The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-01-25

New York, Jan. 2o.-"FOr seven
years l built up trusts. For five
years I have been trying to correct the
job"
In this way Justice James B. Dill, of
the court of errors and appeals of the
state of New Jersey. prefaced talk
upon great corporations. Justice Dill
has been called the godfather of
trusts" Back in the days when hun
dreds of corporations were taking out
charters in the state of New Jersey. it
was Dill who guided them and showed
them the way.
He knows more about the operations
Of trusts than any other man in the
country and he knows how to regulate
them.
1t is his opinion that the only way to
corporations is to put the men respon-
sible for the crime in Jail and keep
them there. He said:
place responsibility for violations
of law upon the persons responsible.
What happened to Morse and what
happened to Walsh indicates the eff
fective method of discouraging wrong
doing"
Put the responsible wrongdoers in
tail:" was inquired.
Judge Dill nodded. II have never
looked with patience on the filming Of
corporation. Inflicting fine as
penalty is inflicting punishment on the
innocent stockholders. Penalties
should be laid upon persons RESPONSE
ble''
AS a lawyer and student Of econom-
les, Mr.. Dill has approved of combina-
tons and consultations of capital.
Under wise guidance, he believes they
can be directed to advantageous ends.
The question about them, he holds. is
not how they may be averted. but how
they may be utilized and controlled for
the good of the community. He de-
scribes a trust as "a dominant combi-
nation of money. property, business or
commercial power o. energy"
National Incorporation.
He long advocated the enactment of
a national incorporation law in place
of state Incorporation, with national
The time has passed. he declares for
academic discussion of the origin of
the trust and its growth. Combina-
tions. industrial or financial, have
become and today are an integral ele-
ment in the struggle of this nation for
commercial supremacy.
He was asked: Then you don't re-
cant or withdraw. now that you are on
the bench, any of the things you did
formerly:'
"On the contrary. l hold to them.
In five years you cannot find decis-
ion of the court of errors and appeals
which you could find fault with as par
tial to a trust. l am especially strong
in the belief that you cannot make n
81 bill with just a pen and a piece of
paper"
The real evil in aggregation Of cap.
ital and corporate and other combiua-
tions. as said before Oberlin College
lies in men. in character. The trou-
BILE is personal. That's why l just
said that the penalty for wrongdoing
should be personal.
Some of these combinations are US
ing their resources and their energies
to accomplish their own ends, without
due regard to the rights of individuals
or of the public. This they do natur-
ally. Power always carries with it
an instructive desire to adopt the the
DRY that might makes right. Some Of
our foremost men are working upon
that theory.
The menace in our so-called pros
perity today is that in many instances
the men among US, who become pow
ers. financial, political. social-abuse
their power. The trouble is not with
theories. It is not with forms. 1t
is concrete. The wrong Is personal.
"a large part OF our modern pros
perity is to a perilously large extent
bottomed upon fraud and sham. The
UT precedented natural growth of the
country. the resulting creation Of i'm