Judge Cooley's opinion. Chief Sherwood on this prosperity, the more perfect and stable is the government itself." A few things," says Judge Cooley, "can be said of trusts without danger of mistakes. They are things to be feared. They antagonize a leading and most invaluable principle of industrial life in their attempt not to curb competition merely, but to put an end to it. The course of the leading trusts of the country has been such as to emphasize the fear of them, and the benefits that come from its cheapening of an article of commerce are insignificant when contrasted with the mischiefs that have followed the exhibitions in many forms of the merciless power of concentrated capital. And when we witness the utterly heartless manner in which trusts sometimes have closed many factories and turned men willing to be industrious into the streets in order that they may increase profits already reasonably large, we cannot help asking ourselves the question, whether the trust as we see it is not a public enemy; whether it is not teaching the laborer dangerous lessons; whether it is not helping to breed anarchy." Says Sherwood, C.J., in Richardson v. Bull (77 Mich. 632): "The sole object of the corporation is to make money by having corporations. it in its power to raise the price of the article or diminish the quantity to be made and used, at its pleasure. Thus both the supply of the article and the price thereof are made to depend upon the action of a half dozen individuals, governed by a single motive or purpose, which is to accumulate money regardless of the wants or necessities of over 60,000,000 of people. Monopoly in trade or in any kind of business in this country is odious to our form of government. Corporations dangerous to a free government and individual rights. "Its tendency is destructive of free institutions and repugnant to the instincts of a free people and contrary to the whole scope and spirit of the Federal Constitution, and is not allowed to exist under the express provisions of several of our State Constitutions. "Indeed, it is doubtful if free government can long exist in a country where such enormous amounts of money are allowed to be accumulated in the vaults of corporations, to be used at dis cretion in controlling the property and business of the country against the interest of the public and the policy of the law for the personal gain and aggrandizement of a few individuals. It is always destructive of individual rights, and of that free competition which is the life of the business, and it revives and perpetuates one of the great evils which it was the object of the framers of our form of government to eradicate and prevent. It is alike destructive to both individual enterprise and individual prosperity whether conferred upon corporations or individuals, and, therefore, public policy is, and ought to be, as well as public sentiment, against it. All combinations among persons or among corporations for the purpose of raising or controlling the prices of merchandise or of any of the necessaries of life, are monopolies and intolerable, and ought to receive condemnation of all courts." Chauncey M. Depew in an address before the International Senator Brotherhood of Engineers in Pittsburg, Pa., in October, 1890, opinion. Depew's said: "In the United States our pace is so rapid, and our development so phenomenal, that without due consideration we are apt to rush to extremes. This is true of both capital and labor. The money required to construct telegraphs, to build railroads, to establish banks, was beyond the power of the individual and so the State permitted aggregated capital representing the contributions of many, to perform these works. At the same time, through commissions, departments and State officers, the hand of the Government was constantly upon them for the protection of the public against extortion or discrimination. But within a few years everything from pine lands to peanuts, from steel rails to sardines, has been organized into some form of corporation or trust. This universal effort to absorb the individual, to divide the people into employing companies and employees, and to destroy competition, will inevitably end in disaster. . . ." 234. Control of Railways by Commission The most popular form of control over public service corporations is through a commission, and these sections from the Okla The right to prescribe rates. The collection of information. homa constitution indicate in a general way the power usually conferred (with more or less modification) upon such a body: SEC. 18. The Commission shall have the power and authority and be charged with the duty of supervising, regulating, and controlling all transportation and transmission companies doing bus iness in this State, in all matters relating to the performance of their public duties and their charges therefor, and of correcting abuses and preventing unjust discrimination and extortion by such companies; and to that end the Commission shall, from time to time, prescribe and enforce against such companies, in the manner hereinafter authorized, such rates, charges, classifications of traffic, and rules and regulations, and shall require them to establish and maintain all such public service, facilities, and conveniences as may be reasonable and just, which said rates, charges, classifications, rules, regulations, and requirements, the Commission may, from time to time, alter or amend. All rates, charges, classifications, rules and regulations adopted, or acted upon, by any such company, inconsistent with those