The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-02-21

Charlotte Observer.

'Hhi iDi't 'bStI TT
a Raleigh special OF the 9th to the
Industrial News of Greensboro, says:
Speaker Justice of the House, has ask
ed the judiciary committee OF the Senate
to allow him to strike out all the sec
tions Of his;bilI enlarging the powers Of
the Attorney General, which has passed
the House except those particularly con-
icrring on the Attorney General the right
and power to investigate public service
corporations, institute actions against
them and send for persons and papers.
lie wants especially to eliminate the
feature as to solicitor I. making them az
/ sistants to the Attorney General, and
putting them on salaries as the Senate
has alre ady passed bill as to solicitors
salaries.
The committee has consented to the
curtailmrnt OF the bill. but has not yet
decided on the vital question of favor
able or ''unfavOrable' report
1t il Sill 1pected thai a very strong TO
lowing in the Senate does not look with
high favor on the BILL which certainly
gives an Attorney General Of the State
very sweeping powers susceptible OF
dangerous abuse ii that official was in
cIined to make trouble" for railroad
abuses or not.
The sections stricken out modify
the bill very greatly. AS it passed
the House it was open to the gravest
objection. 1t vested in the Attorney
General the authority to summon, OF
his own motion, any person in he
State who Is Il member or oreinplOye OF
y I,1,,
him to crOSS-eXaminatiOn and, If the
Attorney General choose, require him
to bring the books of the company
and submit them to his inspection;
ami it authorized him to surround
himself ii he SO choose, with Al staff,
constituted Of all the solicitors in the
State, for the purpose OF prosecuting
any indictments which be might in
stitute. These are powers which
should not be lodged with any but Il
perfect man and unhappily there is
meme such. Ii an Attorney General
We're dishonest they would enable
him to blackmail IL large portion of
the business OF the State, or to be-
tray its secrets: if corrupt, to make
his own terms with trusts: il honest
but suspicious or indicative, to give
no end of trouble to business con-
Germs and involve the State in endless
litigation. As the bill stands, with
the notifications which the Speaker
has made i'll it, it would give the At
tOrney General the powers above
suggested only over what are called
public service corporations" which
we cOmstrue to mean railroads, ex-
press, telegraph and telegraph com
pancs. Ii this officer were ''Out for
trouble" he could, if the bill in it's
present form becomes a law, if for
any reason disposed to, make life a
burden to any of these. 1t still car
ries too much power for any one
man to have.
To discuss the features of the bill
which have been eliminated is to view
| it i'll retrospect, as it were, but it
needs to be said that not all cOrpOr-
atiOns are hateful or dangerous
There are, for instance, perhaps fifty
corporations in Charlotte, not one
of them a monopoly, not one with
the power to oppress the people. 1t
is wrong that the public has con-
ceived a hatred for the word "corpo-
ration, for any firm with a member
ship OF three may, for reasons sufti-
cient to itself, originate or re-organ-
ize as q corporation and still be
harmless rs a firm.