Weekly Arizona journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1903-1908, 1907-12-11
URGES CONGRESS To
TAKE ACTION THEREON
Needs For Elastic Monetary System
Sbown.--Corporation Regulation
And Inheritance Tax.

sponsiblo BY and he accountable To. some
sovereign strong enough To conirol ns
conduct. I am In no sense hOSul' 10
corporatIons. This In an age OF combinh-
ton. and any EFFORT Ia prevent all com
blnation will he not only useless, but w
the end vicious, because OF the contempt
for law which the failure To enforce law
Inevitably produces. We should, more
over. recognize In cordial ana ample
fashion the immense good effected 10y
corporate agencies In "a country Such AZ
ours. and the wealth Of intellect. energy.
and fidelity devoted to their service, ana
! therefore normally to the service OF 'f
public, by their officers ana directors.
! Tn. corporation has come To stay JUST
\ as the trade union has come Ia stay.
/ Each can do and mas done great good.
| Each should he favored so long Ms !,
| does good. But each should De Sharply
| checked where II acts against law ana
| justice.
! -. The makers Of our National
| Constitution provided especially that the
| regulation of Interstate commerce shoull
| come within the sphere OF the oenerai
| Government. The arguments IN faNor al
| their taking this stand were even theh
/ Overwhelming. But they are far strong
| or today, In View OF the enormous ue-
| v,aopmont OF great business agencies. us
| ually corporate In form. Experience mas
| shown conclusively that II II useless TO
try 10 get any adequate regulation and
| supervision Of these great corporations
by State action. such regulation ana
| ercised by a sovereign whose jurishiction
| IN coextensive with the field of work OF
| the corpprations--that II. by the Nation
nj Government. ] believe that inns rssu
, Iation ard supervision can be obtained
by the enactment of law by the Con-
greSs. our steady aim should be
by legislation. cautiously and carefully
| undertaken, but resOlutely persevered In,
to assert the sovereignty Of the Nation
al Government by affirmative action.
"rhis ~ only In form OF innovation.
| In substance II II merely restoration
| for from the earliest time such regula-
ton of Industrial activities has been re-
| cognized In the action Of tn. lawmaking
bodies. and all that l propose ~ To meet
the changed conditions In such manner
| as will prevent the Commonwealth alb
! dicating the power II has always pos
ssssed. not only In this country. but also
In England before and since this country
became a separate nation.
| at has been "A misfortune that the Ma
tionai laws on this subject have hitherto
been OF "A negative or prohibtive rather
| than an affirmative kind. and stu more
| that they have In part sought TO pro-
hibtt what could not he effectively por-
hibited, and have In part In their PROFIT
| billions COMPOUNDED what should be allow
ed. II ~ generally useless to try to pro-
hibh all restraint on comp.t,tion.
unreasonable: and where Il II not use
less II Is generally hurtful. The
| successful prosecution OF one device To
evade the law Immediately develops an
other device TO accomplish the same pur-
| pose. What In needed II not sweeping
| prohibition of every arrangement. good
or had. which may tend to restrict COM
petition. but such adequate supervision
and regulation az will prevent and re-
striction of competition from being To
the detriment OF the public. IA we'll az
| such supervision and regulation as will
| prevent other abuses In no way connect
ed with restriction OF competition"
4 ! have called your attention In these
| quotations to what ] have already said
because am satisfied that u Is the duty
, In action the principles thus expressed.
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
No small part OF the trouble that we
have comes from carrying To an ex-
IRENE the national virtue OF seif-reli-
ance. Of independence In initiative and
action II In wise to conserve this vir-
tue and to provide for It's fullest exer-
else. compatible with seeing that liberty
does not become liberty to wronn
others. Unfortunately. this N the kind
Of liberty that the lack OF all effective
regulation inevitably breeds The found
ers Of the Constitution provided that ths
National Government should have com
plete and sole control OF interstate com
merce. There was then practically nc
interstate business save such M WA
conducted by water. and this the Ma
tional Government at once proceeded Il
regulate In thoroughgoing and effective
fashion. Conditions have now so wholly
changed that the interstate commerce,
by water " Insignificant compared with
the amount that goes by land, and al
most all big business concerns are now
engaged In Interstate commerce. As O
result. II can he hut partially and imper
fcctly controlled or regulated by the ac
ton OF any one OF the several States
such acton inevitably tending IN b,
either loo drastic or else too lax. and IL
either case ineffective for purposes Of
tl.aa nalx fl... AnNl
can In thoroughgoing fashion exercls'
he needed control. This does not NEAR
that there should be any extension %
Federal authority. for such Buthorit,
already exists under the Constitution II
amplest and most far-reaching form
but n does mean that there should be- IA
extension Of Federal activity. This q
not advocating Capitalization. II
merely booking facts I'm the face, an.
realizing that Capitalization In business
has already come and can not he avoid
cd or undono, and that the public n
large can only protect itself from certaii
evil effects OF this business centranlza
( ton by providing better methods for tn
? exercise OF control through the authorit,
; already centralized In the National Gov
I eminent by the Constitution itself. Their
> must he no halt In the healthy conAtruc
tive course of action which this Natiol
! has elected to pursue, and has steadll,
! pursued, during tho last six years a
F, shown both In the legislation Of tn
Congress and the administration OF IN
! law by the Department OF Justice. Th
! most vital need " IN connection with m
railroads As 10 these, IN my judgmen
? there should now be either national I'm
! corporation act or a law licensing rail-
I way companies To engage In interFtnt
= commerce upon certain conditions Tn
: INV should be 80 framed NJ 10 give &
the Interstate Commerce CommissIo.
y power 10 pass upon the future T.
securities, while ample mee-
, provided 10 enable