The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1909-07-12
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8 DEMOCRATIC PRESS BUREAU o
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Al aasfasetea endorsement Is the
democratic constitution az Oklahoma
I comes fem : ne less authority than
Ithe Attorney General of The United
states Geo 81 Wckersham u can
r1t te ssif rruthtully that N- Wicker
am uas making any special effort O.
I boost Oklahoma At all bat waE max
Inns speech before the Kentucky
7 state Bar acisuon on hov 20 con-
/ trol corporations The Associated
! Press quotes ss follows He then
took up the matter of determining the
value Of a corporation IN separate
states. Qa0flng the Supreme Court ot
ithe United states. That II Vas lawful
ITO include not merely the tanEih p
value n fhe property but that pTopoT
Iti1n of Intangible property ahiCh the
value % the intangible property in one
state bore 70 the aggregate Of the
tangible property in al the states. in
which the corporation did business
This IS exactly the theory that our
state government mas used and ac-
counts Tor the raising Of railroad val
ues for taxable purposes about nine
hundred per cent The railroads con
tended before the board OF assessors
that this vas far beyond the physical
value Of the railroads but tie board Of
assessors Contended that there vas an
intangible value upon which the rail
roads paid dividends which should be
assessed Mr.. WickershaW appears TO
be very much in line with the demo
cratic administration Of Oklahoma. In
this respect he does not much
resemble that class of republicans who
are nov managing the republican
machine
Ia speaking Of the injustice of allow
ing one corporation 70 hold the stock
Of another corporation. General Wick
ersham SAYS. The device of the
holding corporation is the only thing
that hss made possible the rapid
growth o. the great trusts and
monopohes and a prohibition such as
that stated would so far toward their
destruction"
The Oklahoma constitution contains
just such a prohibition as was en-
do-sed by General Wickersham 1t is
found in Section Al, Article 3, aud is
as follows:
Section 4l.-No corporation charter
ed or licensed TO DO business in this
state shall own. hold. or control. in any
manner whatever. the stock Of any
competitive corporation OF corpora
tions engaged in the same kind OF
/ business. in OF out of the state. except
! such stock as may be pledged in good
faith to secure bona fide indebtedness
/ acquired upon foreclosure, execution
sale o. otherwise for the satisfaction
Of debt In all cases where any cor
poration acquires stock in any other
d corporation as herein provided il
shall be required to dispose OF the
same within twelve months from the
date of acquisition, and during the
period Of its ownership of such stock
il shall have no right 10 participate n
the control OF such corporation, except
when permitted by order Of the oCr
poratior Commission
President Roosevelt said that hi
opinion of our constitution was not fl
for publication General Wickershan
indirectly endorses this important par
OF our constitution and advises Ken
tucky and other states TO enact
s mlar law which he says will go IA
toward the destruction of tlgsts anC
monopolies One thing is self evident
either General Wickersham must b
muzzled or every bit of the stuff re
Gently put out by the republican pres
bureau will be eontroverted by repub
lican authority.
Just now the remarks of Genera
WiCkersham are very timely for tina
part of our constitution which pre-
vents one corporation from holding tn
stock of another is under fire and
strong effort is being made to have /
repealed
w. J Bryan repeatedly said tha
, Oklahoma had the best state consttt
ton ever framed and every day see
, new converts to that theory It IS no
, at all unlikely that some cabinet men
Der of the republican administldtio
/, Rill second Mr. Bryan statement IT,
only thing that will prevent them troI
+ doing so is the opportunities OF 10
Norris, Herbert lloucs, Judge Burton
and other republican dignitaries VIII
have always maintained that the con
stitution was bad in fact SO bad tha
just estimate is uniit tor public.
ti0n aud that any endorsement OF
would weaken the republican chance
, of ever carrying Oklahoma.