prescribed by the commission, within the scope of its authority, shall be unlawful and void. The Commission shall also have the right, at all times, to inspect the books and papers of all transportation and transmission companies doing business in this State, and to require from such companies, from time to time, special reports and statements, under oath, concerning their business; it shall keep itself fully informed of the physical condition of all the railroads of the State, as to the manner in which they are operated, with reference to the security and accommodation of the public, and shall, from time to time, make and enforce such requirements, rules, and regulations as may be necessary to prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination and extortion by any transportation or transmission company in favor of, or against any person, locality, community, connecting line, or kind of traffic, in the matter of car service, train or boat schedule, efficiency of transportation, or transmission, or otherwise, in connection with the public duties of such company. Before the Commission shall prescribe or fix any rate, charge or classification of traffic, and before it shall make any order, rule, regulation, or requirement directed against any one or more companies by name, the company or companies to be affected by such rate, charge, classification, order, rule, regulation, or requirement, shall first be given, by the Commission, at least ten days' notice of the time and place when and where the contemplated action in the premises will be considered and disposed of, and shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to introduce evidence and to be heard thereon, to the end that justice may be done, and shall have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses; and before said Commission shall make or prescribe any general order, rule, regulation, or requirement, not directed against any specific company or companies by name, the contemplated general order, rule, regulation, or requirement shall first be published in substance, not less than once a week, for four consecutive weeks, in one or more of the newspapers of general circulation published in the county in which the Capitol of this State may be located, together with the notice of the time and place, when and where the Commission will hear any objections which may be urged by any person interested, against the proposed order, rule, regulation, or requirement; and every such general order, rule, regulation, or requirement, made by the Commission, shall be published at length, for the time and in the manner above specified, before it shall go into effect, and shall also, so long as it remains in force, be published in each subsequent annual report of the Commission. The right of the com pany to a hearing. cal valua SEC. 29. The Commission shall ascertain, and enter of record, The physithe same to be a public record as early as practicable, the amount tion of of money expended in construction and equipment per mile of properties. every railroad and other public service corporation in Oklahoma, the amount of money expended to procure the right of way, and the amount of money it would require to reconstruct the roadbed, track, depots, and transportation facilities, and to replace all the physical properties belonging to the railroad or other public service corporation. It shall also ascertain the outstanding bonds, de Statistics of railways. bentures, and indebtedness, and the amount, respectively, thereof, when issued, and rate of interest, when due, for what purposes issued, how used, to whom issued, to whom sold, and the price in cash, property, or labor, if any, received therefor, what became of the proceeds, by whom the indebtedness is held, the amount purporting to be due thereon, the floating indebtedness of the company, to whom due, and his address, the credits due on it, the property on hand belonging to the railroad company or other public service corporation, and the judicial or other sales of said road, its property or franchises, and the amounts purporting to have been paid, and in what manner paid therefor. The Commission shall also ascertain the amounts paid for salaries to the officers of the railroad, or other public service corporation, and the wages paid its employees. For the purpose in this section named, the Commission may employ experts to assist them when needed, and from time to time, as the information required by this section is obtained, it shall communicate the same to the Attorney General by report, and file a duplicate thereof with the State Examiner and Inspector for public use, and said information shall be printed, from time to time, in the annual report of the Commission. 235. The Operations of a Railway Commission This extract from a recent report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission illustrates the character of the business usually transacted in the control of public service corporations: There are within this State 3,859.09 miles of railroad, not including double and side-tracks - an increase over last year of 59 miles. Of our railroads, 2,839.51 miles are operated by the Southern Railway Company, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, and Seaboard Air Line Railway, divided as follows: Southern Railway Company, 1,279.56 miles; Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, 947.83 miles; Seaboard Air Line Railway, 612.12 miles. Gross earnings of railroads within the State were $22,441,705; net earnings were $8,470,483 — an increase in gross earnings |