The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-16
PROBLEM OF CONTROL.
Report Of Secretary of Commerce and
Labor Made Public.

The annual report OF the Secre-
tary of Commerce and Labor has
been made public, and one of the
most important topics to be touched
upon, is the problem of control of our
cmmercial and financial interests. The
following is an extract from the re-
port:
! The problem of the proper control
of our enormous commercial and fin
| ancial forces is admitted to be one of
the great questions before the coun-
try.
For this great problem there is
imperative need of two things-frst,
reliable information upon which the
Government may take proper legisla-
tive and administrative action; sec
ond, reliable information in concise
and available form to serve as ba-
sis for public opinion The first step
| to be taken is an advance toward a
complete system for obtaining this
information in those specific in
| stances and industries which, with the
force and money available, it has
been able to cover. The value of this
work has been demonstrated beyond
dispute.
1t is clear, however, that the time
has come for far wider and more
complete application of those prin-
ciples. This can be accomplished
only by the establishment of def
mite federal system of statutory pub
licity by which all important cor
porations engaged in Interstate COM
merce shall be required to report at
stated intervals to a federal agency
such as the Bureau of Corporations
the essential facts in regard to their
organization management, and con-
dition. This will accomplish for the
entire business machinery of the
country, in SO far as it is in the
hands of corporations, what the Bur-
eau has been doing in specific cases.
1t must be carpied on by the Federal
Government, because that agency is
the only one whose jurisdiction is
commensurate with the subject-mat-
ter and which can prescribe uniform
conditions for the entire country Any
attempt to solve the problem through
State action has been and necessar-
lily will be futile. No considerable
number of States can ever agree lin
establishing or maintaining any one
system. No State alone can make
its own system effective. In financial
and commercial conditions, the bust
ness of the country has become nat
ionalized. It's legal regulation also
must be national.
Brief outlines of such a system as
pointed out in previous reports OF
the Secretary are substantially as
follows:
! 1t should require regular reports
from all large corporations engaged
in interstate commerce to a federal
administrative office, supplemented
by the power on the part of that of.
flee to verify and enlarge by further
investigation these reports and the
facts connected herewith
1t should provide for the publica.
ton in concise and ineligible form
of all the important facts of corpor.
ate operations which are of public
interest, but should at the same time
safeguard from unnecessary publica
ton all proper business secret.
1t should recognize the fact that i
the Government regulates corporate
business it should also extend to it
as far as possible, that proper pro
lection which is the necessary cor
ollary of such regulation. If thu
Government undertakes to regulat,
corporate combination, it is also OBJ
3 vious that such combination must b,
, recognized within it's proper limits
1t is useless to ignore the plain fac
that business Capitalization has beef
forced by imperative economic law
The problem before the Government
in this connection is therefore, no
that of the existence of combination
. but that of the misuse of the vas
commercial powers acquired there
by.