to believe that the
Sherman antitrust law commits the ma
ton to policy which Is too extreme; to