The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1907-12-04

others The conditions of railroad ac-
tivity. the conditions of our immense
make the central government alone
competent to exercise full supervision
and control
Dishonest Work
The grave abuses in individual cases
or railroad management in the past
represents wrongs not merely to
wrongs to fair dealing and hon
est corporations and men of wealth.
because they excite a popular anger
ture of the case tends to include in the
sweep of It's resentment good and bad
alike. From the standpoint of the pub
lie l can not too earnestly say that
as soon as the natural and proper re-
sentiment aroused by these abuses be-
comes indiscriminate and unthinking,
unfair, but calculated to defeat the very
ends which those feeling it have in
view. There has been plenty of dis
honest work by. corporations in the
past There will not be the slightest
letup in the effort to hunt down and
punish every dishonest man. But the
In the natural indignation the people
feel over the dishonesty, it is all
sential that they should not lose their
heads and get drawn into an indiscrimi-
people of wealth, whether they do well
or III. out of any such wild movement
good will not come, can not come, and
never has come. On the contrary, the
surest way to invite action is to fol-
low the lead of either demagogu
or visionary IN sweeping assault upon
property values and upon public con-
fidence, which would work inealcula-
BILE damage in the business world and
would produce such distrust of the
agitators that in the revulsion the dis
trust would extend to honest men who.
in sincere and sane fashion, are trying
to remedy the evils"
The antitrust law should not be re-
pealed; but it should be made both
more efficient and more in harmony
with actual conditions 1t should be so
amended as TO forbid only the kind of
combination which does harm to the
general public. such amendment to be
accompanied by, or to be an incident
Of, grant of supervisory power to
the government over these big concerns
engaged in interstate business. This
should be accompanied by provision
for the compulsory publication Of
ton of the government officials. A
beginning has already been made for
such supervision by the establishment
of the bureau Of corporations.
Irksome Delay
The antitrust law should not pro-
hibit combinations that do no injustice
to the public, still less those the exis-
tence Of which is on the whole of
benefit to the public. But even If this
there would remain as an equally OBJ
jectionable feature the difficulty and
delay now incident to its enforcement
| The government must now submit to
irksome and repeated delay before OBJ
tanning q final decision of the courts
upon proceedings instituted, and even
a favorable decree may mean an empty
victory. Moreover, to attempt to con-
troll these corporations by lawsuits
means to impose upon both the de-
partment of Justice and the courts an
| impossible BURDEN. it is not feasible
to carry more than limited num-
Der of such suits. Such law to be
really. effective must of course be ad-
ministered by an executive body, and
not merely by means of lawsuits The
| design should be to prevent the abuses
! incident to the creation of unhealthy
| and improper combinations, instead OF
waiting until they are In existence and
! then attempting to destroy them by
| civil or criminal proceedings.
A combination should not be toler-
ated if it abuse the power acquired by
combination to the public detriment
No corporation or association of any
! kind should be permitted to engage In
foreign or interstate commerce that
/ is formed for the purpose of. or whose
| operations create, a monopoly or gem
eral control of the production, sale, or
prime necessities of life or articles of
! general use and necessity. Such COM
.
! they violate the common law; the doors
! of the courts are closed to those who
are parties to them,, and believe. the
congress can close the channels of in
! terstate commerce against them for its
protection. The law should make it's
prohibitions and permissions as clear
4 and definite possible, leaving the
least possible room for arbitrary ac-
! ton, or allegation of such action, on
the part of the executive. or of diver
gent interpretations by the courts.
Among the points to be aimed at should
| be the prohibition of unhealthy COM
at an actual loss for the purpose of
crushing out competition, the preven-
| ton of imitation of capital, and the pro-
! hibition of a corporations making ex-
elusive trade with itself a condition of
| having. any trade with itself. Reason
able agreements between or combina-
| tfons of corporations should be permit
! ted provided they are first Submitted
! to and approved by some appropriate
government body.
Power of Congress
The congress has the power to char
| ter corporations to engage In inter-
| state and foreign commerce, and gen.
visions of which existing corporations
could take out federal charters and
new federal corporations could be Gre
ated. An essential provision of such a
ling by some federal board or commits
/ sion whether the applicant for g. federal
charter was an association or COM
bination within the restrictions of the
i federal law. Provision should also be
/ made for complete publicity in all mat
/ ters affecting the public. and complete
i protection to the investing public and
the share holders In the matter of is
1 corporation law is not deemed advis-
able. a license act for big interstate