Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-23
arraignments and hastily conceived reme-
dies, is the business of the hour.
Frank Confessions Needed

Frank Confessions Needed
1.-THE only sound method of law Is to
seek out and prohibit particular transac-
tions, and when those transactions occur
to bring, not corporations but individuals,
to book fsr them. These corporation law
yers who insist upon standing between
the public and the corporations which
they represent, in order to shield the cor
porations from close scrutiny and to pre-
vent the intervention Of legal remedy,
are really doing the interests they repre-
sent the deepest possible injury.
'It Is duty which 1t is to be hoped
they will see very soon, and not after 1t
is too late to come forward with the
frankest disclosures, not divulging conf
Dental matters, not attacking the repu-
tations of individuals, but frankly inform
ing the public as to the actual methods
Of corporate business, and showing where
those methods can be squared with the
best rules of justice, without lmpairing
either the efficiency of corporate action
or the prosperity of the country. l DO not
know from who else such counsel can
come and IL 1t does not come from them
we are in danger of seeing the present
tendencies outstrip all reason, and the
corporations which they are seeking to
defend fatally injured to the detriment OF
the whole national future.
Clearly the object of existing remedial
legislation Is to strike at the corporations
themselves. They cannot be imprisoned;
they can only be dissolved or fined. II
they are fined it is clear that the result
Is that just so much money Is taken out
Of the business of the country, that 1t
comes from the pockets not of those who
have originated the questionable practices
complained of, but Of the stockholders
and of those who buy what the corpora
ton produces, and that the money goes
into the public treasury, where 1t is not
needed and where, under our singularly
belated currency system, 1t can be OF no
Use to anybody. Corporations cannot be
moralized. Morals belong to individuals,
and a law which strikes at corporate
action itself will be entirely Intellectual
unless 1t reaches the individuals who
originate that action and are truly re-
sponsible for 1t.
Speechmaking Enough;; Work Now
"a great deal has been said about CIV
ing entire publicity to everything that
corporations do This is clearly out Of
the question, for many practical reasons;
but it is not out of the question that each
corporation should so disclose the exact
methods Of its business that the officers
of the law may know who is responsible
for each class of its transactions; whether
certain things that 1t has done or author
lied have been voted by its directors as a
board, or ordered by the executive COM
mittee of It's directors, or originated by
its president or by its treasurer or by
some other officer whom 1t would be
equally easy to name by title. And 1t
should be perfectly possible to base upon
such self analyses direct personal respon-
sibility forsevery transaction which trans
crosses the law. This would not disclose
the business of the corporation to its
rivals, but would analyze its makeup for
the benefit of the officers of the law.
II think great deal of allowance
should be made for the mistakes which
politicians and legislators have been maxi
ing. They have been driven forward by
public opinion, but they have not been
assisted by the candid advice Of business
men and of the lawyers of the country
who are most intimate with its business
Nothing is 80 much needed as that the
range of our consultation in public affairs
should be extended, and that the sense of
public duty and Of the obligation to give
public advice should be extended to those
who now stand outside politics, and crit
icise those who are trying to conduct It,
We have had enough Of speechmaking in
general terms, and ought now to get down
to the actual business of putting our af-
fairs nationally In order"