The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-08-09
RIGHTS OF INVf STORS.


voices raised in behalf of the investors
of the country whose money is locked
up in the corporations which have be-
come the targets of overheated abuse.
These voices are not raised as so many
hurriedly conclude in behalf Of John
D. Rockefeller and other multf-mil-
lionaires. They are quite able to take
care of themselves. They are raised in
behalf of the thousands whose savings
are in the savings banks of the coun-
try and which amount to millions
more than all Of the possession Of the
very rich.
The Wall Street Journal, which has
ben an independent critic Of offending
corporations and staunch supporter
of President Roosevelt in his deter
mination to make the corporations be-
have, states the case plainly and con-
vincingly, 1t says; A bad corporation
Is a stencil in the nostrils of the peo-
pie. It is necessary to quarantine it.
Government regulation is simply es-
tablishing health board ordinances
and limits. But mob violence is a con-
fagration. 1t calls for the fire reserves
and the police. More than that, it may
require the formation of vigilance
committees of investors for the main
tenance of order and justice. An emil
|nent banker this week suggested in q
private interview that it might be
necessary to form committee to rep
resent investing interests. The idea is
a good one. Let us have such COM
mittee, but to be effective it must not
be one sided 1t must strike alike at
wrong by corporations as well as
wrong against corporations This is the
time to organize the investors of the
country in defense of the rights Of pri-
vate property and individual liberty, in
advocacy Of publicity and the strict ac-
eountability of trustees and against
the mob that is crying, lynch"
Lynch"
The Journal and Courier holds no
brief for any corporation save the
onn n rapra.anAe ;tentf b,t "a T. -. 4
to add its voice to the voices now be-
ing heard In every part of the coun-
try In behalf not Of free for all pol
icy for the corporations, but of fair
play all around The modern corpora
ton is not only a logical outcome of
our commercial strength but 1t is the
most beneficent means yet discovered
of doing the worlds work. What the
people owe to 1t and what the people
will continue to owe to 1t will some
day make book which win be read
with all of the fascination of fairy
tale. But while the government and
the people give 1t the encouragement
and protection 1t deserves they should
at the same time protect 1t against the
evils of It's own breeding. This is a
task to be undertaken not in the spirit
of the mob but with the dignity Of
highly trained service. We have had
many illustrations In recent years Of
the costliness of a government by
clamor and we ought to have learned
enough from 1t to beware now lest in
a continuance of that rowdy policy we
shall kill the goose that lays golden
eggs for us.
BY all means let the work Of more
scientifically regulating the public
service corporations go on but let@ 1t
be done with some realizing sense of
what 1t means to unnecessarily and
savagely hamper them with restric-
lions which have no other merit than
to try out the notions of political
demagogues. There has been clamor
enough. Perhaps clamor was needed
to start the wheels of reform. The
need now is for orderly progress under
taken by sober minded men. In this
work the State of Connecticut should
take the lead through its new utii-
ties commission.