Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-04
TO THE NATION
Grosscup Wants Corporate Rule
of Peoples Wealth Checked.
STATE AND NATION TO DO IT.
Dangerous Condition if Uncontrolled,
Says Chicago Judse-TeIIs Irish Fell
lowship Club That Greater Circula-
tion Will Not End Money Trouble.

Says Chicago Judse-TeIIs irish Fell
lowship Club That Greater Circula-
ton Will Not End Money Trouble.
Judge Peter s. Grosscup of the Unit
ed States circuit court in a recent adj
dress before the Irish Fellowship club
in Chicago declared for state and fed
eral control of corporation dividends,
says the Chicago Record Herald. His
talk was hinged upon the present mon
ey stringency, which, he said, could
not be explained by lack Of money.
He asserted that corporate control of
the peoples wealth constitutes dan
ger to the country if permitted to go
on.
Judge Grosscup said in part:
1--WE are in the midst Of most
phenomenal national development. We
have a greater circulation Of money
per capita than ever before. Yet we
are told it is not large enough. Higher
wages are being paid, workingmen are
more skilled, industry and commerce
and our capacity for consuming prod
ucts are larger than ever was the case
in the worlds history. Our crops for
the last seven or eight years have
been phenomenal. Never before has
there been SO great foreign demand
for American products. Yet with all
these elements Of prosperity in our
favor we find business for the moment
In state Of paralysis.
1--WE are like man stepping sud
denly from bright sunshine into a mist.
Our banks are sound; our Industries
are sound; our productivity Is sound;
we are hopeful and expectant. Some
say there Is not enough currency In the
country. cannot see how, If there
was enough ten days ago, there Is not
enough now.
america is going through trans
formation. We have come In the last
Twenty years to place where we are
bound to pause and readjust ourselves
to new conditions. Twenty years age
the people of the United States had
invested in industries through the
banks less than $4,000. 100000. OF the
peoples wealth there is loaned to Dor
rowers from the banks now sum Eve
or ten times larger In proportion.
Thirty years ago the country's in
dustries belonged to the men conduct
ing them. Now the ninety and nint
furnish the bone and sinew Of the en-
terprise controlled by the one. This
is dangerous condition II permitted
to go on uncontrolled. Unless we thinl
more deeply and carefully than som,
Of our political leaders there Is trou
bic ahead for the nation.
The corporation has not been looked
after as a means Of exercising tn,
property instinct OF the American PEG
pie. A corporation which subserve
this purpose honestly and fairly, doini
its duty by the public and the investor
is doing public service. II it use
quick rich methods care not wheth
er it is gentlemen's club or swim
dlers' scheme-it is menace and ,
disgrace. I have been engaged 70
1--WE or six years trying to extricat
the victims Of such a corporation.
''The remedy is for the state Of I'LL
nois locally and the United States o
America in national enterprises to dc
part from their indifference and la,
the foundations for corporate struc
lures that will exercise the trusteeshi
they ought to exercise. II our stat
permits corporation to swindle thou
sands Of investors by financial legerde
main and false reports you and ar
not absolved from blame by havin
had no personal part In the fraud.
''Why is it that the state of Illinoi
permits corporations to pay unearne
dividends? Thus was traction stoc
raised from 80 to par and double pa
and higher while nothing was spen
for maintenance. The men on the II
side pocketed the proceeds and left th
investors to hold the bag.
There Is no reason why corpors
ton should not be compelled to estat
lish before competent tribunal tina
dividends have been earned before
is allowed to pay them.
/ What ask is that the corporatio
shall become medium through whic
the instinct Of mankind for indepenG
ence can work itself out The Amer
can people are not afraid Of ordinar
business risks. They demand an eff
cient fundamentally through which t
work out their instinct to be me
among men,
i rnnkI~c r..