The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-11-24
NOTABLE SPEECH
BY JUDGE GROSSCUP
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officers and directors is not conferred
supreme power; in the German cor
poration the share holders meeting is
the counterpart of our New England
town meeting-a genuine assembly in
tended to do something more than
pass resolutions of approval.
Our Own Workmen.
| am not holding up the industrial
life of the Germans as an example OF
what our own ought to be, or their
corporation as an institution to be
followed, line by line, in our own
work of reconstruction. We have
found for our workman ways for In
creasing his share in the division OF
the profits of enterprise, that the Ger
man workman does not enjoy. What
the American in the ordinary walks
of life could lay by for investment is
larger, happily much larger, than any
thing the German can lay by. But
the example Is none the less valuable;
for If on such conditions, the German
corporation could be reconstructed on
lines that have successfully interested
as proprietors to the extent of their
means, the German people at large
resulting in the fact that it is not up
on her corporate industries, but upon
her unjust landed proprietorship alone
/ that the forces of German socialism
are directed-what may not be eX
pected in America when the work Of
corporate reform, in the true spirit d
reform, is undertaken and accom-
plished.
The Remedy.
But while | am not attempting il
detail to point out the exact structure
,of the American corporation, as
should stand when reconstructed
some of the principals on which tn
reconstruction should take place, cal
be particularized. The reconstruct
corporation, for instance, should hav
no place in it for those schemes o
spoilation that, within or without
plumber the people whose capital ha
created it, and whose capital mus
support il. In the reconstructed CO..
operation the securities issued must
related in some way to the values az
tually put in. In the reconstruct
corporation, not. only must the officer
he trustees of the stockholders, hel
TO the strict accountability to whic
individual trustees are now held, an
: denied the privilege as individu;
i, trustees are now denied, of maxim
profit out of their trust; but the az
ministration of the trust, as in tn
case of individual trustees, must b
constantly kept under the eye of som
2 tribunal of the government. And
the reconstructed corporation, tang
bic inducements ought to be given
the workman. the clerk, the employe
of every kind, to secure proprieto
ship.
shall not attempt to point out
detail, how existing corporations sha
be brought into the new regime. Co
sidering however that existing cOrpO
e atoms depend largely on the publ
& from time to time to take their S
: curities, especially their bonded S
:. curities, the probability is that, as
, matter of self interest-in cases
life and death-eXisting corporation
would be compelled to conform the
u organization to the reconstructed @
ganizatiOn prescribed by government
II for otherwise they would brand the1
p selves as suspects. Then, too. with
. the respective powers OF the natiC
and states. to prescribe the kind
+ collateral that banks, insurance col
4. panies. and savings institutions shs
if not take for loans, the nation al
- states could exert. leverage towa
the new order of things that could n
y not be resisted. for nearly eve
IL great corporation is a heavy borrow
al from these financial reservoirs Of q
is peoples wealth.
ir Lesson of New York Election
am not going far into details
all. That is not the lesson OF the Ne
=, York election. The lesson of the Nc
~ York election is that without dou'
" :, it is the relation of the corporation
the people that is the question OF T
: hour: that upon that question vote
% by the tens of thousands, will lea
the party into which they were boz
~ TO go to the party they believe
y, hereafter best represent them: TIL
~ involving as it does, the deepest
~ stincts of human nature, the questi
&c Is one that cannot be laid aside-th
will not die natural death: that {
duty and the task Of the hour is
C indefinitely turn the thought of G
TO country in the right direction. set
i'll upon the right aim-conf1dent Il
when the right aim is adopted, mea
will be found through the resourcef
in ness Of the American people, to
. build the corporation on lines II
In will make ii an institution amo
rs. republican institutions, on foundatic
Id. that are republican. And some d
-. to some man, will be given
:, strength to successfully summon
vi this undertaking the good sense a
re the conscience Of the American p
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