Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-12-05
PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE



ing the last six years. as shown both
in the legislation of the congress and
the administration of the law by the
department Of justice.
National License For Railroads.
The most vital need is III connection
with the railroads AS to these, In my
Judgment, there should now be either
a national incorporation act or law
licensing railway companies to engage
in interstate commerce upon certain
, conditions. The law should be so
framed as to give to the interstate
commerce commission power to pass
upon the future issue of securities,
while ample means should be provided
20 enable the commission whenever In
its judgment it is necessary to make
physical valuation Of any railroad. As
l stated In my message to the congress
a year ago, railroads should be given
power to enter into agreements sub
ject to these agreements being made
public in minute detail and to the con-
sent Of the Interstate commerce COM
mission being first obtained Until
er control OF Interstate commerce IN
the exercise Of the authority It already
possesses 1t will be impossible either
to give to or to get from the railroads
full Justice The railroads and all 9th.
er great corporations will do well to
recognize that this control must come.
The only question is as to what gov
ernmental body can most wisely eyer
else it. The courts will determine the
limits within which the federal author
lity can exercise it. and there will still
remain ample work within each state
for the railway commission of that
state, and the national interstate COM
merce commission will work in har-
mony with the several state commits
6ions, each within its own province, to
achieve the desired end.
The Antitrust Law.
Moreover, In my judgment, there
should be additional legislation looking
to the proper control of the great busi-
ness concerns engaged in interstate
business, this control to be exercised
for their own benefit and prosperity
no less than for the protection Of in
vestors and of the general public. AS
/ have repeatedly said In messages to
congress and elsewhere, experience has
definitely shown not merely the unwis-
dom, but the futility. of endeavoring to
put stop to all business 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 it is as idle to desire to put
an end to all corporations, to all big
combinations of capital, as to desire to
put an end TO combinations of labor
Corporation and labor union alike have
come to stay. Each if properly man
aged is a source of good and not evil
Whenever In either there is evil it
should be promptly held to account,
but it should receive hearty encourage
ment so long as 1t is properly managed.
1t is profoundly immoral to put or
keep on the statute books a law nomi
, nally In the interest of public morality
that really puts a premium upon pub
lie immortality by undertaking to for
Did honest men from doing what must
be done under modern business condi-
tons SO that the law itself provides
that its own infraction must be the
condition precedent upon business sue
cess. TO aim at the accomplishment
Of too much usually means the accom-
plishment of too little and often the do
ing of positive damage.
Not Repeal, but Amendment.
The antitrust law should not be re-
cpealed, but it should be made both
more efficient and more in harmony
with actual conditions. 1t should be
so amended IS 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
grant of supervisory power to the
government over these big concerns
engaged in interstate business. This
should be accompanied by provision
for the compulsory publication of &C
counts and the subsection Of books and
papers to the inspection Of the gov
eminent officials. A beginning has al
ready 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 fea.
ture the difficulty and delay now Incl
dent to It's enforcement. The govern
ment must now submit to irksome and
repeated delay before obtaining a final
decision of the courts upon proceedings
instituted. and even a favorable de-
cree may mean an empty victory
Moreover, to attempt to control these
corporations by lawsuits means to i'm
pose upon both the department of
Justice and the courts an impossible
burden. 1t is not feasible to carry on
more than Il limited number of such
snits. Such a law to be really effec-
tive must Of course ba administered
by an executive body and not merely
Sby means Of lawsuits. The design
should he to prcVcI, ihc abuses Incl