44G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is no more to be desired tlian would be the accuniulation of vast landed 

 estates into the hands of a few land barons. Tliis relic of the feudal 

 system has been abolished in every state of the union, 1 believe, by 

 repealing; tlie law of primoii^eniture, so our lands are owned in a broad 

 sense in small holdings with the occupant not a tenant, but the pos- 

 sessor of an allodial estate. 



Feudalism, in its pahny days, meant that all the land, air and water, 

 with the beasts, birds, fishes and minerals, belonged not to the people, 

 but to tlie lords of the soil. If a man wished to tish, hunt, shoot a bird 

 in the air, gather sticks, pluck a twi<f, leaf or fruit from the trees, or 

 pick up anytliiufjj from the <;round, he must first j?et permission from 

 the lord of the manor, or some of his underlings. This meant that the 

 weak were to ^t't weaker and the stronj^ stronj;er, and tlie cunnin;^ more 

 cunniu";-. The time was, under the feudal system, when man passed 

 with a deed of the land as a i)art and parcel thereof, the same almost 

 as aninuils in the forest. Is there no parallel between some features of 

 the feudal system and the system of corporate development that takes 

 in oui- industrial societv todav? 



Juduinu bv analo<i;v in the lisrht of bistorv would it not be beneficial 

 to the individual if the concentration of so much artificial power and 

 wealth in a corporate entity were reasonably checked? If the value of 

 individual ambition is to count in the scale, the state owes it to its 

 people to inquire carefull3' into the use of the franchises it has granted 

 to some of our citizens. 



"Whatever the evils may be in such corporations, they must be regu- 

 lated and restrained as are the rights of the individual, not seeking to 

 work destruction, but observing at all times the natural laws of trade 

 which will take care of themselves in spite of all the legislatures in 

 Cliristendom. 



If these corporations are a menace to the individual, they are a menace 

 to the nation; and it is our duty to begin to correct their errors at the 

 points where they defiantly over-ride the law or prostitute the purpose 

 of our government to their private ends. Every corporation is a creature 

 cf the j)eo])le, brought into existence by their state legislatures, just 

 as much as our national banks are creatures of congress, and one should 

 be just as much subject to public scrutiny as the other. 



The power of the peoj)le to deal with the problem as they see fit is 

 not doubtful. Judge Cooley, in an early Michigan case, said this: 



''The sovereign police y)ower which the State possesses is to be exer- 

 cised only for the general public welfare, out it reaches to every person, 

 to every kind of business, to every species of property within the 

 commonwealth. The conduct of every individual and the use of all 

 property and of all rights is regulated by it, to any extent found neces- 

 sary for the preservation of the public order and also for the protection 

 of the private rights of one individual against encroachment by others." 



This great ]Michigan jurist, whose fame as an authority in legal juris- 

 prudence has extended all over our land and even to Great Britain 

 and continental Europe, has, I believe, touched the keynotr" of the power 

 of the p"op'e on this subject in the lanjjuage I have nuoted. 



The demajTOirue and quack statesman, who unjusMy denounces all 

 forms of corporate life and usefulness, as well as the schemer who 

 selfishly misuses it, ought to stand together and share the public cen- 



