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we do not know enough of this new form of industrial organiza tion to judge properly respecting it. If this be true, and if on this account trusts are to be allowed a probationary existence, it is the plain duty of government to hold them meantime to strict account. The statistician should be pressed into service, the keeping of books should be regarded as of paramount importance, and the rule according to which accounts are kept and reports made should be formulated in the interest of investigation. The propriety of this suggestion can be questioned by no one. If trusts are what they claim, that is to say, the vanguards of a new industrial organization which holds within itself great industrial benefits, the sooner this fact is recognized by the public, the better for all concerned. If, on the other hand, there is danger in the extreme application of this form of organization, the government certainly has a right to possess itself of all facts necessary for a judicious opinion and for effective legislation. It would be a step in the right direction should the states make provision for an interstate organization of statistical inquiry and confer upon such an organization adequate authority for the uniform prosecution of its investigation. Where competition controls, the government may safely refrain from interference, but where competition is excluded, or where the conditions for its exercise are such as to give one competitor an advantage over another, nothing remains but public supervision; and, I repeat, the most important, indeed the essential agency for legislation or for administrative supervision is a thoroughly organized bureau of statistics and accounts clothed with authority over the auditing departments of these industrial associations.

Permit me in closing to pass in rapid review the questions, so far as they have been presented, which underlie the problem now claiming your attention. It was first suggested that industries differ in their fundamental character and that no wise policy can be adopted until those which are naturally monopolistic are separated from those which by nature are subject to competitive con- ! trol. It was, in the second place, suggested that before a reasonable opinion could be entertained respecting trusts their relation to prices, to commercial depressions, as also their influence upon democracy, should be clearly grasped. Turning, then, in the third place, to a consideration of the current tendency toward monopoly in industries which naturally are subject to competitive control, it was stated that the explanation of this tendency is found in the conditions under which manufacturing and commercial enterprises are carried on. Three of these conditions. were mentioned: First, the fact that railways do discriminate

in favor of large shippers; second, that the extension of commercial relations beyond the jurisdiction of the states has resulted in confusion of law and uncertainty of procedure-a condition especially favorable to the encouragement of great interstate industries; third, attention was called to the unsatisfactory condition of the laws of incorporation as one of the elements in the conditions by which trusts are fostered. And finally, your attention was called to the fact that whatever else may be determined upon, provision should be made by the states for an efficient, comprehensive and harmonious control over the auditing departments of such industries as choose the trust organization for the prosecution of business.

The question before this convention is indeed a great question. It moves in many directions and embraces many considerations. It is at bottom a question of social theories and social ideas. Its vastness will be appreciated when it is observed that its judicious treatment will result in securing for the people the advantages of the industrial development of the past century, while to ignore it or to fail in its solution would result in prostituting the wealth created by an hundred years of phenomenal development to the service of a class.

DUDLEY G. WOOTEN.

Member Texas Legislature.

At the conclusion of Professor Adams' remarks, the chairman introduced Hon. Dudley Goodall Wooten, of the Texas Legislature. Mr. Wooten was the first speaker on the uncompromising anti-trust side of the debate. The gallery audience was in sympathy with his views, and, carried away by the eloquence of the gifted orator, punctuated his address with salvo after salvo of applause. Mr. Wooten said:

The delegates from Texas are highly sensible of the honor of having one of their number called upon to address this learned and representative body upon the first day of its assembling. It is I believe understood that this day's session shall be devoted to a general discussion of the problems under consideration, leaving to the subsequent proceedings of the Conference the detailed and special examination of the various phases of the subject. I therefore feel less hesitation in responding to the call made upon me at this time, and in the remarks

that I shall endeavor to submit I shall attempt to merely present in outline and in general terms the views entertained by my people. In what I shall say I make no pretense of discussing Trusts and Monopolies from the standpoint of an economic expert, but prefer rather to address myself to the broad features of these combinations and the principles that seem to me to underlie their causes, promote their consequences, and must accomplish their reformation or removal.

We come from a state whose location, area, resources and population, in our judgment, entitle us to entertain very positive and pertinent convictions upon the great problems that have called this assembly together, and which will hereafter provoke the learned discussions of the distinguished gentlemen here present. First of all, we are mainly producers of raw materials and consumers of manufactured products, and whatever tends to arbitrarily control the prices of the one or to monopolize the output of the other is a direct injury to our people and their industrial pursuits. In the next place, aside from the material aspects of the subject as affecting the markets in which we buy and sell, we believe that there is a fundamental principle of political ethics and governmental science involved in the problems under discussion. We believe that there are some things more valuable, more to be desired and more worthy to be contended for by a free people than mere industrial activity, commercial progress or the accumulation of worldly wealth. We do not believe in that school of political philosophy that despises the wisdom and experience of the fathers of English and American liberty and law, that rejects as antiquated and inadequate the great precepts and principles of a venerable jurisprudence at the behest of modern monopoly, that salves the wounds of freedom with the oil of avarice, and condones a constitutional crime with the argument of pelf and greed.

In the Constitution under which we in Texas live-handed down to us by the heroes of the Alamo and San Jacinto-we are taught that "monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free government, and shall never be allowed"; and we adhere with unhesitating loyalty to both the letter and the spirit of that declaration. In the Federal Constitution under which we all live-handed down to us all by the heroes of Lexington and Saratoga and Yorktown-we have been taught that "all rights not delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the people"; and among the most valuable of those reserved rights we esteem the traditional freedom of trade, contract and labor that has been cherished and defended by Anglo-Saxon yeomen in every age since their history began. Nay, more than that, Mr. Chairman,

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