Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-05

the benefit Of the public as o whole
CorporsrIe.n
The present congress- has taIen long
strides In the direction Of seourine
proper supervision and nostr-i NV the
national government over oornorattons
| engaged In Interstate business--a,,d tbe
enormous majority of corporations of
any size are engaged in Interstate busi-
ness The passage of the railway rate
bill, and only to a less degree tbe
passage of the pure food bill, ana the
provision for increasing and rendering
| more effective national control o,,n,.
the beef-packing Industry, mark an i'm
| portant advance In the proper ,ltrac.
| ton. In the short session IL will ner.
| haps be difficult to do much further
along this line; and IL may he bast 30
wait until the laws have been in onera,
tion for number of months before en-
deavoring to increase their scope. he
| cause only operation will show with
exactness their merits and their short
comings and thus give opportunity TO
define what further remedial leeisla-
ton is needed. Yet in my judgment IL
| will in the end be advisable in connec-
ton with the packing house inspection
law to provide for putting a date on
the label and for charging the cost of
inspection to the packers All these
laws nave already justified their enact
ment. The interstate commerce law
for instance, has rather amusingly fall
sified the predictions, both of those who
asserted that it would ruin the rail
roads and of those who asserted that
1t did not go far enough and would
accomplish nothing. During the last
five months the railroads have shown
| increased earnings and some of them
| unusual dividends; while during the
same period the mere taking effect OF
the law has produced an uhprece-
dented, hitherto unheard of nu1n
ber of voluntary reductions in freights
and fares by the railroads. Since the
founding of the commission there has
never been time of equal length in
Whlch anything like so many reduced
tar1tfs nave been put into effect. On
August 27, for instance, two days before
the new law went into effect, the com
mission received notices of over 5000
separate tariffs which represented re-
ductions from previous rates.
Larger Powers Later
1t must not be supposed, however.
that with the passage of these laws II
will be possible to stop progress along
the line OF increasing the power of the
national government over the use of
capital in Interstate commerce. For
example, there will ultimately be need
of enlarging the powers of the inter-
state commerce commission along sew
eral different lines, so as to give 1t a
larger and more efficient control over
the railroads.
1t cannot too often be repeated that
experience has conclusively shown the
impossibility of securing by the actions
OF nearly half a hundred different state
legislatures anything but ineffective
chaos in the way of dealing with the
great corporations which do not ope-
rate exclusively within the limits of
any one state. In some method
whether by a national license law or
in other fashion, we must exercise, and
tEat at an early date, q far more COM
plete control than at present over these
great corporations-a control that will
among other things prevent the evils
OF excessive overcapitalization, and that
will compel the disclosure by each
big corporation of it's stockholders
and of it's properties and busi-
ness, whether owned directly or
through subsidiary or affiliated cor
pcrations. This will tend to put a stop
to the securing of ;nordinate profits by
favored individuals at the expense
whether of the general public, the
stockholders or the wageworkers. Our
effort should be not so much to pre-
vent consolidation as such, but so to
supervise and control 1t as to see that
il results in no harm to the people
| The reactionary or ultraconservative
apologists for the misuse of wealth
assail the effort to secure such control
as a step toward socialism. AS mat
| ter of fact it is these reactionaries and
| ultraconSerVatiVeS who are themselves
most potent in increasing socialistic
| feeling. One of the most efficient
methods of averting the consequences
OF a dangerous agitation, which is SO
per cent wrong, is to remedy the ~ per
| cent of evil as to which the agitation
| is well founded. The best way to
avert the very undesirable move for
| the governmental ownership OF rail-
ways is to secure by the government
on behalf of the people as Whole sucn
adequate control and regulation OF the
| great interstate common carriers as
will do away with the evils Whlcn give
rise to the agitation against them. 80
| the nroner antidote to the dangerous
| and wicked agitation against the men
| of wealth as such is to secure py
proper legislation and executive action
| the abolition of the grave abuses "hici "hi
actually do obtain in connection WIN
| the business use OF Wealtn uiluel Jul
present system-or rather no system
| of failure to exercise any adequate
control Of all. Some persons speak as
if the exercise of such governmental
| control would do away with the free-
I 81
dom of Individual initiative and dwarf
Individual effort. This is not tact;
tn would he a yeritable calamity to ran
to nut a premium upon individual IN
itiative, Individual capacity and enort'
upon the energy, character ana Tore
sght which it is so important TO en-
Courage in the Individual. But as q
matter of fact the deadening and de- de-
grading effect of pure socialism, ana
| esDecially of it's extreme form com
nIunism, and the destruction OF indi,
bring about, are in part achieved Dy
10 whole unregulated competition
which results in a single individual or or
corporation rising at the expense ol a., a.,
others until his or it's rise enectualy
checks ali competition and reduces
enrmer Competitors to : position OF
utter inferiority and subordihatlon
Working ON Coherent Plan
In enacting and enforcing sp9h sue bSs iesls, io
10. !ts nredit we are working ON CO.
herent Ius plan, with the steady endyHvor