The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-21
THE PRESIDENCY.
Saturday, Decssaber 21, 1907
TIE MODERN CORPORATION.

learning may lack the pracllca4 e1- perience which lets Il banker for ex- ample, discuss banking matters with show of authority, or railroad official a railroad problem with like probable wisdom, but. 1t is nevertheless borne in upon us from time to time that he has views which are extremely fitting as enabling one to better grasp what practical men tell us. This is particu- larly true of President Eliot of liar yard, President Wilson of Princeton President Hadley of Yale and Chan ceilor Day of Syracuse. We may not agree with the conclusion reached in given instance by any one of them, but we arc compelled to admit that by viewing the problem under discus sion from a different angle than the practical one we make faster progress towards an understanding required
 President Wilson has recently freely expressed his views upon the matter of more intelligently regulating the great corporations of the country, and they are views to be the more careful ly noted because he gives them with out the slightest prejudice either against the conditions which have pro- lT
 duced them or their existence It is with their conduct that he concerns himself It is probably true that should he undertake to manage the New Ha- ven Railroad company for instance, or the Standard Oil company, the re- suit would be disastrous, but his want of training in that connection by no manner of means deprives him of the right and the ability to intelligently discuss their conduct as that conduct relates to the rights and privileges of ! public. Tn his complaint that the iaws arg FAulty, in that they forbid the punishment of the sinning corpora tion official and director, or at least if they do not expressly forbid they do make it impossible to visit punishment upon the evi--doer, he contends that the consequences are twice as bad for the public at large. If the law con- victs the corporation of burglary, what can be done to it? It cannot be sent to jail It can only be fined, and the fine will be paid out of the plunder gathered by the corporation in suc- cessful burglaries." He would have the law so read that the individual who does the violating shall suffer the con sequences, and not the already plum dered patron or consumer This has been advocated by President Roose- welt and by MT. Bryan and the cry. has been taken up by their satellites all over the country
 If the latter gentlemen can be suss pected Of having a political errand in thus batting the corporation, can the charge lie against MT Wilson? It would seem not. He is a teacher of men and an interpreter of morals. For hir1 to use his position for any such purpose would be to unfit him for the presidency of the littlest cushion ot learning. But he has ITO such purpose He simply wants the rule applied te a pile of dollars which applies with deadly force to the individual. To use an illustration-if Deacon Walker i: to be brought home and punished fo, having footed the treasury of the New Britain Savings bank he would have the officers of that corporation punished who deliberately loot the treasury of the interests conhded tc their care or who use those interest: for self advantage a. the cost of tht public. It is not such a rnystifying de. iriand that men need get confused over it. It is, on the contrary, a rationa demand, for why a corporation shoult possess the power to protect wrong s doing which is denied individuals. no in the corporate business cannot bt convincingly explained. Tn the case O. Mfr Wilson it provokes him to advise corporation lawyers to influence legis lation in behalf of greater publicity including the filing of the minutes O directors meetings with the prope State official This in his 1udgmen would disclose the methods of man agement encouraged or devised ant thus locate responsibility for the con duct employed MT Wilson differ from President Roosevelt in his desir to have national incorporation ant presumably differs from 4Gr. Bryan il his approval Of 8 national license. H sees in al such remedies the remov al Of the power of the people and tn transfer of it tc political agencies. H would leave the control Of the corpora ttons in the hands Of the States wniel AcEeated them, but he would provid
 more public inspection and regu
 on of their conduct This is not
 doctrine but it possesses th