The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-03

their heads and get drawn into an in
discriminate raid upon all corpora
lions, all people of wealth, whether
| wild movement good will not come,
| can not come, and never has come. On
/ the contrary, the surest way to in
/ vite reaction is to follow the lead
a sweeping assault upon property
values and upon public confidence,
1 which would work incalculable dam
| age in the business world and would
produce such distrust of the agitators
| that in the revulsion the distrust
would extend to honest men who, in
sincere and sane fashion, are trying
| to remedy the evils
Should Not Be Repealed.
The antitrust law should not be
| repealed; but it should be made both
| more efficient and more in harmony
with actual conditions. 1t should be
! so amended as to forbid only the kind
! of combination which does harm to
| the general public, such amendment
to be accompanied by. or to be an in
power to the government over these
big concerns engaged In interstate
business This should be accom-
panied by provision for the COM
pulsory publication of accounts and
the subsection of books and papers to
the inspection Of the government Of
f1cials. A beginning has already been
made for such supervision by the es-
adjustment of the bureau of corpora
tions.
The antitrust law should not pro-
hibit combinations that do no injus-
tice to the public, still less those the
existence of which is on the whole of
benefit to the public. But even If this
there would remain as an equally
Objectionable feature the difficulty
and delay now incident to its enforce
ment The government must now
submit to irksome and repeated delay
before obtaining a final decision of
the courts upon proceedings Instituted
and even a favorable decree may
mean an empty victory. Moreover, to
attempt to control these corporations
by lawsuits means to impose upon
both the department of justice and
the courts an impossible burden; it is
not feasible to carry on more than
limited number of such suits. Such
a law to be really effective must of
course be administered by an execu-
tive body, and not merely by means
of lawsuits. The design should be to
prevent the abuses incident to the
creation OF unhealthy and improper
combinations, instead of waiting until
they are in existence and then at
tempting to destroy them by civil or
criminal proceedings.
A combination should not be toll
Grated If it abuse the power acquired
by combination to the public detri-
ment. No corporation or association
of any kind should be permitted to
engage in foreign or Interstate COM
merce that is formed for the purpose
OF, or whose operations create, a
monopoly or general control of the
production, sale, or distribution of any
one or more of the prime necessities
Of life or articles of general use and
necessity. Such combinations are
against public policy; they violate the
common law; the doors of the courts
are closed to those who are parties to
them, and I believe the congress can
close the channels of interstate COM
merce against them for it's protection.
The law should make it's prohibitions
and permissfons as clear and definite
as possible, leaving the best possible
room for arbitrary action, or allega-
ton of such action. on the part of
the executive, or of divergent inter-
pretations by the courts. Among the
points to be aimed at should be the
prohibition of unhealthy competition
such as by rendering service at an
actual loss for the purpose of crush
ing out competition, the prevention of
imitation of capital. and the prohfbf-
ton OF a corporations making ex-
elusive trade with itself a condition
of having any trade with itself. Rea-
sonable agreements between or COM
binations of, corporations should be
permitted, provided they are first sub
mitted to and approved by some ap-
propr1ate government body.
Congress Has Power.
The congress has the power to |
charter corporations to engage in in |
terstate and foreign commerce, and a |
general law can be enacted under the |
provisions of which existing corpora
lions could take out federal charters |
and new federal corporations could be |
created. An essential provision of |
such a law should be method |
of predetermining by some federal |
board or commission whether the |
applicant for federal charter was an (
association or combination within the !
restrictions Of the federal law. Pro- |
vision should also be made for COM |
plete publicity in all matters affect |
ing the public and complete protec- |
ton to the investing public and the |
shareholders in the matter of issuing |
corporate securities. If an incorpora- |
ton law is not deemed advisable, a |
license act for big interstate corpora |
tons might be enacted; or a COM
bination of the two might be tried |
The supervision established might be |
analogous to that now exercised over |
national banks. At least, an anti |
trust act should be supplemented by |
specific prohibitions of the methods |
been of most service in enabling /
monopolistic combinations to crush |
out competition. The real owners of |
corporation should be compelled to |
do business in their own name The |
right to hold stock in other corpora
lions should hereafter be denied to |
interstate corporate unless on ap-
prevail of the proper government Of |
hcials, and prerequisite to such ap- |
prevail should be the listing with the |
government Of all owners and stock
holders, both by the corporate |
owning such stock and by the cor
poration in which such stock is |