Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-04-07

evils of the trusts. must come through
wisely and cautiously framed legisla-
ton. which shall aim in the first place
to give definite control to some sover-
eign over the great corporations, and
which shall be followed, when once
this power has been conferred by a
system giving to the government the
full knowledge which is essential for
satisfactory action. Then, when this
knowledge-one of the essential fea-
lures of which is proper publicity-has
been gained, what further steps of any
kind are necessary can be taken with
the confidence born of possession of
power to deal with the subject and of
a thorough knowledge of what should
and can be done in the matter. We
need additional power, and we need
knowledge. IS = Such knowledge
whether obtainable now or obtainable
only after a constitutional amend
ment-should provide for a reasonable
supervision, the most prominent fea-
ture of which at first should be public
| ity; that is, the making public. both to
the government authorities and to the
people at large the essential facts
in which the public is concerned.
This would give us exact knowledge
of many points which are now not only
in doubt but the subject of fierce con
| troversy Moreover. the mere fact of
the publication would cure some very
/ grave evils, for the light of day is a
deterrent to wrongdoing. 1t would
doubtless disclose other evils with
which, for the time being, we could
devise no way to grapple. Finally it
would disclose others which could be
grappled with and cured by further
| Legislative action
National Regulation.
In my message to congress for 1901
said:
''In the interest of the whole people
the nation should, without interfering
with the power of the states in the
matter also assume power of super
vision and regulation over all corpora
lions doing an interstate business.
The views thus expressed have now
received effect by the wise, conserva
tive, and yet far-reaching Legislation
enacted by congress at its last session
Commerce Department.
/ In its wisdom congress has enacted
the very important law providing de
partment of commerce and labor, ant
further providing therin under the sec
rotary of commerce and labor for {
commissioner of corporations, charged
with the duty of supervision of and o
making intelligent investigation init
the organization and conduct of cor
porations engaged in interstate com
Imerce His powers to expose illega
and hurtful practices and to obtain al
information needful for the purpose
of further intelligent legislation seen
adequate: and the publicity justifiabl
and proper for public purposes is sal
Iisfactorily guaranteed The law wa
! passed at the very end of the session
i of congress. Owing to the lateness c
Its passage congress was not able t.
provide proper equipment for the ney
department; and the first few month
must necessarily be spent in the wor
of organization, and the first investiga
tions must necessarily be of a tentativ
character The satisfactory develop
ment of such system requires tim
and great labor Those who are in
trusted with the administration of tn
new law will assuredly administer it i
a spirit of absolute fairness and justic
and of entire fearlessness, with tn
firm purpose not to hurt any corpora
ition doing legitimate business-o
/, the contrary to help it-and, on tn
other hand not to spare any corpor