The Huttig news., 1907-12-07

cOnfnlSSlOn being nfSt ODtalneQ. Untll the national government assumes proper control of interstate commerce. in the exercise of the authority 1t all ready possesses. 1t will be impossible either to give to or to get from the railroads full justice. The railroads and all other great corporations will do well to recognize that this control must come; the only question is to what governmental body can most wisely exercise it. The courts will de- termine the limits within which the federal authority cen exercise it, and there will still remain ample work within each state for the railway com mission of that state; and the national interstate commerce commission will work in harmony with the several state commissions, each within its own prov ince, to achieve the desired end.
 Control of Interstate
 Business Concerns Urged
 Moreover, in my Judgment there should be additional legislation looking to the proper control of the great business con- cerns engaged in interstate business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit and prosperity no less than for the protection of investors and of the general public. As I have repeatedly said in messages to congress and else- where, experience has definitely shown not merely the unwisdom but the futility or enoeaVoring to put stop to all busi- ness combinations. Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is not only necessary but inevitable. It is so in the world of business just as it is so in the world of labor, and 1t is as idle to desire to put an end to all corpora tions, to all big combinations of capital, as to desire to put an end to combina- tions of labor. Corporation and labor union alike have come to stay. Each if ~N.rlry
 and not evil Whenever in either there is evil, it should be promptly held to ac- count; but it should receive hearty en- couragement so long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly immoral to put or keep on the statute books a law, nominally in the interest of public moral ity, that really puts premium upon public immortality, by undertaking to forbid honest men from doing what must be done under modern business condi- tions, so that the law itself provides that its own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business success. To aim at the accomplishment of too much usu- ally means the accomplishment of too lit tie, and often the doing of positive dam age.
 The antitrust law should not be re- pealed; but it should be made both more efficient and more in harmony with act ual conditions. It should be so amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to the general public such amendment to be accompanied by, or to be an incident of, a grant of su- pervisory power to the government over these big corporations engaged in inter- state business. This should be accom- panied by provision for the compulsory publication of accounts and the subjec- ton of books and papers to the inspec- ton of the government officials. A be- ginning has already been made for such supervision by the establishment of the bureau of corporations.
 'The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice to the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole of benefit to the public. But even if this feature of the law were abolished, there would remain as an equally objectionable feature the difficulty and delay now incident to it's enforcement. The government must now submit to irksome and repeated delays before obtaining a final decision of the courts upon proceedings instituted, and even favorable decree may mean an empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to control these corporations by lawsuits means to imposes upon both the depart ment of justice land the courts an i'm possi61e burden: It Is not Feasible to carry on more than .af limited number of such suits Such "a law to be really effective must of course be administered by an executive body, and not merely by means of lawsuits. The design should be to prevent the abuses incident to the crea- ton of unhealthy and improper combina- tions instead of waiting until they are in existence and then attempting to de- stroy them by civil criminal proceed ings.
 Investing Public Should
 Re Amply Safeguarded.
 '"The congress has the power to charter corporations to engage in interstate and foreign commerce, and a general law can be enacted under the provisions of which existing corporations could take out fed eral charters and new federal corpora tions could be created. An essential pro- vision of such law should be a method of predetermining by ,some federal board or commission whether the applicant for a federal charter was an association or combination within the restrictions of the federal law. Provision should also be made for complete publicity in all matters affecting the public and complete protec- ton to the investing public and the share holders in the matter of issuing corporate securities. If an incorporation law is not deemed advisable, a license act for big interstate corporations might be enacted; or a combination of the two might be tried. The supervision established might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. AL least, tRe antitrust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions of the methods which ex- perience has shown have been of most service in enabling monopolistic combina- tions to crush out competition. The real owners of corporation should be com pelled to do business in their own name. The right to hold stock in other corpora tions should heareafter be denied to inter- state corporations, unless on approval by the proper government officials, and a prerequisite to such approval should be the listing with the government of all owners and stockholders, both by the corporation owning such stock and by the corporations in which such stock is owned.
 ITO confer upon the national govern ment in connection with the amendment I advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over big business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit them as it has benefited the na- tional banks In the recent business crisis it is noteworthy that the institu- tions which failed were institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the national government Those which were under national con- trol stood the test.
 National control of the kind above ad- vocated would be to the benefit of every wel-naanaged railway. From the stand