No. 4.] TRUSTS AND THE FARMERS. 195 



so long only as, the corporation shall promote the public 

 good. All corporations are created by the State to promote 

 the public good. What the creator has created it can, if it 

 will, destroy. When the creature ceases to fulfil the end 

 of its creation, it should be destroyed. It follows, then, 

 very surely that the corporation which persists in evading 

 taxation, in breaking the law, in corrupting municipal. State 

 and national governments, in substituting private greed for 

 public policy, is its own worst enemy; it is fast rushing on 

 to self-destruction. 



One thing the farmers of Massachusetts may do, in the 

 assurance that they will be supported by the farmers of the 

 whole country and by all good citizens and that they cannot 

 but succeed, is to demand that no trust shall defy or evade 

 or disobey the law of the State, but shall be strictly held to 

 the performance of its duty, on the penalty of forfeiture of its 

 charter and dissolution, all its franchises reverting to the State. 



2. Secondly, we must not lose sight, nor allow corpo- 

 rations to lose sight, of the truth that the community in 

 which the corporation does business is the factor to which 

 is due a large share of the profits of the corporation. The 

 value of the franchise, as of land, depends largely upon the 

 character of the community. If population is increasing, 

 if intelligence is universal, if morals are good, if the people 

 are thrifty, if public opinion and sentiment and will are in 

 favor of law and order, then land values increase and fran- 

 chises become more and more profitable, the stock doubles 

 its dividend-paying power ; but, if the contrary conditions 

 are prevalent, then no skill on the part of the trust, no com- 

 binations of capital, can prevent loss and bankruptcy. The 

 community, therefore, is a legitimate partner in every cor- 

 poration, and its rights must be respected. The sentiment 

 so forcibly expressed in the words, " The public be damned," 

 if tolerated, must prove the total destruction of the corpora- 

 tion permitting it. The good-will of the public, so zealously 

 sought by advertising and valued so highly when involved 

 in trade-marks and reputation, is at once ruthlessly anni- 

 hilated. 



3. Thirdly, all should never lose sight of the fact that a 

 corporation exists for the supply of the demand of the con- 



