assisted by some notice of the then threatening vigor and universality
of the movement toward industrial combination. Mr. Beck, Assistant
Attorney-General of the United States, declared in 1892:
"Excessive capitalization of corporations, dishonest management by their
executive officers, the destruction of the rights of the minority, the
theft of public utilities, the subordination of public interests to
private gain, the debauchery of our local legislatures and executive
officers, and the corruption of the elective franchise, have resulted
from the facility afforded by the law to corporations to concentrate the
control of colossal wealth in the hands of a few men . . . . The