The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-18

re of such a character as TO correct eX-
isting abuses and prevent. future ones,
and third. that such supervision would
result not only in greater security TO
policy-holders, but would relieve them,
through their companies. OF the great
and unnecessary expense Of dupl Gated
inspections and Investigations by diff
ferent states. Seemingly the most eff
tectiVe way To settle the question is for
congress 10 50 legisldte upon the SUBJ
Jet as 10 afford an opportunity to pre-
sent 10 the supreme court the question
whether insurance as now conducted
IS interstate commerce, and hence sub
Ject to federal regulation.
Unique Position of Bureau.
The position of the bureau at the
time OF its creation was UNIQUE. 1t
owed its existence largely TO d public
feeling arising from unusual industrial
developments. Public opinion thereon
was vigorous, but confused and vague.
IN general. the tremendous cOncentra-
ton Of industrial power, the obvious
use, in many cases, Of improper indus
trial methods OF competition, and the
instances Of clearly unsound or fraud
ulent finance connected with corpora
tions. led 10 the general belief that
there had arisen 4 new industrial prob
lem. set of conditions not adequately
met by existing laws. No solution Of
this problem had then received gen
erai acceptance, nor had the problem
itself been clearly stated. Numerous
experiments at solution had been made
by way Of ANTITRUST laws, but the ad-
mitted futility of most of these laws
led only 10 the negative conclusion that
such was not the way to treat the
great industrial changes Of which
every one was cognizant.
Desire for Publicity.
UpOn only one point can ii be said
that public opinion was fairly clear
and unanimous. and that point was the
desire for 'pubiicity''-in other words
the desire for information. 1t was not
clearly understood To what use this
Information should be put, nor, indeed,
what subjects it should cover; but the
demand for accurate information was
fundamentally sound. The policy of
the bureau has been framed in ac-
Cordance with this demand. It's field
may he divided into subjects relating
to law on the one hand. and subjects
relating TO economic industrial facts
on the other 1t must examine and
compare the statutes under which the
corporations are doing business with
industrial and statistical facts
A statute Is the formal expression
of public opinion. Hence statutes de
signed 10 improve Industrial conditions
will not be based upon sound economic
principles unless public opinion which
they express is the result OF an ac-
curate knowledge of industrial meth
DDS
Not only is legislation dependent
upon public opinion. but likewise moral
standards i'm business and the rules
Of daily commercial intercourse, which
cannot be enforced by statute. are Gre
atad and sustained by public opinion.
Current events have strikingly demon
strated the tremendous reformative
force Of public opinion without the in
PREVENTION of law. Existing business
methods viii be changed I'm accordance
with public opinion. Heretofore the
wide scope of corporate operations and
the battling diversitieS of federal and
state. laws have made an intelligent
public opinion impossible. The average
man can easily judge of an isolated
commercial transaction between him
self and his neighbour. but he utterly
lacks the statistical and legal infoTma-
tiOn necessary to view justly the oper-
atoms Of the great corporations doing
business throughout the country.
Industrial conditions are extremely
complex, far-reaching and composed of
Il multitude Of detailed facts To form
am intelligent opinion of permanent in
dustrial tendencies. it is necessary not
only TO know accurately an the facts
found i'm industrial conditions. but es-
/ peciany To be able to arrange these
( facts i'm their proper relations. Many
mistakes Of public opinion have been
/ due To "a failure to separate the essen-
tial from the u0n-esser tar. to give
proper weight to the various facts.
/ Much legislation has been enacted
which Is futile and often harmful be-
cause directed either at the mOdifica-
1 ton of great economic laws. which
cannot be modified by statute. or at the
; treatment of sporadic and sensational
I facts Estimates. guesses. preludices
and limited individual experience have
5 been the bases of action. rather than
/ broad and final conclusions based upon
accurate, properly arranged masses oil
/ facts.
! The bureau. therefore. has endeav-
ored not only To obtain accurate. re-
( liable information. and facts sufficient
/ in number 10 b. representative, bul
also TO draw conclusions that shall rep
, resent permanent tendencies rather
than individual Instances. To this enc
il has. with a force of carefully trained
employes. taken up given ina istrles
dealing i'm important staples, and col
lected statistics Ind facts relating
/ thereto has then digested this infof-
nation so as 10 obtain what might be
/ called reliable general averages. ano
I has endeavored 10 deduce from then
/ conclusions as 20 permanent corporate
/ methods ana tendencies.
Problem TO Be Solved.
II is strongly felt that preventive
/ rather than remedial means must bt
used i'm dealing with the entire prob
/ lem. The government must dea
| beforehand with causes, not merely
afterwards with their effects. In ordel
/ so ascertain proper methods of proven
/ ton il IS necessary TO know the causes
of industrial evils The work OF tbs
( bureau has brought out. 10 an eNteh'
J NOT reached before. the actual methods
| used i'm certain Industries; their meth
/ DDS Of competition, Of economies u
production and distribution, OF discrim
/ nations in distribution and transpor
| tation: and also the results OF suci
methods in obtaining or tending 10 OBJ
/ tain monopOlistic control It's worl
has shown. III the case of the seVera
great industries already investigated
or now under investigation, the fac
/ that the predominant control enjoyed
| by certain great concerns is base'
| usually upon one or TWO, or a YER,
| few. single factors, such as the con
| troll OF transpurtati0 Of trade marks
| of patent rights, of raw material. spe
! cial legislation or a combination o
I one or more of these factors.
! such information win afford the ba
sis for an intelligent public opinion
/ .,I il viii cnuefff1fa f4pUhlfoirV'i of