The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-30
Corporations and Ideals.


Prouty' s address to the Dartmouth
alumni at st. Paul last evening empha-
lsized the thought which is dominant In
the minds of the leaders of opinion in
this country today, that abuses of the
powers of incorporation are at the root
Of many evils in our civic and economic
life.
The thought which weighed in the
creation by law Of these artificial per-
sons was not that some men might OPP
press their fellows, but that men might
cooperate by putting their capital to-
gether in works of development and
give stability to the effort by the use
of an artificial personality which does
not change. Great abuses have resulted
from corporations as we'll as great bless
ings.~ They have enabled the country
to be developed and improved faster
than men working Individually could
have done. Their public. relation has
not been unappreciated, however, and
today they are inveighed against bit
terly when the plain duty is to under
stand them and regulate them. Their
regulation is primarily a matter OF
legislation, but, as Judge Prouty well
said, the machinery Of government Will
not do it ALL We need a certain edu-
cation as we'll. .-~
A return to old-fashioned honesty Is
preached. We need new-fashloned
honesty. The fashion Of honesty with
ourselves. We are all very well &C
quainted with the theory that other
people should be honest, and we are
all very active in the quest OF laws
which will bring that kind of honesty
into the community. But there are rev
| Of us working overtime on the problem
of personal. honesty, not only toward
| others but toward ourselves. r.
This is what we understand the pres1-
dent means by the square deal. 1t two
men are bargaining, it is not a square
deal, under. the Roosevelt definition. II
one takes less or more than belongs TO
him. Honesty to the other side is no
more inculcated than honesty toward
ones self. -:
It is in evading the obligations OF the
square deal that the corporation runs
afoul Of public opinion. Men do things
as members Of corporations which they
would be ashamed or afraid to do per-
sonally. They take the benefit OF the
crooked deal and let the blame rest
upon the artificial creature Of the law.
Corporations having public franchises
! allow men to commit bribery for them
when the members Of the board would
not 90 out and commit bribery on their
own account. The Colorado Fuel &
Iron rebate case is in point. There
was an undoubted violation of: the law
" and a lapse from morality there, but
the legal proof could not be brought
against the officers Of the corporation,
and the corporation itself was 1nvul'
nerable against imprisonment or hog
cling. The law could not impr1son
; set of bylaws nor fog shares of capital
stocks 80
It does not need revision of ou1
:, ideals to teach us that men associated
: in a corporation are no more exempt
from. the obligation of honesty ane
square dealing than if they were asso
ciated as partners or acting as lnd1
viduals. The most we need to do il
to bring the same legal and moral re
straints to bear upon these artificial
persons that we invoke against wrong
doing by natural persons. -.