Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-12-05
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
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fortunate condition OF things, under
which these great corporations doing
an Interstate business occupy the po-
sition Of subjects without sovereign,
neither any state government nor the
national government having effective
control over them. Our steady aim
should be by legislation, cautiously and
carefully undertaken, but resolutely
persevered In, to assert the sovereignty
Of the national government by aff1rma-
tive action.
An Innovation Only In Form.
This is only in form an innovation.
In substance it Is merely a restoration.
for from the earliest time such regula-
ton of industrial activities has been
recognized in the action Of the law
making bodies, and all that propose
Ia to meet the changed conditions in
such manner as will prevent the COM
monwealth abdicating the power it has
always possessed, not only in this coun-
try, but also in England before and
since this country became a separate
nation.
It has been a misfortune that the ma
t1onal laws on this subject have hither-
to been Of a negative or prohibitive
rather than an affirmative kind, and
still more that they have in part sought
to prohibit what could not be effective
" prohibited and have in, part in their
prohibitions COMPOUNDED what should
be allowed and what should not be al
lowed. It is generally useless to try
to prohibit all restraint on competition,
whether this restraint be reasonable or
unreasonable, and where it is not use
less It is generally hurtful. Events
have shown that it is not possible ade-
Quately to secure the enforcement of
any law OF this kind by incessant ap-
peal to the courts. The department of
Justice has for the last four years de-
voted more attention to the enforce
ment Of the antitrust legislation than
to anything else. Much has been ac-
complished; particularly marked has
been the moral effect Of the prosecu-
lions, but it is Increasingly evident that
there will be very insufficient bene-
fcial result In the way of economic
change. The successful prosecution Of
one device to evade the law Immediate
" develops another device to accom-
plish the same purpose What is need
ed is not sweeping prohibition Of every
arrangement good or bad, which may
tend to restrict competition, but such
adequate supervision and regulation
as will prevent any restriction of COM
petition from being to the detriment Of
the public, as well as such supervision
and regulation as will prevent other
abuses in no way connected with re-
striction of competition. OF these
abuses perhaps the chief, although by
no means the only one, is overcapital-
ization, generally itself the result Of
dishonest promotion, because of the
myriad evils it brings In its train, for
such overcapitalization often means an
imitation that invites business panic.
It always conceals the true relation of
the profit earned to the capital actually
Invested, and it creates burden of in
terest payments which is fertile cause
OF Improper reduction in or limitation
Y wages. It damages the small in
1estor, discourages thrift and encour-.
ages gambling and speculation, while
perhaps worst Of all is the thickness
and dishonesty which it implies, for
harm to morals is worse than any pos
sible harm to material interests, and
the debauchery Of politics and business
by great dishonest corporations is far
worse than any actual material evil
they do the public Until the national
government obtains in some manner
which the wisdom OF the congress may
suggest proper control over the big
corporations engaged in interstate COM
mefce that Is, over the great majority
of the big corporations-it will be i'm
possible to deal adequately with these
evils.