Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 14.pdf/506

 The Control of " Trusts.,y rule laid down in the case of The People vs. The Home Insurance Company, 92 New York Court of Appeals 341, is the only one that is both just and equitable. The Court said : " It can hardly be denied that the fair measure of the value of the franchises of corporations would be the profits resulting from their use, and in adopting such a rule of estimate no one could justly complain of its being unequal in its effects upon different corporations, or unjust in its general opera tion." No distinction should be made between corporations in the matter of their taxation, except, perhaps, in the cases of banking and insurance companies and charitable associa tions whose functions are entirely different from those of business and industrial corpo rations. Such a tax may be levied in the manner following : — In the first place, there should be estab lished a Corporation Department, to incorpo rate associations and to have charge over, and the control of, all corporations chartered by the State or doing business in the State. The head of this department should be ap pointed by the Governor, to hold office during the term for which the Governor is elected. For so important an office as this, great care should be taken that an able, honest and un approachable man be selected. If the office was elective, favoritism or corruption in the official would be punished by the election of a new man. No political party or office holder would necessarily be blamed for the official's downfall. If, however, the office was appointive, not only the appointee, but the Governor and his party would be held responsible, and thus a better man would more likely be obtained. The incorporation tax should be abolished, so as to encourage the formation of corpora tions; for it is to corporations with their large aggregation of capital that we must

look for the development of our country. Without corporations, our manufacturers could not compete with the corporations of England, of France, and of Germany, in the race for the Asiatic and South American markets. To extend our markets, and thereby pro vide an outlet for our surplus productions, is the crying necessity of our economic life. Unless we do obtain a foreign market in which to dispose of our goods, the grim form of the black panic will soon raise its head in our land. And to obtain these markets giant corporations must be met and conquered by more powerful and far greater aggregations of capital, organized in the form of corpora tions. The real and personal property owned by corporations should be locally assessed and taxed in the civic divisions m which the property is located, the same as the real and personal property owned by individuals. The reason is twofold. The local authorities have a better knowledge of the value of property situated in their locality, better fa cilities for obtaining this knowledge, and therefore would make fewer mistakes than would a board of examiners composed of res idents from different parts of the State; the cities and counties depend largely for their support upon the taxes levied upon the prop erty of corporations located within their ju risdiction, and to withdraw .this revenue would cause confusion and would increase the bur dens of the local taxpayer. If such taxes were abolished, corporations would be organized to hold real and personal property for individuals, thus depriving the government of a large part of its revenue. Every prospectus or advertisement issued or published with a view of obtaining sub scriptions for shares or for bonds of a corpo ration, organized or to be organized, should give full details as to its organization; the