The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-04

1t spreads throughout. and while II is
bad for everybody, il is worst for those
farthest down The capitalist may be
shorn of his Injuries; but the wage
worker may be deprived of even bare
necessities.
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 Many
OF those who have made it their voca-
ton to denounce the great industrial
combinations which are popularity al
though with technical inaccuracy,
known as trusts" appeal especially to
hatred and fear These are precisely
the two emotions, particularly when
combined with ignorance, which unfit
men for the exercise of cool and steady
judgment. In facing new industrial
conditions, the whole history of the
world shows that legislation will gem
orally be both unwise and ineffective
unless undertaken after calm inquiry
and with sober self-restraint. Much OF
the legislation directed at the trusts
would have been exceedingly mischiev-
Gus had it not also been entirely in
eHectiVe. In accordance with a we'll
Known sociological law, the ignorant or
reckless agitator has been the really
effective friend of the evils which he
has been nominally opposing. In deal
ing with business interests for the
government to undertake by crude and
ill-considered legislation to do what
may turn out to be bad. would be to
incur the risk of such far-reaching ma
uonal disaster that it would be pref
cradle to undertake nothing al all.
The men who demand the impossible
OF the undesirable serve as the allies
of the forces with which they are nom
lnally 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 i'm what
manner it is practicable to apply rem
edies
All this is true; and yet it is also
true that there are real and grave
evils one of the chief being over-cap-
ltalization because of its many baleful
consequences; and reso1ute and
practical effort must be made to cor
rect these evils.
Supervision for Trusts.
There is d widespread conviction In
the minds of the American people that
the great corporations known as trusts
are in certain of their features and
tendencies hurtful to the general well
fare. This springs from no spirit of
envy or Observation-Disclosures. nor lack of
pride in the great industrial achieve
ments that have placed this country at
the head of the nations strug-
Cling for commercial supremacy. 1t
does not rest upon a lack of intelli-
gent appreciation of the necessity of
meeting changing and changed condi-
lions of trade with new methods, nor
upon ignorance of the fact that cons
bination of capital in the effort to ac-
compllsh great things is necessary
when the worlds progress demands
that great thinpe he ;, !
upon sincere conviction that combina-
ton and concentration should be, not
prohibited, but supervised and within
reasonable limits controlled; and in my
Judgment this conviction is right.
1t is no limitation upon property
rights or freedom of contract to require
that when men receive from govern
ment the privileges of doing business
under corporate form, which frees them
| from individual responsibility, and en-
ables them to call into their enter
prises 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 regulat>
ed if they are found to exercise a IL
cense working to the public injury.
! 1t should be as much the aim of those
the business world of crimes of cum
ming as to rid the entire body polite
of crimes of violence. Great corpora
| tions exist only because they are Gre
ated and safe-guarded by our institu-
tons; and it is therefore our right and
| our duty to see that they work in har>
mony with these institutions.
The first essential in determining
how to deal with the great industrial
| ic g
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 reg
! lation, or taxation, can only be de-
termned 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 fol
their existence or privileges, should be
subject to proper governmental super
vision. and full and accurate informa.
|
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 in
corporated. There is utter lacl
of uniformity in the state laws
about them; and as nc
state has any exclusive interest in OF
! power over their acts, it has in prac-
tice proved impossible to get adequate
| regulation through state action. There
! fore in the interest of the whole peo-
| pie, the nation should, without inter-
fering with the power of the states in
| the matter itself, also assume power OF
| supervision and regulation over all cor
! porations doing an interstate business
| This is especially true where the cor
| poration derives a portion of its wealth
| from the existence of some monopolis-
| tic element or tendency in it's business
There would be no hardship in such
supervision; banks are subject to it
and in their case il is now accepted as
a simple matter of course. Indeed, II
is probable that supervision of corpora
tons by the national government need
not go so far as is now the case with
the supervision exercised over them by
so conservative a state as Masschu-
setts in order to produce excellent re-
suits.
When the constitution was adopted
at the end of the eighteenth century
no human wisdom could foretell the
and political conditions. which were tc
/ nj Machining of