Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-01
held responsible by. and be accountable to.
some sovereign strong enough to control its
conduct
Not Hostile to Corporations.

conduct.
Not Hostile to Corporations.
Il am in no sense hostile to corporations.
This is an age Of combinations. and any
effort to prevent all combination will De
not only useless, but in the end vicious, be-
cause of the contempt for law which the
failure to enforce law inevitably produces
We should. moreover, recognize in cordial
and ample fashion the immense good erect
ed by corporate agencies in country sucn
as ours and the wealth Of intellect. energy
and fidelity devoted to their service, ana
therefore normally to the service OF the
public, by their officers and directors. Inc
corporation has come to stay, just as the
trade union has come to stay Each can
do and has done great good. Eacn snouia
be favored so long as 1t does gooo. =,
Experience has shown conclusively that 1t
is useless to try to get any adequate regu-
lation and supervision Of these great
corporations by state action. Sucn reguIa-
ton and supervision can only be e1ectlveiy
exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction
IS coextensive with the field Of work OF
the corporation-that. Is, by the national
and supervision s can be o5tained by the en-
actment of law by the Congress. Our
steady aim should be by legislation, eau
tiously and carefully updertaken. put reso-
lutely persevered in, to assert the sover-
eighty of the national government by az
firmative action.
Hurtful Restraint of Competition.
1T has been a misfortune that the ma
tional laws on this subject have hitherto
been of negative or prohibitive rather than
an affirmative kind and still more that
they have in part sought to prohibit what
could not be effectively prohibited, and
have in part in their prohibitions con-
founded what should be allowed and what
should not be allowed. 1t Is generally use
less to try to prohibit all restraint on com
,t,otl, &c
able or unrea sonable. and where 1t Is not
useless 1t is generally hurtful. what
is needed is not sweeping prohibition OF
every arrangement. good or pad. "nich
may tend to restrict competition, but sucn
adequate supervision and regulation as Will
prevent any restriction of competition from
being to the detriment of the public. as
well as such supervision and regulation as
will prevent other abuses in no way con-
nected with restriction Of competition.
"Of these abuses perhaps the chlel al
though by no means the only one, is over,
captaliZation-generally itself the result or
dishonest promotion-because of the myriad
evils 1t brings in its train; for such over
capitalization often means an imitation that
invites business panic; 1t always conceals
the true relations of the profit earned to the
capital actually invested. and 1t creates
burden of interest payments which is fer
tile cause of improper reduction in or l1ml-
tation Of wages; it damages the small In
weston, discourages thrift, and encourages
gambling and speculation; while perhaps
worst of all is the thickness and dishonesty
which ii impes-fOr harm to morals IS
worse than any possible harm to material
interests and the debauchery of politics
and business by great dishonest corpora
tons is far worse than any actual material
evil they do the public. Until the national
government obtains, in some manner which
the wisdom of Congress may suggest, proper
control over the big corporations engaged
in interstate commerce-that is. over the
great majority of the big corporations-t
h. 10 n "a
these evils.
This power to regulate rates like all
similar powers over the business world,
should be exercised with moderation, eau
ton and self-res;raint; but it should exist
so that it can be effectively exercised when
the need arises / do not believe
in the government undertaking any work
which can with propriety be left in private
hands But neither do believe in the gov
eminent f1inching from overseeing any work
when it becomes evident that abuses are
sure to obtain therein unless there is gov
eminent SUPERVISION
Agreement Among Railways.
The best possible regulation of rates
would of course. be that regulation secured
by an honest agreement among the rail-
roads themselves to carry out the law. Such
a general agreement would, for instance, at
once put stop to the efforts of any one big
shipper or big railroad to discriminate
against or secure advantages over some
rival; and such agreement would make the
railroads themselves agents for enforcing
the law. The power vested IN the govern
ment to put a stop to agreements 20 the
detriment of the public Should. in my judg-
ment, be accompanied by power to permit, !
under specified conditions and careful super
vision, agreements clearly in the interest
of the public. But. in. my judgment, the
necessity for giving his fu: Their power Is
by no means great as the necessity for
giving the commission or administrative
hoxyn ar,yIp q r. ad
above; and it may well be inadvisable to
attempt to vest this particular power in the
commission or other administrative body
until it already possesses and is exercising
what / regard by far the most important
of all the powers 1 recommend-as indeed
the vitality important power-that to fix
given effect, subject to review by the
"a system of examination of railroad ac
counts should be provided similar to that
now conducted into the national banks by
the bank examiners; few hrst-ciass rail-
road accountants, If they had proper di-
rection and proper authority to inspect
books and papers, could accomplish much
in preventing wilful violations of the
Praise of the Railroads.
LET me most earnestly say that these
recommendations are not made in any spirit
of hostility to the railroads. I believe that,
on the whole, our railroads have done well
and not i'll; but the railroad men who wish
to do we'll should not be exposed to COM
petition with those who have no such de-
sire, and the only way to secure this end
is to give to some government tribunal
the power to see that justice is done by the
unwilling exactly as it is gladly done by the
willing .. 1t is in the interest Of the
best type of railroad man and the best type
of shipper no less than of the public that
there should be governmental supervision
and regulation of these great business
operations, for the same reason that it is
in the interest of the corporation. which
wishes to treat it's employees Alright that
there should be effective employers
liability act, or an effective system of fac
tory laws to prevent the abuse of women
and children. We wish to insure as fair
treatment for the small town as for the big
city; for the small shipper as for the big
shipper.
1T is because, in my judgment, public
ownership of railroads is highly undesirable
and would probably. in this country, entail
far-reaching disaster, that wish to see
such supervision and regulation of them
in the interest of the public as will make
1t evident that there Is no need for public
ownership. The opponents of government
regulation dwell uIon the difficulties to be
encountered and the intricate and involved
nature Of the problem. Their contention
to ad "a