Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-23
CIVIC LEADERS DISCUSS THE
NATIONS PROBLEMS
SHERMAN LAW IS ATTACKED BY
BUTLER
President Of Columbia University Be-
lIeves Measure Commits Country
to Policy That Is Too
Extreme

ence OF the National Civic federation,
which is to continue for several days.
opered here today. About 400 delegates
were present, representing forty-two
states and approximately eighty different
organizations of a mercantile, civic and
municipal character. President Nicholas
Murray Butler Of Columbia university
after calling the convention to order. said
that the Sherman antitrust law commits
the nation to a policy which Is too ex-
treme, and that the time may have come
when the act should be amended In
way to relieve some of the limitations
upon business activity which the act i'm
poses.
He said that the purpose of such an
amendment would not be so much to re-
iieve the corporations as the people them
selves He suggested that 1t might thus
be possible 1or the people to secure for
themselves the benefits which come from
cooperative activity, as manifested In
corporations and by agreements between
corporations without In any way less
ening the protection which all desire
against the evils which have followed
upon the creation of great corporations
and upon agreements between them In
restraint of trade. He said in part:
Welcomes Delegates
'.On behalf Of the National Civic fed
Ous IL
tend a cordial greeting to the delegates
who have assembled to constitute this
conference. We have before us rare
opportunity for the free and fair inter-
change of views, and for the discussion
of some of the questions that are now,
and for some time past have been, upper
most in the public mind. 1t is by bodies
such as this, representing the voluntary
assembling of hundreds of interested citi-
zens, that public opinion itself is formed.
I'VE are here to try to shed light upon
some of the most difficult economic and
political problems of our time We do
not expect to solve them, but 1t is not
too much to hope that we may contrib
ute something toward their solution. One
of the most benefcent results of the de-
velopment of the nineteenth century was
the rapid growth of the corporation as an
instrument for carrying on industry and
commerce.
Experience has shown us, however,
that we have not been entirely success
full as yet in adjusting our public admin
istratiop and our legal theory to the situ-
alton which the multiplication and growth
of corporations has brought about. Not
only has there been, in far too many
cases. sinister alliance between those
who have sought governmental privi-
leges for the corporations which they
serve and those who, as governmental
officers, were in position to influence the
granting of such privileges, but corpora
tions themselves, although the creatures
of the state, have seemed to be in some
ways beyond the power Of the state to
control and outside the reach OF its
authority.
Would Curb Corporations
"Particularly is this true Of those most
important bodies which are known as
public service corporations 1t Will hardly
be denied that the power which called
the corporation into existence must, IN
self-defense and in order to sustain an
eouitable relation to every citizen, so
SUPERVISE and control the operations OF
the public service corporation that the
latter shall not infringe either on the
mowers of the state itself or on the rights
and lust privileges of cny individual eiti-
zen.
my own opinion, which runs counter to
that of many others to whom we are
bound to listen with respect, is that
nothing is necessarily to be feared from a
corporation because of its size. The char
acter of a corporation does not depend
,1pon its size but upon the principles ana
policies which actuate its management.
'.Corporations themselves have no moral
qualities; 1t is corporate officers and man
ayers who are good or bad, honest or dis
honest. as the case may be. The prob
service corporation that truly serves the
public is simply the problem, always and
everywhere present in our life, of secur-
ing for positions of trust and power men
who are not only iDteliigent, but upright
who are not only efficient but honest
1t is not combination and cooperation
that are to be feared and antagonized,
but only monopoly and Discrimination.
Problems Are Grave
'Problems of grave Importance, not
only legal but political in the highest
sense arise when we attempt TO nx the
ways and means by which the govern
rnent shall contral and supervise public
service corporations. Our constitutional
limitations, our political traditions and
past party differences, and the complex
structure of our whole governmental
system with its state and national
agencies make the problem of govern
mental control of corporations an ex-
tremely difficult one There are those
who think they see short and easy
methods Of accomplishing the desired
end. but my prediction is that, true to
the characteristics of our people, we
shall work out. just solution of these
involved problems, not at one stroke or
by wholly logical processes, but step by
step and after many experiments, ana
that not a few unforeseen difficulties
will have to be surmounted or circum-
vented.
',Above all else, unless we propose to
wreck the whole economic basis on
which our prosperity and our happiness
rest, we must have a care that we SO
speak and so act as not to disturb that
faith or confidence which civilized man
has in his fellows and upon which rests
the whole enormous structure of our
credit system Destroy that and there
will not be many public service or other
corporations left to regulate for some
time TO come
Trusts Usurp Power
I'VE all know how much feeling, and
what just feeling has been aroused in
the United States by corporate misman-
agement. 1t is difficult to speak in lam
guage too strong of the usurpations of
power and the larcenies of funds which
have been committed by corporate
officers. But let us not lose our heads.
We are face to face with economic con-
ditions that are new and with economic
abuses that though manifold, have
grown up slowly and In the dark. There
is ample power in our institutions, in
our constitution and our laws to check
and to remedy them all
f1Thera is now reason to helieva fha Z