The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-04

by foolish clamor OF by any base or sin
lister influence, we can accomplish much |
for, the betterment Of conditions
..s.>.. ! !. Supervision and Control /
Nearly two years ago. speaking at theI
state fair In Minnesota said: ~: 4
: It is probably true that the large majority Of i
fortunes that now exist in this country have been
amassea, not by in5urtng our people but Has an |
incident to the comforting of great benefits upon
the community, and this, no matter what4lnay I
have been the conscious purpose Of those alnass-
Ing them. There is but the scantiest justidca-
tion for most OF the outcry against the men OF i
wealth as such and 1t ought to be unnecessary /
to state that any apreali wh ich directly or indi
rectly leads to suspicion and hatred among our-1
selves, which tends to limit opportunity, and,
therefore. to shut the door OF success. against |
poor men OF talent. and finally, which entails |
the possibility of lawlessness aud violence, is n
attack upon the fundamental properties Of Amer
tcant citizenship. Our interests are at bottom
common; in the long run we 50 up or down . TO-
the state. and, If necessary. the nation, has
got to possess the right of supervision and con
troll as regards the great corporations which are
Its creatnres: particularly as regards the great
business combinations which derive portion Of !
their Importance from the existence Of some
monop9ste tefnss The rlsst be-
should exist so that It may be invoked It the
need arises. .S:'~1 = - = 4.
Last fall tn speaking at Cincinnati. r
said: - - =" - . ..7. .-- ,.. - " ..s..
The necessary supervision and control, In which
firmly believe as the only method OF eliminating
the real evils Of the trusts must come through
wisely and cautiously framed legislation. which
! shall aid in the first place to give definite con-
tons and which shall be followed. when once
| this power has been conferred by system Civ
| ing to the government the full knowledge which
| is the essential for satisfactory action. Then,
| when this knoweldge-one of the essential fea-
lures of which Is proper publicity--has been
gained, what further. steps OF any Kind are nee.
| hoS SfoIo yUffh fho HnnHA
the possession of power to deal with the subject.
| and Of thorough knowledge Of what should and
can be done in the matter. We need additional
power, and we need knowledge. -: = = Such
exislaton--whether obtatnable now or obtainable
only after constitutional amendment should
provide for a reasonable supervision, the most
| prominent feature of which at first should be
| publicity; that is the making public, both to
| the government authorities and to the people at
| concerned. This would give us exact knowledge
| Of many points which are now not only In doubt,
but the subject of fierce controversy. Moreover,
| some very grave. evils. tor the light Of day is
deterrent to wr6ng doing. It would doubtless
disclose other evils with which, for the time
nally, it would disclose others which could be
grappled with and cured by further legislative
action. 5Es*+SE*s% ] Z: u rs, <<5%-@.-
In my message to congress for 1901
said: <ss. ~ - S 3 ~ 5 - s. .:sa 5E5,
In the interest OF the whole people the ma
tion should, without interfering with the power
power of supervision and regulation all
corporations doing sau interstate business. ,
Wise, Conservative legislation.
received effect by the wise, conserVativ
and yet far-reaching legislation enacted
by congress at it's last session.
| In its wisdom congress enacted the very
important law providing department OF
commerce and labor, and further provid-
ing therein under the secretary of COM
merce and, labor for commissioner o1
corporations, charged with the duty o1
supervision of and of making intelligent
I investigation into the organiza ton anG
conduct of corporations engaged in inter
state commerce. His powers to expose
Illegal or hurtful practices and. to obtair
ali information needful for the purposes O.
further intelligent legislation seem ade
quate; and the publicity justihable ant
proper for public purposes is satisfactoril,
, guaranteed. The law was passed at tn,
, very end Of the session Of congress. Ow
, ing to the lateness of it's passage congress
, was not able to provide proper equipmen
for the new Department. and the frs
; few months must necessarily be spent i,
r the work Of organization, and the frs
Investigations must necessarily be OF !;
tentative character. The satisfactory de
Velopment of such a system requires tim
and great labor. Those who are intruste
, with the administration Of the new lax
l will assuredly administer 1t in a, spirit Q
absolute fairness and justice and of en-
tire fearlessness, with the firm purpos
not to hurt any corporation doing legiti
: mate business-on the contrary to help /
:. and, on the other hand, not to spar
= any corporation which may be- guilty <
y illegal practices, or the methods of whic
l. may make it a menace: to the public we
II fare. Some substantial good will be don
II partment gets fairly to work under til
+ law an ever larger vista #
|. good work will be opened along the line
|. Indicated. The enactment of this law !
l.. one of the most magnificent contribution
- which have been made in our time towar
~ the proper solution of the problem of tt
). relations to the people of the great col
70 porations and, corporate combinations.
ID The Anti. Rebate Law.
% But much though this is, it is only
r. part of what has been done in the effo
"a to ascertain and correct improper tru,
N or monopolistic practices. Some eightee
~ months ago the industrial commission, a
II able and non -partizan body, reported
~ congress the result Of their investigate
ST of trusts and Industrial combinations. o.
!, of the most important OF their conclusion
VI was that determinations In freight rat,
and facilities We're granted favore
- Shippers by the railroads., ana 1hat the!
. determinations clearly tended toward II
control of production and prices in mar
/ fields of business by large combination
That this conclusion was justifable ",
shown by the disclosures in the invest
cation Of railroad methods pursued in tt
- fall and winter Of 1901-190e. It was the
- shown that certain trunk lines had el
tered into unlawful agreements as to Il
e transportation Of food products from II
= west to the Atlantic seaboard, giving
, I'd few favored shippers rates much belo
4. the tariff charges imposed upon the sn1al
Ter dealers and the general public. The
n unjust practices had prevailed to SUI
- an extent and for SO long a time tn
many Of the smaller shippers had be,
IS driven. out Of business, until practical
one buyer of grain on each railway sy
3 tenn had been able, by his illegal adva
% tages, to secure q. monopoly on the Ii
;.tss with which his secret compact was mac
IS this monopoly enabling him to fix t
price to both producer and consume
& Many of the great packing house concer
% were shown to be In comb binatfon wi
each other and with most Of the gre
e. railway lines, whereby they enjoyed lar
= secret concessions in rates, and thus Q
+, tanned practical monopoly OF the FIRE
IL and cured meat industry Of the counts
=. These fusions, though .violative Of
statute had prevailed unchecked for
many years that they had become
trenched in and interviewer with the CO.
IT mercial life Of certain large distribute
I'd localities; although this was, Of cour