The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-08-28
CORPORATION CONTROL.

tug CO"IpuND.
CORPORATION CONTROL.
The purpose of the national admin.
istration to urge upon congress the
enactment of laws for the better con-
troll of corporations. was indicated by
President Roosevelt in q recent public
address. After calling attention to
the i~neficiency of the state laws relat-
ing to this subject, the president out
lined his policy in these remarks:
Experience has shown that it is
AIRY to exercise q far more eff.
Gent control than at present over the
business use of these vast fortunes,
chiefly corporate, which are used as
under modern conditions they almost
invariably are in interstate business.
When the constitution was created
none OF the conditions of modern bust.
ness existed. They are wholly new,
and we must create new agencies to
deal effectively with them.
"There is no objection in the minds
Of this people to any mans earning
any amount Of money If he does it
honestly and fairly, If he gets 1t as
the result of special skill and enter
prise, as a reward of ample service
actually rendered. But there is a
growing determination that no man
shall smass q great fortune by special
privilege, by chicanery and wrong.do-
ing, so far a. it is in the power Of leg.
islation to prevent; and that the for
tune when amassed shall not have q
business use that is anti.social.
"Most large corporations do q
business that is not confined to any
one state. Experience has shown that
the effort to control these corporations
by mere state action cannot produce
wholesome results. In most cases
such effort fails to correct the real
abuses of which the corporation ia or
may be guilty; while in other cases the
effort is apt to cause either hardship
to the corporation itself, OF else hard
ship to neighboring states which have
not tried to grapple with the problem
in the sam manner; and of course we
must be Is scrupulous to safeguard
the rights of the corporations as to
exact from them in return q full meas.
ure of justice to the public.
II believe in q national i%ncorpora.
ton law for corporations engaged IN
interstate business. I believe, fur
thermore, that the need for action is
most pressing as reg CARDS those cor
porations which, because they are
common carriers, exercise a quasi
public function; and which can be
completely controlled, in all respects
by the federal government, by the ex
ercise of the power conferred unde'
the interstate commerce clause, and
if necessary, under the post.roa'
clause Of the constitution. Durin!
the last few years we have takel
marked strides in advance along tn
road of proper regulation of thes
railroad corporations; but we mus
not stop in the work. The nationa
government should exercise over ther
a similar supervision and control T.
that which it exercised over nationa
banks. We can do this only by pro
ceeding farther along the lines marke
out by recent national Legislation.
"Iu dealing with any totally ne
set of conditions there must at tn
outset be hesitation and experiment
Such has been our experience in dea
ing with the enormous concentrate
OF capital employed in interstate bus
ness. Not only the legislatures b'
the courts and the people need grady
ally to be educated so they may st
what the real wrongs are and what tt
real remedies.
"Our aim is to try and do somethir
effective. Our purpose is to STAN
out the evils. We shall seek to fin
the most effective device for this puI
pose, and we shall then use it, wheth'
the device can be found in existir
law or must be supplied by legisl
ton. Moreover, when we thus tai
action against the wealth which worl
iniquity, we are acting in the interes
of every man who acts decently ar
fairly by his fellows, and we q
strengthening the hands of those wi
propose fearlessly to defend proper'
against all unjust attacks. No ind
vidual, no corporation obeying tt
law, has anything to fear from tn
Administrations
MEN WHO RIDE HOBBY HORSE