The Washington herald., 1907-11-04
PUT GUILTY IN JAIL
Continued from Page One.

Continued from Page One.
Standard OIL disclosures. and facts which
are known about the United States Steel
corporation. constitute abundant proof
OF the assertion. We must get back 20
individualism. holding the individual re-
spOnsible for crimes, whether perpetrated
by him in the name of the corporation
or not.
Big Fines Ineffective.
We are forgetting too much the corner
stoae OF all civic righteousness, which is
individual responsibility Landing behind
the bars three men. whose names are
constantly upon the public tongue for
plain violation of both the State and na-
uoaal law, will do more good 10 check
trusts and interstate commerce evils than
any number of injunctions or receiver
ships. Then when you come TO think
about IL, what good are the injunctiOns or
rece!verships to the people and what
harm Is done to the malefactors? Again.
what good does the fine do the people
and what harm does II do the criminals?
Say the government fines the Standard
Oil Company SO 100000. and collects it,
Have you punished Rockefeller or
Rogers? Not at ALL
Have you punished the Standard oil
Company itself? There is no such thing:
1t is a legal fiction, and cannot feel pun
ishment.
You have taken SO 100000 out of the
surplus and thereby hurt many innocent
stockholders as well as the real Grim
inals
II not, you have caused the Standard
OIL to levy an assessment on the stock
holders which would also punish the in
nocent as well as the guilty. or else the
directors would meet the situation by
raising the price Of oil x to l cent gal
Ion, whereupon you punish the consumers.
The thing 10 do IS TO find the malefac-
tor through whose vote as a director or
through whose action as an officer the
crime found its preparation in violation
of the law and punish him. The Standard
OIL is an exception 10 the general rule.
as IL has very few stockholders. What l
have indicated would apply a great deal
more 10 any other of the large corpora
tions.
What we need in this country more
than anything else Is a more virile and
strenuous expression Of the powers OF the
State, both in making laws TO meet new
conditions and in executing those on the
statute books Especially is the latter
course to be commended.
Cause OF Money FURRY.
"As TO the Presidents financial recon-
mendations, il may be well 10 keep this
fact in mind:
In the late furry IN New York there
was no trouble abou: bank notes. no lack
OF confidence concerning them. The
banks, on their note-issuing side. were
safe enough. Nobody came running with
bank notes TO be cashed. as might have
been the case with an asset currency,
unless il had been very. very carefully
guarded or had the government as a
guarantor behind il.
In the latter case the government would
have had all to lose and nothing 10 gain.
The men who were frightened were de
positors in banks. and they were fright
ened because their money had been loaned
out TO spectators and others upon col
lateral IN the shape OF stocks. confidence
in many OF which had been shaken by
recent disclosures which had merely
turned on the light
IF these same stocks, thus become sub
ject to distrust. had been the basis of
bank currency as well as loans due the
bank, popular confidence would certainly
not have been strengthened, but, on the
contrary, further weakened
Not only must men engaged in forming
combinations in violation of law learn
they must quit II, but great banking in
stitutions must stop ioaning depositors'
money upon stocks issued by combina-
tions in violation Of the law, as we'll as
upon mere speculative ventures In the
meanwhile no amount OF law of any sort
Is going 10 change human nature. Great
prosperity viii continue forever. I sup
pose, 10 lead to carelessness about debt,
and 10 reeklessness in business methods
and these in their turn 10 either antici-
pated or real panic. Panic in its turn VIII
continue 10 lead TO doing busines upon a
sensible basis, and this in its turn 10 re-
newed prosperity. After all the recent
furry in high finance has in the main
been confined TO high finance, and see no
reason why II should materially affect the
man selling cotton, corn, tobacco, wheat
sugar, rice, or iron and steel manufac-
tured products To a large extent the
whole thing is a stock gamblers incident
Things OF This nature are not going TO
be cured, or prevented, by placing our
bank currency on the same precarious ba-
sis as our bank lOans. They are 10 be
prevented, IL at all, by putting our bank
loans back on a safer footing and keep
ing them there. I do not mean there is
no sort of imaginable asset banking that
would be safe. I am afraid, however"
concluded Mr.. Williams. athere is no sort
OF asset banking which would satisfy
bankers and be safe at the same time"