The Cairo bulletin., 1911-07-20
REGULATION BY
THE government
ATTORNEY GENERAL WICKER
SHAM DECLARES FOR
FURTHER CORPORATION
OWNERSHIP Or STOCK
By One Corporation In Another Is
Basis Of Trust and Should Be
Prohibited Spoke to
Lawyers.

Duluth, MIMI, july l9--After
day crowded with enjoyments for
himself and for the delegates to the
Minnesota Bar Association of which
body he was today the guest Attor-
ney General Wickersham attended a
mess banquet given by the same as
sociation. There were no speeches
at the banquet, Wickersham will de-
part M Hamerock, Mich. where he
will make an address Friday.
That a government commission to
regulate great industrial organiza-
tions was most desirable and might
be absolutely necessary was the key
note Of the speech which the Attor-
ney General delivered before the bar
association in the afternoon.
Mr.. Wickersham' s. speech was lit
tie short of sensational In many of
It's features. He declared that it
was matter of serious consideration
wheather it would be practical to
give to the proposed inter state cor
poration commission the power to
fix prices. TO do this in theory
would simply require an extension
Of the principle by which the inter
state commerce commission controls
the rates on railroads.
The law of supply and demand, Mr..
Wickersham said, no longer controls
prices in the United States. For
years, he declared, the price in all
the great staple industries have been
fixed by an agreement between the
principal producers and not by a
normal play of free competition.
/ An .inter state commission, the COM
mission, the attorney general added
would prevent violations of the anti
trust act and aid business men to
maintain a continued status of har-
nony with the requirements of the
qw.
Many of Mr.. Wickersham de-
larations were the most radical he
has made since his entrance into Off
'ial life. With the weight of an ad-
ministration officer behind them, his
emarks made deep impression.
There was nothing in the speech,
however, to indicate how far the
attorney general reflected the views
If President Taft. On several oc-
1isions in the last year he has been
regarded as the spokesman for the
administration.
The attorney general discussed the
general question of what further
regulation of inter state commerce
is necessary or desirable from a
broad point of view and said he had
not attempted to express conclus-
ion, but merely to state the elements
Vt q great problem which goes to the
oot of the prosperity of the Ameri-
can people.
THAT some further regulation over
corporations carrying on commerce
among the states may be necessary"
he said "is however, coming to be a
matter Of current comment. 1t has
been openly advocated quite recently
by Representatives of some of the
largest combinations of capital,
probably as means of salvation,
and to preserve, under government
supervision, great organizations
whose continued existence is men
aced by the recent Interpretation OF
the Sherman act, the disintergation
of which would be necessarily at
tended with much loss.
Mr., Wickersham implied that fed
eral Incorporation act while it might
offer some difficulties, would help to
lay the AK at the root of the trust
evil
"The existing system" he said,
whereby every state charters cor
porations without the slightest re-
gard no other states or to the nation
empowered to roam at will--so far
as their creator Is concefned-but
subject to any restriction or condi-
tion, which any other state into
which they may desire to go in carry
ing on their business chooses to
impose, naturally led to demand
for authority in one corporation to
take and hold stock in another, in
order that the business Of cor
poration organized in one state
might be carried on in another
state, without subjecting the par
ents company and its entire capital
and corporate organization to the
laws of the latter.
Probably no one think has done
more to facilitate restraint Of trade