The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-27

patriotism in common. and a flag. but
the occasions that call it out come only
at long intervals. No distance has
proven so great as the distance between
men living in the same city, but inter-
eSted in different occupations and NOV
ing in different circles"
The indifference of laboring men to
the owning of property, even their
homes, was then referred to- and the
chief of which is the drift toward pa
ternalis1n inspired by labor unions.
Calling attention to what he designated
the most recent phenomena in indus
trial evolutiOn'-the rapid withdrawal
of the great middle body of our citizen
ship from ownership in the industrial
properties of the countryside speaker
said:
During the last twenty-three years
the capital deposited in the banks of
the country has increased nearly &c.,
| 000,000,000. This capital largely has
come from men in the ordinary
capital detached during this period by
this class of our citizenship from active
proprietorshiD in the industries of the
country. 1t marks a tremendous shift
ship-a shift as significant as if in that
short period nearly One-half of the
farmers of the whole country had sold
out their lands and goods to a few men,
I
carry on their enterprises, the larger
part of the purchase money. The shift
is due to the sense of insecurity the
people feel in the ownership of corpo-
rate property, as corporations, under
existing state policies, are now per
mltted to be organized"
The orga nization of some of these
was described as being like charts in
/ geology AT the bottom" said the
! judge, lis a stratum of bonds; next a
stratum of stock: above that another
stratum of bonds: on top of that more
stock; then more bonds; then preferred
stock; and at the end of all common
/ stock; until all reasonable expectation
Is outran. mere hope being capitalized
i as II 1t We're current coin. Corporations
Iike these succeed only in successful
times. They are like the cigar one
smokes-the farthest end first falls into
ashes: with a little hardening of times
/ the ashes creep down. and when the
! times are actually hard the whole is in
ashes and scattered to the winds. This
Is not true of many. perhaps a large
majority of incorporated enterprises,
out, unhappily, it is true of so many
conspicuous examples that the mere
Iact that an enterprise, otherwise trust
worthy, is incorporated, creates at once
suspicion and doubt"
When we recall that outside of the
country and city real estate more than
ohe-half OF the property of the country
is now corporate property, the ultimate
effect of the existing state policies re-
speeding the organization of corpora
tlons-the free for all, go-as-y ou-please
policy upon active proprietorship by
the people at large is clearly discern
able. Here, then, is the other paternaI-
1Sm-a paternalism more dangerous to
Republican institutions than the labor
unlOnS-the paternalism that, narrow
ing active ownership to the few who
by acuteneSS or experience can fathOm
the intricacieS of corporate organiza-
ton, leaves to the ordinary run of peo-
pie no choice respecting their savings,
other than to spend them as they are
gathered, or to loan them to the mas
ters of the corporate machinery.
Il have no fault to find with the
corporate legislation Of the last con-
gress. To the extent that 1t Will get
together the data on which to build a
future national policy respecting cor
porations it is constructive legislation.
But if it stop at that, or, what is more
likely, if it turn its whole thought to
turning inside out of the affairs of
present incorporated enterprises, and
those that shall come after then-leav-
ing it to the five and forty states to
organize, as corporations are now or
ganiZed, those that do come after, the
legislation will have wholly missed the
mark. The main object to be aimed
at is not general and promiscuous pu-
blicity. 1t would not be good business
sense it would not be fair, to com
pulsorily hang up every Incorporated
business, great or small, where every
mischief-maker could hawk at and ev-
cry competitor copy it.
The main object to be aimed at is a
re-peoplising of the industries of the
country, and this can only be accomplish
ell by a corporate policy und # which a
corporation dishonesty conceived cannot
be organized at all, and a corporation
dishonesty administered will pass at
once, before the evil is irremediable, into
ment Of the gcyernI7,snt " hat is 10 be
sought is not so much publicity pre-
vention: not so much the turning Of in
corpOrated enterprise out of doors. where
every faultfinder and rival may lay
hands upon it, to make them reason
ably safe edif1ces in which those who
have the will may entrust their invest
ments Corporate organization has come
to be the embodiment of our entir9 indus
trial proprietorship. The great aim, the
a proprietOrShip Wiceiy diversified among
the people-the persistence IN substance,
though different in form, of that wide
spread popular ownership upon Wnten. IS
one of its chief cornerstones, our repub-
lican institutions were founded and with
out which no republic can remain Sc
cure
In conclusion Judge Grosscup said:
Corporations are here to stay. Big
ions that abide the laws are here to stay.
To deal with them, as one you'll deal
with mad dogs. is to ask public opinion
itself to go mad. But these interests, COL
porate and personal, one ana all, mast be
brought under the full domain. Of the
law. They must De allowed to tra1nple no
be allowed to successfully shelter 10 man
bent on robbing his fsllowmcn. They
door to opportunity; the door through
which every American, great and small,
may with reasonable security, carry his
ambition to share IN ms eountrys pres
tryS laws