The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-08
lilg5
PLEADS FOR LIGHT
WOODROW WILSON SAYS FIND OUT
 EXACT CORPORATE EVILS.

And Seek . Remedy-Bring Individuals to
 B0ok--EIning Corporations Hurts
 Only the PnbHc-Abuse No
 Rcmedy--It's a Time for
 Moderation.
 New York Times.
 Dr. Woodrow Wilson. President of Prince ton University made this statement yester- day to Times reporter, in further elucida- tion of the views expressed by him in an in- terview published in last Sundays Times. which pr. Wilson felt hardly represented his views with sufficient accuracy, and clearnesa:
 ...scathing indictments of our present industrial and political conditions are ex- actly what we are suffering from at the present moment. and they are to be offset not by other 'scathing indictments. but by a very calm and self-possessed examination of the actual condition of things. What we need at present is not heat. but light just view of the existing situation would not. of course. excuse any of the gross evils which have sprung up in our business man agement. or rather in our manipulations Of It would. on the contrary seek to discover industrial interprtss.
 just what those evils are and just what the best remedy for them is. At the moment we are suffering quite as much from the biundering and uninteilgent methods py which our Governments. State and Federal and public opinion throughout the country. have been attempting to remedy these evils as from the evils themselves.
 Abuse ls no Remedy.
 .Indiscriminate abuse is clearly no rem edy and does not create the state of mind in which a remedy is possible. We need. above all things else at present. moderation in counsel and a careful discrimination Of the good from the evil The vast bulk of our business men are upright and honest.
 Tt would be deeply unjust to say that our great corporations are predatory in their intentions or in their methods. No doubt there are individuals who scruple at nothing in the accumulation of wealth and who use the wealth they have accumulated without regard to the laws either of public justice morals But these men impair the the business of the country more than they assist it. and 1t is in the interest of all con cerned that they should be singled out and seperated from those who are carrying for ward the legitimate undertakings of the country.
 Indeed. upon a close view of the matter it is quite evident that there are two very different sets of persons dealing with our business at present; one set actually admin isters the business. gives it is efficiency and success; the other set trades in the values thus created and devote themselves to the game of controlling the securities listed on the stock market. that a power which is not administrative, but speculative manipulation rather. may fall to them.
 Through their influence. the business of the country has come to be touched at a score of points by questionable practices and methods which are clearly opposed both to private morals and to the public welfare. Just what those practices and methods are and how they can be remeded can be as- certained only by the rankest common coun- scathing arraignments and hastily conceived remedies. is the business of the hour.
 Frank Confessions Needed.
 "The only sound method of law is to seek out and prohibit particular transactions. and when those transactions occur. to bring not corporations. but individuals, to book for them. Those corporation lawyers who insist upon standing between the public and the corporations which they represent. in order to shield the corporations from close scrutiny and to prevent the interven- ton of legal remedy. are really doing the interests they represent the deepest injury.
 'Tt is a duty which is to be hoped they will see very soon. and not after it is too late, to come forward with the frankest disclosures. not divulging confidential mat ters not attacking the regulations of in- dividuals. but frankly informing the public as to the actual methods of corporate busi- ness, and showing where. those methods be squared with the best rules of jus tice. without imparing either the efficiency of corporate action or the prosperity of the country. do not know from who else such counsel come. and if 1t does not come from them, we are in danger of seeing the present tendencies outstrip all reason, and the corporations which they are seeking to defend fatally injured to the detriment of the whole National future
 Clearly the object of existing remedial legislation is to strike at the corporations themselves, They cannot be imprisoned: they can only be dissolved of fined. If they are fined 1t is clear that the result is that Just so much money is taken out of thebusi- ness of the country, that it comes from the pockets not of those who have originated