The evening world., 1911-01-12
TRUST DISCUSSION
BRINGS MANY TO
CIVIC FEDERATION
Annual National Convention
? Opens With Largest Attend
ance in Its History.
TRADE COMBINES TOPIC.
Effort Will Be Made to Put
Body on Record on Fed
= eral Regulation.
COMBINES TOPIC.

The Civic Federation began its
blu, eleventh annual national convention at
tihe Hotel Aston to-day with the bisses;
Attendance In It's history.
1t was known in advance that an effort
would be made TO put the Federation on
record as either fayoring or opposing
f,-s Federal regulation OF trusts, and to this
ons fac, was attributed the presence of
10 many men from co commercial, patriotic
a''H and civic bodies. that have not been
:, represented at any previous session in
> ., the decade that the Federation has been
ADJ in active existence.
e. Delegates from all the twenty-four
al. State councils that make ~, the or
ganization were in their places when
~. President Seth Low raped for order.
me Fully a third OF those present were
81 women economists and trade workers.
Labor men were also strongly In evil
cV7' dcnce. John Mitchell was one OF TIE
20. earliest arrivals. Samuel Gompers ar
~. rived later In the day. Isaac Seligman
md August Belmont were among those
80" prominent.
fHs@ A delegate who attracted a lot OF at
ssfNt tention was >. Sakuragi. superintendent
. OF the South Manchuria Railroad sys-
-~-ditem, who was sent here by the japanese
Government to study American industrl-
is,n al conditions as reflected in this gather
10 ing.
'T'h II had been planned to devote the
opening day TO n discussion OF trade
~ combinations, and II naturally followed
& authat among those on the programme
tf were Gilbert II. Montague, William
gaIDudley Fouike. Samuel Untermyer and
others who have been active participants
an the enactment by Congress and state
Legislatures OF laws intended to control
1.-THE trusts. and in the popular agitation
to bring about relief frcm Industrial
t,r,, conditions b~egotten of the combines.
'irp Low Sees Uniformity Ahead.
In opening the meeting. President Low
,.i said that as the result OF the efforts OF
the Federation and the American Bar
sgcs'.Arsociation II was likely that within the
X .next few years uniform laws would be
enacted by all o fthe States covering the
40 regulation OF corporations, worknen's
compensation and compulsory srbitra-
.sst,on. The big bstacIe so far discovered
81 was the difference In State constitutions.
~ THE year has been marked Also said
Mr.. Low, by the exceedingly valuable
~ work done by the Committee on Com
1pensation for Industrial Accidents, of
- which Mr.. Augustus Belmont is the
chairman, especially the sub-ccmm ittee
&c appointed to prepare draft OF a law TO
provide compensation for industrial ac-
cidents. in ehe hope that such draft
"A. would serve as a basis for reasonably
bsA uniform legislation In the various States
~ OF the union. This subcommittee IA
10 vors a bill frankly based upon the police
.as; power of the state for It's constitution
ali atty"
"a" Untermyer on SHAM"
-s In his address Mr.. Untermyer at
'Aaintscked the Governments attitude to-
ward the trusts as a 'monstrous
.Sss sham" According to him.. the large
sai and vicious corporations so unmoiested,
while the little fellows are being pur-
,r,, sued with a brass band and the great
.5, est press bureau ever put In action"
'saN Mr.. Untermyer blamed the courts and
tsD the Government. since the enactment
t's.o; the Antitrust law in 1890. for fail
ing to suppress the crimes It was
passed to prevent and thus permitting
/the growth OF vicious corporations. He
charged the present administrator
with prosecuting only the small comp
Nbinations. such as the window-glass
and bathtub associations, which he
claimed were innocen; of criminal in
Il tent.
As a solution Cor the trust problem,
Ne advocated rigid Federal regulation.
asserting that state control was con-
fusing and Inadequate. Federal reeula-
ton, he believed, would preserve all the
benefits OF combination, such as the
elimination OF destructive competition,
while avoiding Its evils. .
The most essential feature OF such
control, in Mr.. .Untermyer,s opinion,
should be the power to prohibit both
business oppre ssion and the e~xaction OF
a-ay0asaiua nrnnts