Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-04
cure TRUSTS
BY PUBLICITY
FEDERAL CORPORATION COM
MISSION RECOMMENDS Gov
EMINENT CONTROL.

Knox Smith, United States commits
sioner of corporations, describes the
| next step which the government is adj
monished to take in handling the trust
| problem
Prohibition has practically failed"
to prevent great industrial co1nbina
tons, declares the commissioner in
the annual report of his bureaus work
to the secretary of commerce and la
Dor. Legislation, therefor, to regulate,
rather than prohibit, is recommended,
in recognition of inevitable economic.
law" and an irresistible movement
| toward concentration in business"
| Preliminary to plunging into this
phase and feature of his report the
commissioner briefly reviews work for
the one year naturally embraced and
| for the five years the bureau of cor
porations has been in existence. This
review to some extent serves to en-
phasize the logic of the advanced step
now recommended.
| Time to Take the First Step.
GIN the last five years." says the
commissioner, "the country has made
great progress in the problem of cor
poration regulation. AS result of the
work already done, we are now l be-
lieve, in position to make a further
and definite advance in our general
| policy.
Three considerations should guide
that advance:
81. That the real issue is What
are the intent, methods, and effect Of
given combination or corporation?
/ What a great corporation does and
how it does it is of far more practical
Importance than the mere question
whether it is legally combination or
not.
80. That the first step in such an
advance must be to establish broad
system of corporate publicity through
federal office.
80. That the system adopted shall
provide, as far as possible, basis for
the conference and cooperation of all
interests"
Details of Publicity Plan.
AS to details of the proposed system
of publicity, it is stated, these can be
the subject of much difference of
opinion, but it's main features are en-
bodied lin the following summary:
Operation by the federal govern
( ment
Provision for system of regular re-
ports from the large interstate cor
porations.
| Federal access at all reasonable
times to records and accounts of such
| corporations.
Safeguarding from publication of all
proper business secrets.
Benefit of federal registration and
resultant public standing for corpora
tons meeting requirements imposed.
System should not be compulsory
if voluntary system and corporate
cooperation can be secured.
Recognition by the government OF
right to combine under proper regula
| ton.
Administrative rather than judicial
supervision.
Illustrative of Plans Value.
Illustrative of publicity's value, the
report cites experience of the cor
! porations bureau during the last five
years.
When" says the commissioner,
''the great system of secret and semi
secret railway determinations enjoyed
by the Standard Oil company was
made public by the bureau in 1906 the
railroads concerned therein at once
voluntarily Cancelled every rate thus
criticised as illegal. Again and again
the mere exposure Of improper bust
ness methods has led to their aban-
donment without any further action"
But now, it is complained, the work
of the bureau is restricted to COM
| paratively small scope, and "the con-
troll by the federal government should
| be broadened into a general construc-
! tive system based on these tested
principles of supervision, publicity,
and cooperation"
There is an irresistible movement"
says the report, toward concentration
in business. We must definitely rec
ognize this as an inevitable economic
law. We must also recognize the fact
that industrial concentration is al
ready largely accomplished, in spite
Of general statutory prohibition
Regulation the Only Way.
Recognizing these facts. the aim of
new legislation should be to regulate
rather than to prohibit combination. 1t
is an obvious absurdlty to attempt to
do both at the same time and pro-
hibition has practically failed
"Our present law, forbidding all
combination, therefore needs adapta-
ton to the actual facts. We must
recognize concentration, supervise 1t,
and regulate it. Above all, we must
have a system of efficient publicity"
A bill for the amendment of the
| Sherman act of 1890 is mentioned as
part of the bureaus work during the
fiscal year Forthcoming publications
on corporation laws of the various
states in collaboration with able writ
ers on legal topics are also promised.
| There are now on hand in the bur-
eau, as current work, investigation Of
the tobacco and steel industries, In
ternational Harvester company, lum-
Der industry, cotton exchanges, and
water transportation.
During the fiscal year ended June
80, 1908, it is shown there has been
no legislation directly affecting the
bureau. The total appropriations for
| that wear were S247 100 Tho an