The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1911-04-21
CAPITALS SAFEGUARD is
FEDERAL REGULATION

Chicago, April 13.-George NJ.
president of the Continent
al and Commercial National bank,
declares that public regulation of
public service corporations has come
to stay. Mr.. Reynolds regards gov
ernmental supervision as inevitable
and necessary. Conservatism would
be fostered, he said, by the publicity
necessarily attending supervision OF
railroads and public utility corpora
lions.
Mr.. Reynolds views regarding
railroad and industrial corporations
went further into the problem of cor
poration control than did President
Theodore N. Vail Of the American
& Telegraph company in
his declaration recently that public
control of public utilities has come
and come to stay. Experience also
has demonstrated that this super
vision should stop at control and
and not manage, oper-
ate nor dictate what the manage
ment or operation should be beyond
the requirements of the greatest eff
fcency and economy" said Mr.. Vail.
This statement by President Vail re-
ferred particularly to the class
known as public service corpora
tons"
Mr. Reynolds said: There is no
doubt about the fact that capital
has not always been handled conser-
vatively and economically in the
past. This must be remedied. The
bank of which l am president has
under it's control a quarter of a
billion dollars, and five times year
must let the public know through
its published statements just what
it is doing. In addition to these ex.
aminations by federal bank examin-
ers there is an examination by the
Chicago Clearing House and a volun.
tary public statement by the bank
itself.
Supervision of the public utility
corporations would mean publicity
Publicity necessarily ipsures greater
conservation. l am convinced that
reasonable national supervision is
not far oft; these statewide discus
sions, laws and theories which are
interesting every thinking American
today are natural development IL
our financial history. Sentiment is
slowly ad surely forming along tina
line; those of us who have studied
the problem know that public utility
corporations will be supervised BY
the government eventually.
"The fine dividing line between
supervision and control is where The
best thinkers will have to get to-
gether. 1t would not seem right fol
the federal authorities to say to the
railroads just what they can do yeal
in and year out; that would be TAX
ing away from the railroads the very
power which has made them the
greatest developers of America. L
railroads in the past had been re-
tarded through too stringent legisla
ton in entering territory which wa.
supposedly barren, great sections O.
the west would not have been open
ed and the stocks of those road.
would not be paying dividends.
board of supervisors, a state body
whatever plan was adopted. could
not possibly absorb all the data
figures, plans and estimates of which
every new railway project necessi
tates the mastering. There is Z,
wide difference between supervision
and control, but this big feature o
the problem will be whipped out AM
solved in time.
eve Americans are pretty thor
ough in our method of adjustin,
economic conditions; our only trou
BILE is that we are likely go off half
cooked. We sometimes fail to dis
criminate.
"The getting rid of what is bad IL
Wall street will be accomplished b,
intelligent supervisors, but in the
discussion of corporations we shoult
not condemn the good with the bad
"The dovetailing of the state law
and the method of national supervis
ion into Que harmonious, intelligen
whole, is sure to come. The onl,
question now before us is the prope
education of the American public t,
the real needs of the situation. Hy
sierra and soap-box oratory must b.
supplanted by intelligent reasoning
when this is accomplished, all tn,
petty details of difference will b,
swept away and the big utility cor
porations will be properly and con
servatively supervised and the da,
of publicity in big corporations will
be at hand"