Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-16
DISCRIMINATION AS TO PUBLICITY.

There is no feature of proposed anti
trust legislation of more doubtful expe-
diency than that of publicity, the form
or publicity, for instance, that would
= expose all the internal affairs Of COR
psration to the public view. 1t would
be as odious to business interests as the
exposure of the private affairs OF the
home would be to the sacred domicile
It is therefore prudent to limit the
scope to which publicity may go and to
use wise discrimination in defining it
This ]. B. Dill, of New York, does in
recent address on Enforced Publicity
for Corporations. After referring to the
difficulty of precise definition OF pub
Lefty. Mr.. Dill said:
Il define public publicity as being in
formation to the world as to the inter-
nal affairs and conduct OF the company.
I define private publicity as being in
formation to the stakeholder and the
creditor of the same degree and quality
as If they We're respectively creditors
and partners in business house. In
the judgment of your speaker public
publicity carried to it's fullest extent
is at the present time impracticable and
hence theoretical. Private publicity is
compatible with business privacy, while
public publicity carried to it's logical
Nextent is the antithesis of business pri-
RQcy. II publicity is a legal right on
business companies, then respectfully
suggest that business privacy is enti-
tied to the same standing as legal
right, and add that under the demand
for public publicity rhe proper line of
demarcation between public publicity
and business privacy has never been
presented to the satisfaction of the
corporations"
In his view private publicity is prac-
tical and he believes the effect of In
corporation should not make publicity
less, but it should not, in the case of
business companies, make publicity
<
more.
To put the proposition in another
way, said he: business privacy is an
essential element OF success both for
the small organization and the greater
undertaking. That business privacy is
subject to the limitations Of the de-
mand for a proper publicity, and the
relative legal standing of business pri-
vacy and of publicity, each and both, is
not changed by the simple and mere
fact that the business formerly trans
acted as partnership is now trans
acted as business company"
AS to limitations he says: II con-
rcde as q part of private publicity that
certain reports should be made by the
corporation to the state for the pur-
pose, il you please, Of taxation; but at
that point stop and say that the fix
ing of the tax should be the end and
purpose Of the law, and that the. end
never justifies the means to the extent
that the tax should be only the ostensi-
BILE object, while the real purpose is to
obtain information to be made more or
less public. do not believe that, SO
!. long as the United States is made up
Of Americans. the American legislators
will be able to teach the corporations
f frankness and directness of methods,
which is publicity. by means which are
themselves indirect and lack frank
ness
AS to anti-trust legislation in the
house it is announced from Washington
that the bill to be reported today will