The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-01-14
PRESIDENT SENDS MESSAGE
ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE

nermitted 70 acquire any interest OF
any kind, directly or indirectly. III the
capital stock, or purchase or lease any
railroad, or any other corporation
which completes with it, with the pro-
viso that the law shall not operate 10
prevent any corporation which. at the
date of the passage of the act, owns
half the entire stock of company from
securing the rest of it, nor prohibiting
any railroad company which IS oprat
ing railroads under lease at the time
the passage of the act from acquiring
a reversionary ownership OF such
roads.
Would Prohibit Watered Stock
The message recommends the enact
ment of a law prohibiting the water
ing of stock by requiring all stocks to
be sold at par, or at a value deter
mined by the commission. for money,
or if anything else is rendered, or II
services are paid in return for stock,
it must be valued by the commission.
In addition the commission is to su-
pervise the issue of all stocks and
bonds. The president also recon-
mends the passage by the senate OF the
Esch bills passed few weeks ago by
the house. giving the interstate COM
MERGE commission power to standard
ize the safety appliances of all rail
roads The president says that Attor-
new General Wickerrsham has prepared
a bill embodying all these ideas, which
is now ready for congress.
In discussing the anti trust law the
president says that it needs no amend
ments.
1.-The object of the law is to suppress
abuses of business and not to interfere
with great volume of capital which,
concentrated under one organization,
has reduced costs of production and
made it's profits thereby, and took no
advantage of its size to stif1e compe-
tition. I conceive that nothing could
happen more destructive to the pros
perity of this country than the loss
of that great economy in production
which has been, and will be, effected
in all manufacturing lines by the en-
ployment of large capital under one
management. y
After declaring that the decisions of
the supreme court upheld the law, the
president says:
''The value of the statute, which is
rendered more and more certain by a
long line of decisions by the supreme
court of the United States, furnishes
strong reasons for leaving the act as it
is"
He declares that it is the dvty of the
department of justice, under the pres.
ent law, to investigate all trusts, and
says:
"But such an investigation and pos.
sible prosecution Of corporations whose
prosperity affects the comfort not only
of the stockholders, but of millions OF
wage earners and employees and associ.
a,ed tradesmen, must necessarily tend
to disturb confidence in the business
community and dry up the new flow.
ing sources of capital from it's place
of boarding, and produce halt in our
prosperity that will cause suffering and
strained circumstances among the in.
nocent for the faults of the guilty few.
He says he desires to procure a
means of bringing corporations into
the pale of the law, and to prevent any
business disasters. He offers the pro-
position of the federal charter as the
means of gaining this purpose.
Therefore the president recommends
the enactment of a law for the forma-
ton Of corporations engaged in inter
state trade under federal license, pro-
tecting them from undue interference
by the state and providing for the is
sue of stock only for the paid in value
in cash or property when they have been
ascertained by the federal authorities.
In discussing the possible objections
to his plans, the president says that
recent decisions have been so sweeping
that only three doors are open to cor
porations. They must resolve them.
selves into their component parts with
loss to themselves ''and to the coun.
try" they must run in defiance of the
law, or, as a third possibility they
can accent his charter nj an