New-York tribune., 1907-12-23
CORPORATION AS
SOCIAL BENEFAC'TOR.
DANGER TO PROGRESS IN
POPULAR ENMITY.
Mr.. Hansdale BelieUes Great Body
Of Directors of american
Industries Honest.
To tho Editor OF The Tribune.

To tho Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: In the last three years or mora We have
| heard good deal about high finance and frenzied
finance. We are now having a most Interesting
ana acute illustration Of the consequences Of such
finance There is another frenzy however which
seems to have taken possession OF the people which,
II not checked and examined in the right light is
likely TO lead to results disastrous than anv
that may be attributed to financial frenzy I refer
70 the snti-corporation frenzy which is now so
prevalent. slight review Of the history and pur-
poses of corporations will tend to throw light on
this question.
In primitive times individual action alone was
tho basis Of trade. That was soon followed by the
association OF men into partnerships. Out Of that
association grew UP great body of law and
perience. and copartnerships for a long time did
substantially the business OF the world; and they
have done 1t we'll, and still performing vaIua-
bic service. and probably will continue to do so for
long time. But in the administration of business
copartnerships found, for a variety of rea-
sons. to exhibit unsatisfactory results: and from
them there has gradually developed another kind
OF association known as the corporation In what
L have to say about corporations shall exclude
all reference to religious. charitable and other like
organizations
The development OF business corporations
something prodgious during the nineteenth
The first act in the United States provide for the
incorporation Of manufacturing establishments was
passed by the State of Connecticut act that
was introduced and urged to its passage by
namesake Of mine. This action OF that state
quickly followed In all the New England states and
the other states of the Union and thus was found
ed the great body Of manufacturing corporations
which have done much for the development of
the Industrial interests of the country
Railroad corporations were first organized in the
United States in the early part of the nineteenth
century but were Of limited scope and limited
capacity. Thus originated a development remark
whole body Of corporate activity and the general
business of the country. Rightly administered such
corporations constitute the best vehicle for
acting business that has yet been devised. 1t
would not be possible to imagine the attainment of
our present condition and progress except through
the active and constant presence OF these instru-
mentalites in all the material affairs OF life Few
people realize the Importance of their functions
To check or harass or embarrass them would sim
ply be putting the brakes on progress and de-
velopment
There is class of citizens that s not inter
ested in them. whether stockholders citizens
generally. rich Door. More money and wages
are paid to the laboring man by corporations than
receives from all other sources combined. Our
food is distributed by them. our clothing is manu-
factured by them. and nothing that we have is
exempt from their participation their produc-
ton.
At first IL would seem that farmers more
exempt from the influence OF corporations than
other body of citizens but In fact class
more dependent corporations than they. Few
products of the soil be produced without the
assistance OF corporate power. Tho very tools that
used IN cultivatng the soil the products of
corporate industry. while the produce the soil
is purchased by corporations and by them trans
ported and distributed No agricultural community
prosper. In these times. without the interven-
ton of corporations which transport the products
banks that furnish the necessary means for
farming operations. or mills that convert the
farmers products into merchandise for use and
consumption in the world.
l know there is a crusade and a sentiment
against corporations. but this fact should not be
lost sight OF, that there are thousand of corpora
tions that managed and throughout their whole
existence have been managed, with most scrupu-
lous regard for the rights Of stockholders and of
the public, and It is to them. mainly. that the
country is indebted for it's phenomenal progress
and prosperity. Corporations entitled
proper profits and legitimate returns from their
operation, without impairment and without en-
barrassInent. precisely the the individual
citizen is entitled. Their rights should be cared
for and conserved. in the interest of all classes
Corporations that have been properly administered
are universal benefactors. no more to be assailed
because they corporations than charitable
institutions.
In the development of the country corporations
nave EXPANDED IN their operations, and they have
needed TO expand. corresponding to that general
development 1t is a necessity that large corpora
tions should exist and perform their legitimate
functions: that their field of enterprise should be
co-extenslve with the national development. In
herently and principle there is nothing In cor
porate conditions that justies any feeling
fty to their existence and development Yet,
how there exists feeling of antagonsm TO cor
porations which is not discriminating and yet is
readily accounted for. There are corporations
whose existence and management have been a
menace to the progress of the country. Fortu-
nately, the number of sch Is small compared with
that Of the useful and beneflcent and they easily
can be classified and defined.
The original idea of the corporation was that a
stock certificate constituted a measure of the in
terest each stockholder had in the corporation II
presumed that the holder of a certificate had |
actually contributed something to the capital of
the corporation, justifying his holding one OF it's
certificates. difficulty that now laboring |
under is that our corporate laws have not afe- !
guarded properly the rights of minority stockhod-
and the rights of tho public in that they have
permitted the issuance Of spurious certificates rep
resenting nothing.
A cursoIy examination of the corporation laws of !
tain necessary expenses for postage, stationery. |
IN he herewith