Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-03


success.
Reasons For Caution.
The president, adds that there are
many reasons for caution in dealing
with corporations. He says:
The same business conditions which
have produced the great aggregations
of corporate and individual wealth
have made them very potent factors in
international commercial competition.
Moreover, it cannot too often be
pointed out that to strike with ignorant
violence at the interests of one set of
men almost inevitably endangers the
interests Of all. The fundamental rule
in our national life-the rule which un-
derlIes all others-is that, on the whole
and in the long run, we shall go up or
down together
The mechanism of modern business
is so delicate that extreme care must
be taken not to interfere with it in
a spirit of rashness or ignorance. In
dealing with business interests, for
the government to undertake by crude
and i'll considered legislation to do
what may turn out to be bad, would
be to incur the risk OF such farreach-
ing national disaster that il would be
The men who demand the impossible
or the undesirable serve as the allies
of the forces with which they are NOM
inally at war. for they hamper those
who would endeavor to find out in ra
tional fashion what the wrongs really
are and to what extent and in what
manner it is practicable to apply RENE
dies.
How 10 Correct the Evils.
All this Is true, and yet ii Is also
true that there are real and grave evils.
one of the chief being overcapitaliza-
ton because of it's many baleful con-
sequences, and a resolute and practical
effort must be made to correct these
evils.
1t Is no Limitation upon property
rights or freedom of contract to re-
quire that when men receive from gov
eminent the privilege OF doing bust
ness under corporate form, which frees
them from individual responsibility
and enables them to call into their en-
terprises the capital of the public, they
shall do so upon absolutely truthful
representations as to the value of the
property in which the capital is to be
invested. Corporations engaged in in
terstate commerce should be regulated
IL they are found TO exercise n license
working to the public injury. 1t should
be as much the aim Of those who seek
for social betterment to rid the busi-
ness world of crimes OF cunning as to
rid the entire body polite of crimes of
violence. Great corporations exist only
because they are created and safe
guarded by our institutions, and it is
therefore our right and our duty to
see that they work in harmony with
these institutions.
Publicity the First Essential.
The first essential in determining
how to deal with the great Industrial
combinations is knowledge Of the facts
publicity. In the interest of the pub
lie the government should have the
right to inspect and examine the work
ings of the great corporations engaged
in interstate business. Publicity is the
only sure remedy which we can now
invoke. What further remedies are
needed in the way Of governmental
regulation or taxation can only be de-
termined after publicity has been OBJ
tanned by process Of law and in the
course of administration. The first
requisite is knowledge. full and COM
plete-knowledge which may be made
public to the world.
Artificial bodies, such as corporations
and joint stock or other associations,
depending upon any statutory law for
their existence or privileges should be
subject to proper governmental super
vision, and full and accurate informa-
ton as to their operations should be
made public regularly at reasonable
intervals.
The large corporations, commonly
called trusts, though organized in one
state. always do business in many
states. often doing very little business
in the state where they are incorpo-
rated. There is utter lack of Uniform
ity in the state laws about them, and,
as no state has any exclusive interest
in or power over their acts, 1t has in
practice proved impossible to get ade-
quate regulation through state action.
Therefore, in the interest of the whole
people, the nation should, without in
terfering with the power of the states
in the matter itself. also assume power
of supervision and regulation over all
corporations doing an interstate busi-
ness.
Amend Constitution II Necessary.
When the constitution was adopted,
at the end OF the eighteenth century,
no human wisdom could foretelI the
sweeping changes. alike in Industrial
and political conditions, which were to
take place by the beginning of the
twentieth century. At that time 1t
was accepted as a matter OF course
that the several states were the proper
authorities to regulate, so far as was
then necessary, the comparatively In
significant and strictly localized cor
porate bodies OF the day. The condi-
tons are now wholly different, and
wholly different action is called for.
1 believe that law can be framed
which viii enable the national govern
ment to exercise control along the lines