ii4 Presidential Addresses 



when I say corporations I do not mean merely trusts 

 technically so-called, merely combinations of corpo 

 rations, or corporations under certain peculiar con 

 ditions. For instance, some time ago the Attorney- 

 General took action against a certain trust. There 

 was considerable discussion as to whether the trust 

 aimed at would not seek to get out from under the 

 law by becoming a single corporation. Now, I want 

 laws that will enable us to deal with any evil no 

 matter what shape it takes. I want to see the gov 

 ernment able to get at it definitely, so that the action 

 of the government can not be evaded by any turn 

 ing within or without Federal or State statutes. 

 At present we have really no efficient control over a 

 big corporation which does business in more than 

 one State. Frequently the corporation has nothing 

 whatever to do with the State in which it is incor 

 porated except to get incorporated; and all its busi 

 ness may be done in entirely different communities 

 communities which may object very much to the 

 methods of incorporation in the State named. I 

 do not believe that you can get any action by any 

 State, I do not believe it practicable to get action 

 by all the States that will give us satisfactory con 

 trol of the trusts, of big corporations ; and the result 

 is at present that we have a great, powerful, artifi 

 cial creation which has no creator to which it is re 

 sponsible. The creator creates it and then it goes 

 and operates somewhere else; and there is no inter 

 est on the part of the creator to deal with it. It 

 does not do anything where the creator has power; 



