Mr. Dill's Lecture.

James B. Dill lectured yesterday afternoon in Harvard 1 on "National Corporation Laws for Industrial Organizations." He said in part:

The trust is national in extent, and is a vital part of the growth and financial development of the country. Since the trust is a national force, it is necessary to deal with it not sectionally, but by uniform national laws. The trend of public affairs is toward the establishment of principles which shall be more and more national and free from local influences, so that we may be Americans rather than citizens of New York or Boston.

Looked at in this light, the trust problem is not the problem of abolishing industrial combinations here and there, but of properly applying the principles which they represent. Our system of National Banks paved the way for an extension of this system to other corporations. The result has been a decided awakening of public discussion. Public opinion, as such, is the safeguard of a country; but when the public has become so impressed with the importance of this vague opinion as to urge its formation into law, its utility becomes restricted and minimized by state or local legislation.

So strongly has this been felt that it has been suggested that great corporations are not confined in their organization to the United States; that it is not with them a question of one state or another, but that if uniformity of law can not be obtained in this country the laws of foreign countries may present the needed relief. In closing, Mr. Dill defined a trust as "A corporate aggregation engaged in business, other than merely local, with purposes and objects, not confined in its operation and scope to the state of its creation."