Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-04

lsees, that the effect Of this system is
to throw out of what would otherwise
be the natural channels of investment
the vast capital of the country belong
ing to the people Of the country
nearly all of what is thus thrown out
flowing back to the man who, chiefly
responsible for the corporations mis-
chiefs in the past, may utilize it again
in the future; the times seem to press
feven now, for something in the direc-
ton Of genuine reform.
But how shall genuine reform be
brought about? How shall we set
about the work of getting the indi-
yidual American into his rightful place
and part in the great new life of which
he is now chiefly an industrial part
only; how can we bring about, in this
new era of industrial building. on
which America has entered, what was
achieved in the old era of nation build
ing, out of which Z we, have just
emerged? By employing here, Il an
sWer, as was employed there, the fun
damental axiom that if the right ave-
nues are fully opened up, mans natur-
al instincts will do the rest u :
/ What government is to men politi-
cally organized, the corporation is to
modern industry organized. And as
4 into the institution Of government was
/ introduced security to the individual
man, working his way up to full par
ticipation in political power, into the
corporation must be introduced the
| prohibitions and limitations, the ways
and. means, that will give security to
the individual American, working his
q way toward proprietorship in the in
dustrial fields. The corporations are
here to stay. To destroy them would
i be as If our fathers. instead of re-
4 forming government that it might
i open up avenues to the individual
man, had destroyed the government
| altogether. No, no, my young friends,
1t is not the destroyer that we should
invoke; nor, on the other hand the
\ dead calm that would be followed only
by another and more destructive
Whirlwind. II is the rebuilder that
we must invoke; that reconstruction
! Eof tfleseorpo alton, that opening up to
the middle American an opportunity
q to work out his instinct for an individ-
y uaa independe of his own, will
| eventually transform the great new
life that the corporation embodies, as
4. government was transformed, into
something that the people win proud
! " sustain, because the peoples in.
i dutsrial life will then be something
that really belongs TO them some
/ thing into which hope and aspiration
pour as well as toll and selfsdenials. +
First, then, let us fully recognize
continued Judge Grosscup, that the
individual American has still the prop
erty instinct. Secondly, that he has
the means. Thirdly (and here is
where our immediate work begins).
q let us remove the causes that have
divorced this instinct and these finan.
4 cial means from nearly every kind of
property that has gone into corporate
4 form that have destroyed his conf
4 dence in the corporation as an avenue
4 through which he individually can par
ticipate. with security. in the great
{. bulk of his country's property 3
4 After a resume of the corporation
q reform in Germany thirty years ago,
and its results, Judge Grosscup con-
4 tinued: But while am not attempt
ing in detail to- point out the exact
\ structure Of the American corporation
as it should stand when reconstructed,
some Of the principles on which the
Y reconstrnctions should take place can
be particula rized. The reconstruct
Incorporation, for instance, must have
no place in it for those schemes of
n opOidLlOu Iudtx WlIulu ~ OF 55B WlluOuC,
plumber the people whose capital has
created it and whose patronage must
support It. In the reconstructed cor.
poration the securities issued must be
related in some way to the values ac.
|. tually put in. In the reconstructed
corporation, not only must the officera
be trustees Of the stockholders, held
| to the strict accountability to which
individual trustees are now held, and
denied the privilege. as individual
81 trustees are now denied, Of making
profit out OF the trust; but the admin,
/ istration Of the trust, as in the case
4 of the Individual trustees, must be
constantly kept under the eye Of some
{, tribunal Of the government. And in
ii the reconstructed corporation tangible
inducements ought to be given to the
&. workman, the clerk, the employe OF
4 every kind, to secure proprietorsIlip.