Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-04-28

of commerce and labor, should be giv- en this power. My personal belief is that ultimately we shall have to adopt a national incorporation law, though I am well aware that this may be impos- sibIe at present. Over the actions of the executive body in which the power is placed the courts should possess merely a power of review analogous to that obtaining In connection with the work of the interstate commerce com mission at present. To confer this power would not be leap in the dark, 1t would merely be to carry still fur ther the theory of effective govern mental control of corporations which was responsible for the creation of the interstate commerce commission and for the enlargement of it's powers and for the creation of the bureau of cor porations.
 The interstate commerce legislation has worked admirably. It has benefit ed the public. It has benefited hon. estly managed and wisely conducted railroads, and in spite of the fact that the business of the country has enor- mously increased, the value of this federal legislation has been shown by the way in which it has enabled the federal government to correct the most pronounced of the great and varied abuses which existed in the business world twenty years ago, while the many abuses that still re- main emphasize the need of further and more thorough going legislation. Similarly the bureau of corporations has amply justified it's creation. In other words, it is clear that the prin- ciples employed to remedy the great evils in the business world have work ed well, and they can now be em- ployed to correct the evils that fur ther commercial growth has brought more prominently to the surface. The powers and scope of the interstate commerce commission and of any sim liar body, such as the bureau of cor porations, which has to deal with the matter in hand, should be greatly en- larged so as to meet the requirements of the present day.
 States and National Commerce.
 The decisions of the supreme court in the Minnesota and North Carolina cases illustrates how impossible is dual control of national commerce. The states cannot control it. All they can do is to control interstate com merce, and this now forms but small fraction of the commerce carried by the railroads, through each state. Ac- tual experience has shown that the ef- fort at state control is sure to be nulli- fled in one way or another sooner or later. The nation alone can act with effectiveness and wisdom. It should have the control both of the business and of the agent by which the business is done, for any attempt to separate this control must result in grotesque absurdity. This means that we must rely upon national legislation to pre- vent the commercial abuses that now exist and the others that are sure to arise unless some efficient government al body has adequate power of control over them. At present the failure of the congress to utilize and exercise the great powers conferred upon it as re- gards interstate commerce leaves this commerce to be regulated not by the ct unf hu fha hut lxv the occasional and necessarily inade- quate and one sided action of the fed eral judiciary. However upright and able court is 1t cannot act construc- lively. It can only act negatively or destructively as an agency of govern ment And this means that the courts are and must always be unable to deal effectively with problem like the present, which requires constructive action. A court can decide what is faulty, but it has no power to make better what it thus finds to be faulty. There should be an efficient executive body created with power enough to correct abuses and scope enough to work the complex problems that this great country has developed. It is not sufficient objection to say that such a body may be guilty of unwisdom or of abuses. Any governmental body, wheth- .er court or a commission, whether executive, legislative or judicial, if given power enough to enable it to do effective work for good must also in- evltably receive enough power to make 1t possibly effective for evil.
 Therefore it is clear that (unless a national incorporation law can be forthwith enacted) some body or bodies in the executive service should be given power to pass upon any con- blnatlon or agreement in relation to interstate commerce, and every such combination or agreement not thus ap- proved should be treated as in viola ton of law and prosecuted according ly. The issuance of the securities of any combination doing interstate busi- ness should be under the supervision of the national government.
 Question of censtitutionslity.
 A strong effort has been made to have labor organizations completely exempted from any of the operations of this law, whether or not their acts are in restraint of trade. Such excep- tion would in all probability make the bill unconstitutional. and the leglsla- ture has no more right to pass a bill without regard to whether it is consti- tutional than the courts have lightly to declare unconstitutional a law which the legislature has solemnly en- acted. The responsibility is as great