Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-12-09

governments cannot exercise that
power over corporations doing bust
ness In most or all Of them, first, be-
cause they absolutely lack the author
ity to deal with interstate business In
any form and, second, because Of the
inevitable conflict Of authority sure to
arise In the effort to enforce different
kinds of state regulation, often incon-
sistent with one another and some
times oppressive In themselves. Such
divided authority cannot regulate COM
merce with wisdom and effect The
central government is the only power
which without oppression can never
theless thoroughly and adequately
| control and supervise the large cor
porations. To abandon the effort for
national control means to abandon the
effort for all adequate control and
yet . render likely continual bursts Of
action by state legislatures, which
cannot achieve the purpose sought for,
but which can do great deal of dam
age to the corporation without confer
ring any real benefit on the public.
believe that the more farsighted
corporations are themselves coming to
recognize the unwisdom Of the violent
hostility they have displayed during
! the last few years to regulation and
control by the national government Of
| combinations engaged in interstate
business. The truth is that we who
believe in this movement Of asserting
and exercising genuine control in the
public interest over these great corpo-
rations have to contend against two
sets Of enemies, who, though nominal
ly opposed to one another, are really
| allies in preventing a proper solution
Of the problem. There are, first, the
| big corporation men and the extreme
individualists among business men
who genuinely believe in utterly un-
regulated business that is, In the reign
Of plutocracy-and. second, the men
who, being blind to the economic
movements of the day, believe in a
movement Of repression rather than Of
regulation Of corporations and who de-
nounce both the power Of the railroads
and the exercise Of the federal power
which alone can really control the rail-
roads. Those who believe In efficient
national control, on the other hand, do
not in the least object to combinations,
do not in the least object to concentra-
ton in business administration. On
the contrary, they fav or both, with the
all important provlso that there shallEbe
such publicity about their workings
and such thoroughgoing control over
them as to insure their being In the
Interest and not against the interest of
the general public. We do not object
to the concentrat tion Of wealth and ad-
ministration, but we do believe in the
distribution Of the wealth in profits to
the real owners and in securing to the
public the full benefit Of the concen-
\ trated administration. We believe that
with concentration in administration
there can come both the advantage Of
q larger ownership and of 1, a more
equitable distribution Of profits and at
the same time a better. service to the
commonwealth. We hlieve that the
| administrative should be for the benefit
Of the many and that greed and rascal
ity practiced on large scale should
be punished as relentlessly as il prac-
ticed on a small scale.
We do not for a moment believe that
the problem win be solved by any
short and easy method. The solution
will come only by pressing various con-
current remedies. Some OF these RENE
dies must lie outside the domain OF
| all government. Some must be out
/ side the domain of the federal
government But there is legisla-
ton which the federal government
/ alone can enact and which is abso.
lutely vital in order to secure the at
tainment Of our purpose. j Many laws
4 are needed. There should be regula-
ton by the national government OF the
great interstate corporations, including
simple method Of account keeping,
publicity, supervision Of the issue Of
securities, abolition Of rebates and OF
4 special privileges. There should be
short time franchises for all corpora.
tions engaged in public business, in.
cluding the corporations which gel
power from water rights. There should
be national as well as state guardian.
ship Of mines and forests. The Labor
Legislation hereinafter referred tc
should concurrently be enacted into
law. s.... X +, h.
i To accomplish this means, Of course
a certain increase in the use of, moi
4 the creation Of, power by the centra
i government The power already ex
lists. 1t does not have to be created
The only question is whether 1t shall
| be used or left idle, and meanwhile
the corporations over which the pow
er ought to be exercised will not re
main idle. Let those who object tt
this increase in the use OF the only
power available, the national power
a be frank ana admit openly that they
propose to abandon any effort to con
troll the great business corporations
and to exercise supervision over til.
u accumulation and distribution O.
wealth, for such supervision and con
troll can only come through this par
ticular kind Of increase of power. w,
II hall f,