The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-16
The aa1ie1ta Daily gas Saturday zOrie septemb 1882

today, their heads high in the world OF
/ finance.
Mr.. Gompers spoke today about COM
plains which the labor organizations have
made against the courts for interfering
with the operations of these unions by
| Injunction: I Will say this, 1t has always
/ been TO me a source of profound regret
that the courts show so much ingenuity
| in devising injunotions to prevent cor
porations from being disturbed by their
employees. They have not shown one-half
! that ingenuity in devising methods to
prevent their being robbed by their d.
rectors.
'To all this the remedy, Ie repeat, is
! publicity. A statute which would mod
/ ify but slightly, if at ALL the existing
/ laws of every state would make this
/ species of fraud impossible.
/ mo corporation has a right to secrecy
in the discharge of its duties. No cor
/ poration anxious to perform honest ser
/ vices to the public and its stockholders
/ will seek secrecy or insist upon it. Re
member that this secrecy is not invoked
! by corporate arrangements against the
/ public any more than 1t is their own
/ stockholders. We have but to provide a
/ single statute, first, that any stakeholder
! shall have the right to examine the books
| of a company and know everything about
! its concerns, although he owns but one
! share. If they find 1t too onerous to al
! low the owner of one share Of 500 to ex-
anime their books at leisure, then let
| them raise their shares to thousand or
ten thousand or fifty thousand dollars,
and let the minimum shareholder be en-
titled to examine the books. But when
| they issue stock at 800 a share or $50 a
share and any member Of the public be-
comes a member and an owner OF that
stock and a shareholder in that corpora
ton, he should have the right to exam
inc those books whenever he chooses.
And that is the law today If the courts
would enforce it. (Applause) In addi-
tion to that every corporation should be
compelled to file with the secretary of
state when it organizes, a statement of
property and then let the public buy at
any capitalization it chooses to make.
petent authority a full statement of its
business. That is the law today in near
ly every state, and it is always evaded.
The representative reports are misleading
where they are not incomprehnsible. Let
these reports be fair honest statements
of their business and then finally extend
the powers of your superintendent of in
I'll
and let these reports be verified, and
then you will have honest anagement
of corporations, and I promise you that
this public distrust and hatred of corpor-
ate entities will disappear from the minds
of a Iiberty-loving people who are but
seeking justice, even through their preju-
dice" (Applause)
MY friends, these are my suggestions:
Publicity for corporate mismanagement;
prohibition under penalties for special ia
vors; right of action against any corpor-
alton whose service is suspended except
an absolute defense proved that it was at
all times ready to discuss with its en-
ployes questions at issue between them,
by agencies of their selection.
81 am told. however, that If we promote
this cooperation we will destroy individ-
ualism. Individualisn is another Of the
phrases which have been specially invent
ed for the perplexity OF mankind. Indi-
viduahsm, in its last analysis, is saw
agery. The savage, depending on him
self alone for his shelter and his food,
one the club from the tree or the stone
picked up by his unaided hand from the
ground for his weapon, is the most COM
plete instance of individualism conceiva-
BILE. Civilized man depends upon every
body else for his prosperity. The object
of savagery is to get a weapon to beat
men away from them; the object Of civil
lization is the employment and protection
of the individual and the cooperation Of
men. All men are engaged, in civilized
life. in a great scheme of cooperation |
in which the activity of every mans hand
is Of vital Importance to all the rest. We
are told today that this closer co-opera- |
ton would bring around socialism. I |
have no fear Of that word If the greater |
development of mans; morality and ge-
MUS brings him so far, he will work for |
the common good as well as he would for |
his own, and we have just the same i'm |
petus for industry as we have had So |
cialism would not frghten me; for I be- /
lieve that we are all bound together by |
one common tie. in common industry. in 4
one common partnership Can you or /
do one thing for the benefit of himself /
without benefitting adj of his fellows? /
Can fancy crafty itself, can pride in /
dulge itself. can appetite satisfy itself, |
without paying a tribute to the whole /
human race? IF man seeks TO upbuid |
a palace in order to give expression to his /
pride and satisfaction to his sense Of |
luxury. must he not employ ten thousand /
hands in every quarter OF the globe? The |
woman who buys a new robe TO crafty /
her vanity must give employment to hun |
dreds OF her fellow creatures throughout |
the world. Even the capitalist. who. /
from the most sordid motives seeks 70 /
raise the rate Of interest from to per
cent, must serve his fellows in doing It. /
There IS but one way in which he can !
increase the profits Of his capital and that I
IS to increase its productivity. II the es /
engaged in making tables. he must make I
more tables; If he IS engaged IN build /
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