The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-08

handle certain branches of the pack ing business" said this lawyer. "The object Is not to evade the laws. of this country but to find some means by
 which the companies can carry on their business without coming into conflict with the statutes of tho vari- ous States. Some of these are so rig orous that they make 1t practically impossible to do business in accord- ance with them since, any agreement not only fin relation to prices but also in regard to methods of handling sales becomes ground for suits and heavy fines. At the present time. however. nothing is being done toward actually moving the headquarters of the big packing interests to Europe and there is no likelihood that anything of the kind will occur in the immediate fu- ture."
 Wall Street man who is familiar with most of the activities of the big trust magnates explained the scheme in more detail and with greater frank ness. The plan in mind" he said, tis to form a parent company with of- fees in London or some other British city and to have the various compa- nies transacting business , in the dif- ferent States entirely independent of one another. These compahies would then report direct to the home offce abroad and all correspondence and ac-. counts would be kept there, Tn most of the suits brought against big cor porations under the various State anti trust laws the principal xevidence has been obtained by the enforced produc- tion of books and letters. This was the case in the suit recently decided in California against the Western Meat Company which is generally understood 70 be controlled by the big Chicago interests. It Is the opinion of num- Der of experienced corporation law yers who have been consulted on this subject that in the case of company incorporated abroad and having it's headquarters there 1t would be much more difficult for State prosecutors to obtain convictions and that the com panies probably would avoid much ex- pensive litigation"
 This statement fits more closely than the first one the Wall Street view of the matter. which is that it is not so decision in Itself that has caused the packing combination to consider expa- triation as 1t is the fact that nearly every State has laws forbidding com binations and trade agreements and that in several States. ss in New York. suits on similar lines have been begun or threatened If all of these were DuSnSU to C0nCiUSlOn tne trust HlBnL find itself in a worse position than the Standard oil Company with It's cele- brated fine. The same, thing applies of course to other corporations doing business in all or most of the different States.
 While the opinion of leading corpor- ation lawyers seems to incline to the belief that corporation interests might escape conviction under State laws by removing their headquarters to Eu- rope. even if they did not escape the suits themselves. there are others who hold that such action could, be check mated by the States without any great dihculty. A lawyer whose ofice is crowded with iron boxes bearing the names of well-known corporations, said:
 Incorporation abroad might help temporarily. but am afraid that 1t could be met by the States by the adoption of laws forbidding foreign corporations to transact business with in their borders unless they kept full set of books and accounts inside the State limits"
 The Attorney General of New York, William s. Jackson. who has been en- gagged for several months in collect ing evidence to be used in suit against the Beef Trust, gives 1t as his opinion that not even action by the