The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-30
Governor -E|eCtDGCIarGS That
 the States Should Con- trOI Corporations
STATES MUST UNITE IN
 MAKING CERTAIN LAWS
fort Mir. Wilson speaks for state, Not Federal, Control of thc
 Corporations

Frankfort, Ky. November 29-rhe third annual conference of governors. the first
 Io be neld outside of Washington began
 a hve-day session here today with 24 of 1 the executives and several first ladies of
 the states present Heads of common-
 N ealths from almost the extremes of the
 nation were brought together in one body
 to derive benefits from the experiences of
 each other.
 For several days Goverslor Wilson of
 Kentucky has made it plain that he would
 do all in his power to eliminate politics | from the conference and in the prelimi-
 nary arrangements has done it. How | ever. at the first session today. held in | the hall of representatives of the new
 state capital building, there were two
 outbursts of political enthusiasm. One
 was when Governor Judson Harmon of
 Ohio entered the hall. He was greeted hy slight handclapping, which was ac-
 corded no other governor. The moment
 the meeting adjourned man in the gal
 lery called for cheers for Governor Har- mon.
 With a frown Governor Wilson raised
 his hand to the man and stopped what
 
 made He said such suggestion was en-
 tirey out of place and would not be tol- erated He had already laid stress on | this feature when in his opening remarks | he stated that the governors were called | together for a conference only, and that
 it not house of governors as pre- viously termed.
 Letter From Taft
 After these words Governor ,Wllson | V7.tl | ting his absence, in which he said:
 T have great sympathy with tfe oD- l jects of Your meesing which l >gader- staad to be to secure the general national welfare by uniformity of state Legislation 1 Upon subjects having general national l- | terest. which are not, by the constitution l entrusted to Congress and the central l government I wish for your meeting the
 most successful issue in substantial rel sglts.''
 l Gov Aram J. Pothier of Rhode Island | responded to the welcoming address or | Governor Wilson and Mayor Potsgrove | Of frankfort after which the visiting party and several prominent kentuck- l ans were entertained at luncheon in 1 private home At the later session Gov 1 elect Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey de- l ivered an address on The Possibilities or | the Governors Confereuce.'
 Reception to Governors The only chance the public had to meet l the governors was at reception held at the new statehouse this afternoon' where many hundreds grasped the hands
 of the leaders of the states. Tonight Gov. and Mrs. Wilson gave reception at | the governors s mansion. Tomorrow morn 1 ing a special train will carry the gov | ernors to Louisville, where sessions VIII 1 be held until Saturday.
 | The governors present are; weeks or | Connecticut Plaisted of Maine, Mann of | af 10 1 of North Carolina Fort of New Jersey. | Noel of Mississippi, Nessey of South Da- | kota Shafroth of Colorado, Deneen or l Illinois. Marshall of Indiana, Hadley or l Missouri, Norris of Montana, McGoVern | Of Wisconsin. Harmon of Ohio' sprN oi 1 Utah. Sloan of Arizona, Brown or Geor- gia, Draper of Massachusetts Ahsel or South Carolina and Wilson of Kentucky. | Wilson of New Jersey. O'Neai of Alabama and Cruce of Okla- homa.
 Governor Burke of North Dakota Is ex- pected to arrive in Louisville tomorrow morning.
 Wilson's Address Tn his address before the governors conference late today Gov. .-elect Wood- row Wilson of New Jersey declared nin- | self in favor of state regulation of cor l porations rather than control by the fed eral government.
 "rhe last 50 years have seen this great | continent knit together by systems of railway and telegraph and telephone said Mir. Wilson.
 More and more completely has the network spread over every region and | quarter of the great area
 | Centralized business has built up vast l structures or organization and equipment | which overtop all states and seem to have no match or competitor except the
 federal government itself, which was not | intended for such competitions. Amidst | A confused variety of states and statutes stand now the colossus of business. uni | form, concentrated, poised upon single | plan, governed. not by votes but by com
 mands, seeking not service but profits. Great Influences NO wonder we began to turn to the na- | tional government to cope with, to reg ulate in the name of the sovereign na- | ton itself. what had become a force as | great as the nation in it's scope and con | sequence. The influence to be dealt with 1 extended from one end of the country to | the other The great organization of bus | mess seemed to play with the states, to l take advantage of the variety of the laws. | to make terms of their own with one state 1 at a time and by one device of control | or another to dominate wherever they l chose. Because too big to be dominated | by the small processes of local legislation no machinery seemed to stretch to the
 size of the task of regulation except the | machinery of national legislation at Washington, the long arm of the eXecu- | tive that couldsb stretched forth from
 a national capital to every remotest nook and corner of the land.
 No wonder the instinct and inclination were to resort to Washington for relief | and protection. The need was great and
 the government was powerful. But this
 intimate task of regulation was not one | for which its constitution had furnished it with actually suitable or entirely ade- | ouate powers and authority. Only the | states were fully equipped with the leebs- l lative and executive power to handle at | will and as they pleased this new organ- | ization of business and manufacture. | "A new problem was presented to us.