The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1902-12-09
"pUeLlclTYr

INhlfilNs Aut ANtMn says - NA' -
President Roosevelts hobbies, aud
ike other OF the remedies for IN
trust evil upon which he prefers 4
rely. II has in it or about IL little e
make hopeful the forgetting man VIII,
lives and moves and has lis being b!
the grace OF monopolies Gated b.
protection. There is no SOFT Of doub
that publicity in some Instances
would be Of great public beI-ft un
der ideal conditions; but the idea
conditions are generally missing anC
publicity. as matters now stand
might really tend at least in some
cases. to bring about serious injus
tice and even public injury.
or course the scope Of any law pro
vldlng for an official examination OF
private books and papers must be
very closely limited. II could not be
made 10 apply TO the books OF a
chicken peddler OF Of a kindergarten
committee. Even a firm OF ordinary
merchants would be exempt Church.
es. fraternities and cooperative
unions would stand far beyond the
reach and authority OF public or pri-
vate inspectors. Corporations duly
chartered would be subject to inspec-
ton and exposure. and that is about
all. Trusts made up Of combinations
OF such corporations would. OF course.
be liable under the law providing for
publicity.
The great corporation of vast con
Germs Of whose rule most complaint
is made are made up Of thousands Of
shareholders who draw their divi-
dends once or twice a year. Their
business stands exposed in the stock
markets all the time. What good
would a greater publicity do in such
cases? Some of the most extensive
and powerful Of all trusts publish as
a means Of booming their securities
the enormous quarterly dividends
which they find IL easy 20 pay. The
rule is now a voluntary publicity.
even as a means OF advertising. which
could hardly be made more complete
by law In many cases In which such
publicity Is not resorted 20 the CON
Germs are young or weak, but none
the less worthy and to expose their
affairs during on seasons would de-
s.roy them utterly and thus serve
their powerful competitors.
President Rooseyelt's ideas seems
to be that the trust question can be
settled by using publicity" in heroic
doses. especially upon corporations in
charge OF interstate con merce. There
IS serious doubts as to whether the af-
fairs OF such corporations could be ex-
posed more fully than they are ex-
posed at present, but let us assume
that they could. Under the law Of
which he dreams lets us believe il
might be shown that this or that com
pany is making twice as much as its
dividends and other evidences had
been adduced how long would it be
before the employees OF the company
would enlarge their demands to cover
the increase Of earnings? Haven't we
had recently. aye, are we not having
all the time, demands for wages or
for higher prices along other lines to
assorb promptly any notable enlarge
ment Of business? Under such condi-
tions how could publicity destroy the
power Of the trust or help along in any
way the forgotten man?
To begin with, the scope of law
enacted in pursuance OF this policy
must be limited almost entirely to cor
porations or trusts about whose meth
DDS and profits the public is already
fairly Informed. In the second place,
such a rule could be easily evaded in
many ways. one of which would be to
bring up the expense account to of
set any conceivable increase of busi-
ness. In the third place, no effective
measure of the kind suggested by the
word used to designate the policy
stands any more show in the present
congress than would bill giving to
the American people free trade. II
any bill providing for publicity passes
the present congress It will be quite
sure to provide absolutely harmless
when fairly tested It will be design.
ed chiefly for campaign purposes.
Now, we may be thankful that the
treasury holds nearly s347, 900 600 OF