Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-12-06


the national government assumes
proper control of interstate commerce,
in the exercise of the authority 1t al
ready possesses. 1t will be impossible
either to give to or to get from the
railroads full justice. Tho railroads
and all other great corporations will
do well to recognize that this control
must come; the only question is as to
what governmental body can most
wisely exercise 1t. The courts will de-
termine tho limits within which the
federal authority can exercise IL, and
there will still remain ample work
within each state for the railway COM
mission of that state; and the national
interstate commerce commission will
work in harmony with the several state
commissions, each within it's own prov
ince, to achieve the desired end.
Control Of Intorstnte
business Concerns Urged.
Moreover, in my Judgment there should
be additional legislation looking to the
proper control of the great business con-
Germs engaged In interstate business, this
control to be exercised for their own
benefit and prosperity no less than for
the protection of investors and of the
general public. As / have repeatedly
said in messages to congress and else
where. experience has definitely shown
not merely the unwisdom but the futility
of endeavoring to put a stop to all busi-
ness combinations. Modern Industrial
conditions are such that combination is
not only necessary but inevitable 1t is
80 in the world of business just as 1t Is
30 in the world of labor, and II is as idle
to desire to put an end to all corpora
tions, to all big combinations of capital,
as to desire to put an end to combina-
tons of labor. Corporation and labor
union alike have come to stay. Each If
properly managed is source of good
ot,d i,, alt1
Is evil, 1t should be promptly held to ac-
count; but II should receive hearty en-
couraBement so long as 1t is properly
managed. 1t is profoundly immoral to
put or keep on the statute books n law,
nominally in the interest of public moral
ity, that really puts a premium upon
public immortality, by undertaking to
forbid honest men from doing what must
be done under modern business condi-
tons, so that the law itself provides that
its own infraction must be the condition
precedent upon business success. To aim
at the accomplishment of too much usu
ally means the accomplishment of too lit
tie, and often the doing of positive dam
age.
THE antitrust law should not be re-
pealed: but it should be made both more
efficient and more in harmony with act
ual 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 su-
| pervisory power to the government over
| these big corporations engaged in inter-
state business. This should be accom-
| panied by provision for the compulsory
| publication of accounts and the subjec-
| ton of books and papers to the inspec-
| ton of the government officials. A be-
ginning has already been made for such
| supervision by the establishment of the
| bureau of corporations.
"The antitrust law should not prohibit
| combinations that do no injustice to the
| public. still less those the existence of
which is the whole of benefit to the
| public. But even If this feature of the
| law We're abolished, there would remain
| as an equally Objectionable feature the
| difficulty and delay now incident to it's
enforcement. The government must now
| submit to irksome and repeated delays
| before obtaining a final decision of the
courts upon proceedings instituted, and
| even favorable decree may mean an
| empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to
control these corporations by lawsuits
means to impose upon both the depart
ment of justice and the courts an inn
| possible burden; II is not feasible to carry
on moree than a limited number of such
| suits. Such law to be really effective
must of course be administered by an
executive body. and not merely by means
| of lawsuits. The design should be to
| prevent the abuses incident to the crea-
| ton of unhealthy and improper combina-
| tions, instead of waiting until they are
| in existence and then attempting to de-
stroy them by civil or criminal proceed
| ings.
Investing Public Should
he Amply safegunrded.
1.-The congress has the power to charter
corporations to engage in interstate and
| foreign commerce, and a general law can
| be enacted under the provisions of which
| existing corporations could take out fed
| eral charters and new federal corpora
| tions could be created. An essential pro-
vision OF such law should be method
of predetermining by some federal board
| or commission whether the applicant for
| a federal charter was an association or
| combination within the restrictions of the
| federal law. Provision should also be
| made for complete publicity in all matters
affecting the public and complete protec-
ton to the investing public and the share
| holders in the matter of issuing corporate
| securities. If an incorporation law is not
deemed advisable, a license act for big
interstate corporations might be enacted;
| or a combination of the two might be
| tried. The supervision established might
| be analogous to that now exercised over
| national banks. At least, the antitrust
| act should be supplemented by specific
| prohibitions of the methods which ex-
| perlenCe nus SHOWN nave Deen OIL most
| service in enabling monopolistic combina-
tions to crush out competition. The real
! owners of corporation should be COM
| PEELED to do business in their own name.
| The right to hold stock in other corpora
tions should heareafter be denied to inter-
state corporations unless on approval by
the proper government officials. and a
| prerequisite to such approval should be
the listing with the government of all
owners and stockholders. both by the
corporation owning such stock and by
the corporations in which such stock is
owned.
ITO confer upon the national govern
ment, in connection with the amendment
] advocate in the antitrust law, power OF
supervision ever big business concerns
engaged in interstate commerce, would
benefit them as 1t has benefited the ma
tional banks In the recent business
crisis It Is noteworthy that the institu-
tions which failed were institutions
which were not under the supervision and
| control of the national aoVernment