Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-02-18

that the authority to provide for the
organization Of business corporations
was a necessary inc:oent to the exer-
else of that authority. and again and
again the supreme court has said
that congress has this power"
The charges against the states that
they had neglected their opportuni-
ties in dealing with the corporations,
Secretary Nagel said he did not be-
lieve, but he attributed the failure
of the states to cope with the COM
mercial conditions to inability rather
than to negligence.
<'The plain and indisputable fact
is" he said, "that the commerce of
these organizations with which we
are really concerned has outgrown
both the boundaries and the author
ity of any particular state. In other
words, the individual state is vainly
struggling to control conditions that
extend beyond it with respect to ter
ritory as we'll as power and the mod
ern demand for congressional action
is nothing but the plain, practical
call for an authority that is equal
to the occasion with which it has to
deal Realizing that we have a ma
tional commerce, we are naturally
calling upon national authority to
control it, and to protect it,"
Secretary Nagel recited the devel-
opment of business enterprises in the
country, showing the gradual growth
to the big corporation and the at
tempts of the states to legislate and
the resultant trouble because of the
varying laws, and he pointed partic-
ularly to one result of conditions as
they. existed.
mot only is congress subjected to
Inconsistent, conflicting and often de-
structive regulations" he said, "but
the inevitable effect of such activity
is to create false competition between
the states at the expense of that com:
merce. The state of lowest stan
dards forces the hand of all the rest.
Attempts at progressive legislation
are paralyzed just as one unfair
competitor always towers standards
everywhere. Nor will the efforts of
the several states to promote unity
of legislation meet this difficulty.
These efforts are most praiseworthy
with respect to all subjects which
rest within the exclusive control of
the several states; as to national sub
jects they are worse than useless.
"All corporations in matters po-
litical means government, and why
resort to mere understanding without
binding force among the states,
when we have a common government
to deal with a common cause? Why
not have our federal government
legislate where our governors can
only confer and recommend"
The need and purpose OF federal
control Of corporations, the secretary
stated he believed to be 'simply to
place private business company in
it's commercial activity precisely
where the constitution undertook to
put the citizens Of the United States.
The purpose is to organize companies
that may engage in interstate COM
merce under regulations fixed by the
federal government and free from
the unnatural and uneconomical EN-.
barrassments which so far any state
has been at liberty to interpose."
Another phase of the question dis
cussed by the secretary was the in.
ternational commerce of the coun-
try. Up to the present time, he said,
the country had rested on the belief
that development of domestic COM
merce was sufficient Other, coun-
tries felt the need of international
commercial development long ago
and the United States, he urged,
must do all that was necessary to
meet what it's competitors were doing
in that line.
eve are now engaged in establish
ing relations with foreign countries"
continued the speaker, "lookirg for
the opportunities of our commerce IN
their midst. We are shaping our
treaties to secure open doors and
equal rights with other countries. In
what form shall this commercial en-
terprise make its appearance in other
countries If not in che form of the
accepted corporate organization?
docs it stand to reason that we
can successfully depend upon a cor
poratfon large enough to engage in
foreign commerce, and at the same
time too large to be admitted by