The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-12-06
THE WILMINGTON MESSENGER FRIDAYs DECEMBER g. 1907

merce, and, while doing them full JUS
tice, exact from them I'm return full
justice to others. The conditions oi
railroad activity, the conditions OF our
immense interstate commerce, are
such as to make the central govern
ment alone competent to exercise full
supervision and control.
The grave abuses &c individual cases
OF railroad management in the past
represent wrongs not merely TO the
general public, but, above, wrongs TO
fair dealing and honest corporations
and men of wealth, because they excite
a popular anger and distrust which
from the very nature Of the case tends
to include in the sweep Of its resent
ment good and bad alike. From the
standpoint of the public | can not too
earnestly say that as soon as the nat
these abuses becomes indiscriminate
and unthinking, it also becomes not
merely unwise and unfair, but calcu-
| lated to defeat the very ends which
| those feeling it has in view. There has
| been plenty Of dishonest work by cor
porations in the past. There will not
| be the slightest let up in the effort to
hunt down and punish every dishonest
man. But the bulk OF business is
| honestly done. In the the natural in
| dignaLiOn the people feel over the dis
honesty, It is all essential that they
| should not lose their heads and get
| drawn into an indisCriminat2te raid
! upon al corporations, all people OF
wealth, whether they do we'll Or i'll.
out Of any such wild movement good
/ will not come, and never has come. On
the contrary the surest way to invite
| reaction is to follow the lead of either
/ GemagOgue or visionary in the sweep
! ing assault upon property values and
upon public confidence, which would
wo incalculable damage in the busi-
ness world and would produce such uls-
trust of the agitatOrs that in the revu1-
sion the distrust would extend to hon
est men who, III sincere and sane fash
len, are trying TO remedy the evils -
The antitrust law shouldn't be repeal
ed; but it should be made both more
| efficient and more in harmony with ac-
tual conditions. 1t should be so amend
ed as to forbid only the kind of COM
hinatiOn which does harm to the gen
eEal public, such amendment to be &C
I cOmpained by, or to be an incident of
q grana of supervisory power Of gov
ernment over these pig concerns en-
gagged in interstate business This
should be accompanied by such pro-
vision for the compulsory publication
OF accounts and subjects Of books and
papers to the inspection of the gov
ernment officials. A beginning has al
ready been made for such supervision
by the establishment of a bureau of
| corporations.
The antitrust law should not prohib-
it combinations that do no injustice to
the public But even if tbs feature of
tho law We're abolished, there would re-
main as equally Objectionable feature
the difficulty and delay now incident
|
| must now submit to irksome and re-
peated delay before repeating a final
decisiOnOf the courts upon proceedings
| instituted, and even a favorable decree
may mean an empty victory. Moreov-
| Ell, to attempt to control these cor
porations by lawsuits means to impose
! upon both the department of justice
and the courts an impossible burden;
| it is not feasible to carry on more than
! a limited number of such suits. Such
law to be really effective must of
| course be administered by an execu-
tive body, and not merely by means
Of lawsuits The design should be to
prevent the abuses incident to the ere
alton of unhealthy and improper COM
| binations instead of waiting until they
are in existence and then attempting
to destroy them by civil or criminal
proceedings.
A combination should not be tolerat-
| ed if it abuse the power acquired by
combination to the public deriment.
| 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, monopoly or gen
| eral control OF the production, sale or
distribution Of any one or more of the
prime necessities of life or articles of
general use and necessity. Such
combinations are against public
policy; 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 interstate commerce
; against them for its protection The
law SnOul6 make ifS DrohihitiOnc and