The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12
Tie Right Of States To Charter And Control
 Private Corporations
Ky R. H. LEINAD

X There are lew questions or greater pup q lie interest, than that of corporate con E trol, by the people, through their lawful 3 representatives in their state legislatures. Prior to our declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1T76, the 13 colonies 4 acknowledged their King as their sover- 4 eign. The colonists did not claim sover- 2 Ielgnty until oppression emboldened them q to hurl a very thunderbolt of defiance Z at their King-their Declaration of Inde- pendence.
 2 They declared they would no longer be ! governed by laws enacted by the English 4 parliament or the edicts of their afore- q time King. In separating themselves from the mother country they changed 3 their territorial names from colonies to 4 states.
 By force of arms the states won their I sovereignty from the crown; they had 5 confederated and acted under an organic law they called Articles of Confedera- tion" This preliminary or trial constitu- l ton was found inadequate to their needs; then they framed and adopted our con stituton and It's acceptance swept away the last vestage of colonial, state or national sovereignty, as it made the peo- ple sovereigns instead of their former Kings.
 Let us ascertain what sovereign and sovereignty mean. Webster defines as fol- Jews: "Independent of and unlimited by any other power" It Is undeniably true that state cannot be supreme when a part of the states original power was ] transferred by the state to the states , united as the United States of America. By virtue of the constitutional contract certain powers were given by the indiyid ual states to the states united-hence I state cannot be Independent of the gen. l eral government, and the powers of the' l states cannot be unlimited; hence a state cannot be sovereign.
 On the other hand, there cannot be | national sovereignty, because the consti- tution expressly refers to powers retained by the states. And not only so, but all primary power is retained by the people. I Therefore 1t follows that supreme power and supreme sovereignty reside In and T belong~to those that made, that can 9 amend or unmake our present eonstitu- 4 tior-the people Art. of our constitu- \ ton is proof positive that this position Is correct.
 The great primary charter, so the pre- T amble asserts. was formed by the people,
 for the people, and not by colonies or \ states; it was entered into between the whole people as a body polite, and each I individual citizen, and by it's provisions the citizen is bound to the government T tc all other citizens, and the government I is bound to each individual and for the good of all
 The creator Is greater than that which \ Is created: hence the creators. the people. are superior to the states they formed from the colonies of the King, and su- 4 perior to the United States they created. { Mir Jefferson taught that all political power Is inherent in the people. It is the first article in our political creed. ! states can grant only limited powers to corporations.
 If a state is limited in it's powers; if it is not supreme, by reason of its constitu- tional limitations then 1t follows that IL can only grant limited powers to corpora tions 1t creates.
 Corporations in our country have, with G few exceptions, received their charters from some of the states. At first charters I were enacted by the legislatures of the states later on they were brought into ex- stence under general incorporation laws applicable to all companies conforming to the laws in relation to chartering cor 4 porations enacted by the legislatures or the state in which the charter was ob- { tained.
 The rights conferred by state In granting n charter cannot exceed the | rights tbe state has, and the granted rights nre limited to the state that granted the charter.
 No state can legally give or grant to q corporation rights. privileges or powers for operation beyond it's boundaries; as no state can have primary Jurisdiction be- vond its boundary lines. No state can con fer power that 1t does not as state pos sess or that it cannot use for it's own people in a collective capacity No state
 I1tct nf yond it's borders under It's laws. Hence 1t follows that the state Of New | Jersey, for example, cannot authorize
 any corporation to act under and by vir-
 tue of the laws of New Jersey in another state. Did not New Jersey In chartering the so-called steel trust authorize the
 said corporation to act under the laws of New Jersey? Are not all corporations
 chartered in New Jersey acting under
 and by virtue of the laws of the state?
 They are organized under the state law
 that created the corporation and their
 acts are not lawful If they fail to con-
 form to the laws under which they came
 into existence.
 No state can lawfully charter any com
 pany to act or lawfully grant 1t power
 to act in another state, even under the
 laws of the state where 1t may decide to
 do business. Any state assuming to ere
 u
 commonwealth would be encroaching on
 the rights of sister state.
 States have assumed the privilege of
 | creating corporations to operate In other states. States have virtually guaranteed corporations rights, the state granting the } charter never possessed. It is clear that
 Inc state can lawfully grant charter to
 l a corporation to act when and where the state granting the charter cannot pro- tect the company chartered. And yet, ! New Jersey for example, has created line of corporations and empowered them to act where they choose and taxed them for such assumed rights, nay more, con
 tinued to tax them yearly and year after
 year send out other broods of pirate cor porations thus generating other swarms | of trusts and for the sole purpose of gain; | for her yearly revenues so increased by titheing these illegitimate children that her state expenses are largely born by | the revenues derived from these pirate Il corporations acting in other states When our national constitution was Il fol med and adopted state encroachment \ was feared as much as federal usurpation \ was dreaded. In Art l, Sec. X, Par. g. \ states are forbidden to enter into com ' pacts or agreements with each other \ Our constitution gives to each state the I same rights, if this is true then no state | can abridge. lessen modify the rights of another state by projecting it's as- stunned powers into other states Each stnte should charter all corpOra-