Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-08-26

and industry We're being carried on very
much as they had been from the days
when NIneyeh and Babylon stood In
the Mes0potamian valley, The wagon
and the pack train and the sailing craft
these were the methods Of commerce.
Everything has been revised In the
business world since and the progress
OF civilization from being trlckle has
begun TO be a torrent There was no
particular thing at that time to bother
as TO whether the nation or the state
had control vi the corporations. They
We're easy TO control. n
ONE THING TO REMEMBER.
"Now however, the exact reverse Is
the case and remember | say corpora
tions.' | do not say merely trusts,
merely combinations Of corporations or
corporations under certain peculiar
conditions For instance, some time
ago the encouragement took action
against certain trust. There mas
been considerable discussion az to
whether the trust aimed at would not
seek TO get out from under the law by
becoming a single corporation.
IL want laws to enable us to deal
with Il, no matter what shape II takes.
| want TO see the government able TO
get at It definitely so that the action
of the government cannot be eyaded by
any turning, within or without federal
or state statutes. At present we have
really no efficient control over a big
corporation which does business in
more than one state Frequently the
corporation has nothing whatever to do
with the state in which il Is incorpora-
ted except to get Incorporated and It's
actions may be taken in entirely differ
ent communities communities which
may object very much to the methods
Of incorporation In the state named. |
do not think you can get action by any
state, or action by all the states, that
will give us satisfactory control OF the
trusts or big corporations, and the re-
suit is at present that We have a great,
powerful. artificial creation, which has
40 create to which It is responsible,
"Of course it Is merely a trulsm that
the corporation Is the creature of the
state, that the stae Is sovereign, Now,
want 90 make real and moi nom
inal sovereign: to have some one SOW
ereign 20 which the CORPORA ion shall be
at present IL We pass laws nobody
can tell whether they viii amount 10
anything. Now that has two bad ef-
fects. In the first place the corpora
zion becomes Indifferent to the law
making body, ana In the next place the
law-maklng booty gets into the most
perndous custom OF passing law, not
with reference 20 what viii be done
under It, but with reference to its eff
fects upon the opinions OF the voters,
THAT is a bad thing. When any body
of lawmakers passes law not solely
with reference 20 whether that law will
do good or IN, but with the knowledge
that not much will come Of It, and yet
that, perhaps, the people as a whole
will likely think 1t was good, It does
not speak well for the lawmakers, and
II does not speak we'll for the people
either.
what ] hope to see is power given
to the national legislature which shall
make the control real 1t would be an
excellent thing II we could have all the
states act on somewhat similar lines,
so that Il would be unnecessary for
the national government TO act but all
OF you know perfectly well the states
VIII not act on similar lines.
Nothing has been done In the direc-
tion Of intelligent dealing 10y the states
as a collective body with these great
corporations. Here In Massachusetts,
you have what regard as on the whole
excellent corporation laws think
that most OF our difficulties again,
remember / am not promising the MIL
| 10 lie, L.. 20
lac it-would be in a fair way OF solu-
| ton II we had the power 20 put ON the
national statute books. and did put on
them. laws for the nation much like
those you have here, on the subject OF
corporations in Massachusetts,
go you can see. gentlemen, | am not
advocating anything very revolution
airy. am advocating action TO prevent
anything revolutionary. Now, II we
can get adequate control By the nation
! OF these corporations then we can pass
| legislation which VIII give us the pow
| err OF regulation and supervision over
them. II the nation had that power
mind you. should advocate ms strenu-
ously as / know how that that power
! should be exercised with extreme eau
| ton and self-restraint. No good will
come from plunging without looking
carefully ahead
PUBLICITY DEMANDED.
"The first thing we want is publicity
and do not mean publicity as a favor
by some corporation. | mean II as q
| right from all corporations affected by
! the law. want publicity as the essen
| tial facts In which the public has an
interest. want the knowledge giyer
to the accredited representatives of the
people OF facts on which those repre-
sentatives can. IL they see III, base
their actions later The publicity itseli
would cure many evils,
Some OF these things have said car
be done now AS far as the antl-trus
laws go they will be enforced. No sui
n