The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-17
.W|CKERSH|AM TALKS
 OF PROBLEMS
Advocates Fedek0l Control
 of CorporatiOfis
NEED ADEQUATE LAW
Federal Government Should Face Courageously the Problems That Have Arisen-Days of Small
 Trading Gone, He Says

St. Louis. February 16-Attorney Gen- eral Wickersham addressed members or the Commercial club here. tonight and advocated federal control of corporations as the next step to be taken in dealing with the trust problem.
 He began with reference to business con ditions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when merchants and trade guilds created problems much like the trust problems of today.
 He traced the growth of business m this country through the period of rail- road building and discovered the abuses of the railroad business which led to the interstate commerce. act in 1884, which he said resulted ultimately in victory for the people. Next he turned his attentfon to the trusts, he said:
 To establish the proper equation be- tween business and the law" Attorney General Wickersham in an address before the Commercial club here tonight declared that it now remained for the federal gov ernment to face courageously It's prop lem by regulating corporate interests through the enactment of 'some adequate law of association"
 Would Retain Advantages
 Under such a statute" he said, there may be retained the great advantages of cooperative effort in the conduct in busi- ness-which in our day and generation must be great in volume to meet suc- cessfully the needs of the people, while at the same time protecting the people from the consequences of unrestrained as- sociation which in the past has resulted in unfair competition and grossly un- equal fortunes.
 Nothing but continued confusion can result from leaving the creation and rega- lation of these associations to the varying caprices of 4s or 50 states. Until the na- tional government courageously faces the questions and places the responsibility which the assertion of power involves the proper equation between business and the law cannot be adequately settled
 The days of small trading were gone, he added, and the wages reasonably de- manded by the standards of living in this country could only be paid through the conduct of business on a large scale
 Government Supreme
 "The essential principle upon the en- forcement of which alone can the well fare of the people permit the continued existence of artificial bodies with large capital" MT. Wickersham continued, ITS the recognition of the power as greater tha1,ssthat of any corporation or sroup of men and the constant exercise Of that power
 Probably negative, restrictive legisia- tion has gone as far as is necessary. me great principle that the highways of com merce shall be open to all on equal terms under like conditions and similar circuui- stances and that men may not band thetn- lseyes together by unfair methods to de- stroy competitors is now fully recognized by law and adequate means are provided to prevent violations of that law
 Legislation Needed
 MT. Wickersham. said that surely gen. eration which had witnessed the abuses of corporations should not pass away without enacting legislation and securing methods of enforcing 1t as to tofeVer prevent such recurrence.
 "No limit" MT. Wickersham said, can or should be set to the capacity or an a association for legitimate normal growth; hut ii should be impossible for it to in- fate itself by mythicalfyalue based upon nothing but expectation, hope or mis- representation.
 "No individual carrying on business as such and no mere partnership has ever vet succeeded in absorbing so large a share of the trase or commerce or the country as to accomplish or threaten to accomplish monopoly. The great evils which have arisen have always operated under corporate form and only by means of controlling corporate organization can the national government effectively pre- vent the recurrence Of evil