Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-26
McKEON BACKS HIS VIEW
People Are Said to Be in State of
Moral Hysteria.
FINEST RAILROADS IN WORLD
Hughes Assistant in Armstrong In
vestigation Tells Bowdoin Alumni
Legislature Should Be Curbed.

NEW YORK, January 26.-'In its pres
ent state public opinion in its attitude to-
| ward corporations can only be termed moral
hysteria''
Gen. Thomas H. Hubbard made this state
| ment in the course of a speech delivered
! last night at the thirty-seventh annual din
ner of the Bowdoin College Alumni Asso-
| citation of New York, held at the Manhat-
| tan Hotel, in which he strongly defended
| trusts and corporate business interests.
Gen. Hubbard's remarks were received by
the diners with surprise, which was in
creased when James McKeon, who was as
ISOLATED with Gov Hughes as counsel for
the Armstrong insurance investigating COM
mittee. and at present member of the
| legal staff of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company, in a speech. following Gen. Hub
bardS, announced his sympathy with all
that the general had said, and added.
Corporations are the one thing which
have stood between this nation and dis
aster in preventing a preponderance OF
individual wealth."
Gen. Hubbard led up gradually to his
defense of corporations and monopolies by
] relating an attempt which he had recently
| made to buy rare book. The firm OF
| publishers to which he first applied, said
the general, had offered him copy for
| s45. Finally, applying to the publishers
of the work he sought, he obtained it for
500 To many persons the difference In
| price would have been considered evidence
of a combination in restraint of trade, said
Gen. Hubbard, had they believed, as he
did, that the difference was due to an
agreement between the publishers and the
retail dealers by which the publishers might
command the sale of their work. 1t would,
accordingly, have been fl owned upon, he
said.
Pleased With Facts.
Il, on the other hand" said Gen. Hub
| bard. was pleased with the facts that
1 discovered. This combination between
retailer and publisher was proof to me
that the publishing houses were defenders
of the oppressed-and the oppressed are
not the people, but the corporations.
"A mighty cutlery is raised againsts- the
large gas companies, the railroad -compa-
MES and the insurance companies. Some
champion of the people who spends his
time in porting over Poor's Manual de-
clares that the gas companies can and do
manufacture their product for 30 or 80
cents thousand feet.
THE people listen and forget that there
are other expenses to be met by the COM
pany aside from the actual cost of produc-
| ton. They are not aware that electro
| losis, of which they know little or moth
! ing. is constantly wearing out the mains
almost soon they can be installed.
| They do not realize that the company is
really supplying it's product at price
combining cost and only a modest profit.
| They forget that thousands of persons
are dependent for their income upon the
earnings of corporation in which their
money in invested. and that these persons
have a right to ask for a reasonable re-
| turn on the money invested.
Our railroads are surpassed by none
| in the world except in SO far as regards
| for this is to permit the roads to earn
| enough to pay for the installation of eX-
pensive safety systems. But instead of
aiding the roads, some person discovers
L xlx-% ~ li,,~c
bates and Immediately he cries aloud for
an investigation, not waiting to learn that
the roads themselves have been attempting
| to remedy this wrong"
Instrument of Progress.
Corporations" said Mr.. McKeon in his
speech, "have been a great instrument of
progress.
"Only through corporations can the man
of small means compete with swollen for
| tunes and yet the people themselves are
endangering their own savior by their hys-
terical Outcries against corporations The
New York plan of corporate management Is
far better than the method employed in
England, and yet because of the criticism
! to which corporations and their manage
ment are now being subjected we are in a
fair way Of being forced to adopt the Eng
| fish methods.
1.-The English corporation is now gener-
ally managed by small board of directors,
| who receive salaries. We, on the other
hand, request prominent men to act upon
our boards They receive no pay and can
not be expected to have an intimate knowl-
edge of the business. They can be, how
ever, and are, expected to use their best
efforts in selecting officials who are compe-
| tent to perform the work required by good
nagement.
And yet. the men who are desirable
upon q board of directors are refusing
| TO serve rather than face the criticism to
which they know a hysterical public will
! subject them. There is nothing which so
| imperils our institutions as this same out
cry against corporations. Investigations
are demanded The legislature has al
ready gone too far along this line. l. my
SELF engaged In reconstructive work
with the Mutual Life Company, but in addi-
| ton / am endeavoring to eradicate the
evils which resulted from the investigation
| of last year.
Before more harm can be done, the
| legislature should be curbed in it's mad
| career along this path"