New-York tribune., 1903-01-13
CORPORATE PUBLICITY.
The Practicable Limits Of It's En-
.foreement Discussed by j. B. Dill


corporate publicity the speaker -instanced the SO
called Roosevelt corporation act-nore properly the
jerks corporation act"the best, soundest and most
scholarly scheme of corporate legislation ever
presented to the State of New-York.'' which. how
ever he said. because of political influence, proved
impraeticsble and when rejected by the legislat-
ure became. to that legislature. theoretical
and not practical plan
After referring to the difficulty of precise defni-
ton of the publicity Mr. Dill continued in
part follows;
4 define public publicity being information to
the world as to the internal affairs and conduct
I define private publicity as being information to
Sne soekhodsr and the creditor Of the same de-
tors and partners in a business house .,,-,...
carried to is fullest Extent IS at e time
iTRg,aetieabls r,a. IttPd and hence Theoretical
privacy while public publicity carried to its log
II publicity is legal right on the part Of the pub
lie with respect 10 business companies. then I re,
to the same W standing legal right, and add that
line of deularcation between public publicity and
business privacy, has never been presented 10 the
Firmly conSinosd as an. that publicity must be
pubiiety vii not sMaEe8 9Se f. opposfion Of al
corporations and Of incorporated capital, believe
practical measure Which should be required and
& oda d and that Att s can bs 5 b69ught a39g 1n
hcity less but it should in the of business
COMPANIES; make publicity more
To put the proposition in another way: Business
privacy is essential element of both for
g That Business pri1acy is Subject to the nta
the rea9e legal stsdfn of Business privacy and
.. publicity each and both. IS net changed by the
business company
try no outcry is made for lack Of publicity and
inoIVlqusis sno unincorpoIaIeo aSS9iI a
shoulder shoulder with the business Of the great
combinations of industry against which the cry has
been raised as 70 lack of publicity.
tain Pepe a shoud Pir5 be OF np S Taah
the state for the purpose If you please OF taxs f
fixing OF the tax should be the end and purpose Of
the law and that the end never justihes the means
ostensble object while the real purpose is to OBJ
do not believe that. 50 long as the United
states IS made up Of Americans. the American
fra1kness and dlrectnesss Of methods: WHICH is
and lack frankness-
Mr.. Dill went on to discuss publicity legal
duty, reaching tie conclusion that lines Of de-
marcation between those corporations which owe
publicity legal duty and those OF the same
class which do difficult to establish
Continuing, he said
Violent changes in nature are productive Of in
furious results Violent changes in industrial or
financial matters are apt to lead TO the same result
nj faea S 'ofh Of pabcifs 55f 1s q
c5 t Sa So bsB gs 2b net 641ata 6ngg gDubc I'll foF
There IS moreover. his to be said I have have aa5 al
f ndifferent % Would % oppose p1bic publicity carried
to its fuest extent, whereas there are indlca
avail themselves gladly Of proper law requiring
to required pubic publicity and in favor Of private
publicity is that public publicity Ist De anliay
flIed By. political appointees. LA ,o,
corporation practically 10 hang its Ledger and &C
count books the records OF It's directoTs -
saH 9qa9 IoF as sS m ge in n some places hangs
a irect Crt
a chain-that method of publicity will check cor
and win be productive Of internal evils in the way
Of false bookHeePng evasoe o er-v as a that can
be drawn without being actually criminal; Am
not limited n their attacks upon corporations and
corporate eneFPrsss 10 paVsead scoe6 en6onen Of
combinations and trusts and for the lornenI = CAS-
Of the retail liquor dealer He is required to have
license He is forbidden to put Sc screens oeld ana cur #
he is open and doing business to nave 4 Geg pef 1
oosi IGphi license en- so that the authorities may know
who is the local owner OF tae 5a1oea aT1 N the
next place he is required TO keep MS curtains up
he he is is forbdden to put screens in his windows,
that people f: ON the outside can who is there
2t Rirb 5s an his What is commonly known public
RuSt s is not fe RaR his IL ger e and Rs cash
book and his journal on the outside doorknob. And
And If You accord to the saloonkeeper. the right
Io and pT1lffgds Te fgdsai st 4aSlaSi oobnao8 R5t why zane
In some respects the trust movement may be
said to be similar to the automobile movement in
M The autonobilist and his machine presented
dangers to the public. We had accidents, collisions
and various troubles until regulate was necessary
This regulation took on in part the form OF pub
Iicty but the important publicity was private
When automobiles were first placed on the
the machinery was boxed in, not apparent 10 the
p9rcnassr ot ~ see The color Of the Wheels or
the shape of the body. but to judge the engine
the coverings 10 be removed from the motive power
unless that passed muster the machine was not
purchaser drove the bad machines from the market
and Increased the sale sale Of the good machines. x
further publicity, for the reason that good ma
in accident and so enforced publicity was required
TO CLASSIFY. 10 determine where the machine be
identify the person properly resPfonsibte for such
nor the automobile owner was required TO comply
with public publicity 10 the destruction Of business
property.
In advocating national corporation Law the
speaker said.
The drift of State legislation is from. rather
propositions, in the matter OF corporation law.
iation. Federal legislation is Of two kinds direct
and indirect That is to say, publicity must be
State Commerce powers OF the government or By
eompanies Rnder natioa act The ma OF
the bills now before Congress and the method rnost
tional control over State organizations through the
Interstate Commerce act The other is known
national corporation act The real issue in both
procedures is precisely the same, namely, that of
Capitalization under federal government, as op-
posed TO State rights.
The route by way, Of the Interstate, Commerce
act most popular with the politician for the
reason that me principle involved of Capitalization
against State rights is somewhat concealed.
But history repeats itself and in the present bills
before Congress we have repetition Of the strug-
gle which this country went through before the
establishment Of the national banks. Various sub
sritutes attempted before the organization OF
national banks. All failed. precisely as in my opfn-