The Washington herald., 1906-12-05
CORPORATIONS.

The present Congress has taken long
strides IN the direction Of securing proper
supervision and control Of the national
government over corporations engaged in
Interstate business-and the enormous
majority Of corporations Of any size are
engaged in interstate business. The pas
sage Of the railway rate bill, and only to
a less degree the passage Of the pure
food bill. and the provision for increasing
and rendering more effective national
control over the beef-packing industry
mark an important advance in the prop
eT direction. All these laws have already
justified their enactment. The interstate
commerce law, for instance. has rather
amUsingly falsifed the predictions, both
Of those who asserted that il would ruin
the railroads and Of those who asserted
that it did not go far enough ard would
accomplish nothing. During the last FIVE
months the railroads have shown in
creased earnings and some Of them uu-
usual dividends, while during the same
period the mere taking effect OF the law
mas produced an unprecedented, a hith-
erto unheard Of. number Of voluntary re-
ductions in freights and fares by the rail-
roads. Since the founding of the COM
mission there has never been a time OF
equal length in which anything Ike so
many reduced tariffs have been put into
effect. On August q. for instance two
days before the new law went into effect.
the commission received notices Of over
5.003 separate tariffs which represented
reductions from previous rates.
II must Tot be supposed. however. that
with the passage of these laws it 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 charging the
powers OF the Interstate Commerce Com
mission along several different lines. so
as TO give it a larger and more efficient
control over the railroads.
Il cannot too often be repeated that ex-
perience has conclusively shown the i'm
possibility 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 operate
exclusively within the limits Of any one
State. In some method. whether by
national license law on IN other fashion,
we must exercise, and that at an early
date. a far more complete control than
at present over these great CORPORATIONS
4 control that Will among other things
prevent the evils Of excessive overcapitaI-
izatiOu, and that will compel the disclos-
uTe by each big corporation of its stock
holders and OF its properties and business
whether owned directly or through sub
sidiary or affiliated corporations. This
will tend to put a stop to the securing OF
inOrdinate profits by favored individuals
at the expense whether OF the general
public the stockholders. or the wage
workers. Our effort should be not 50
much to prevent consolidation as such
but so to supervise and control il as to
see that 1t results in no harm to the
people. The reactiOnary or ultracOn-
servative apOlOgists for the misuse Of
wealth aSsatl the effort 70 secure such
control as a step toward socialism As
a matter OF fact 1t is these reactionaries
and ultracOnsevativeS who are them
selves most potent in increasing social
lstc feeling. One Of the most efficient
methods OF averting the consequences OF
r dangerous agitation, which is 50 per
cent wrong. is TO remedy the % per cent
Of evil as TO which the agitation is well
rounded The best way to avert the very
move for the governmental
ownership Of railways is to secure by tie
government on behalf Of the people - q.
whole such adequate control and regula-
ton of the great interstate common car
rieTs as will do away with the evils
which give rise TO the agitation against
them.
The actual working Of our laws has
shown that the effort TO prohibit all COM
good or bad. is nOxious where
il is not ineffective Combination Of can
tal Ike combination of labor Is a neces-
sary element Of our present Industrial
system. 9 It is not possible completely TO
prevent it. and If il were possible, such
prevention would do damage to
the body polite What We need is not
yainly 10 try to prevent all combination,
but to secure such rigorous and adequate
control and supervision Of the combina-
lions as to prevent their injuring the
public. or existing in such form as in
svitably to threaten injury-for the mere
tact that a combination has secured prac-
.ically complete control Of a necessary
1f life would under any circumstances
show that such combination was 10 be
presumed to be adverse to the public in
crest. II is unfortunate that our pres
mt laws should forbid all combinations.
instead OF sharply discriminating between
hose combinations, which do good and
hose combinations which do evil Re
,ates, for instance, are as often due 10
he pressure of big shippers (as was
shown in the investigation Of the Stand
,rd Oil Company and as has been shown
iince by the investigation OF the tobacco
md sugar trusts as to the initiative OF
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