Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1911-05-04
]. ]. HILL. FAVORS.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
OF LARGE CORPORATIONS CON.
troll AND SUPERVISION NOT
MANAGEMENT AND OP.
GRAFTON

MANAGEMENT AND OP.
GRAFTON
St. Paul, Mimi, April 25.-J. J.
Hill the Great Northern-Northern Pa
cific railroad magnate, sees in publi-
city of corporation matters and intel
ligent public control of the corpora
tions themselves, long step towards
the solution of the present era of bus
iness stagnation.
"And the United States needs
savior" says M. Hill. ''The people
have demanded not only the best
but an improvement on the best, and
they will now have to pay according
ly. If they don't pay in money, they
must pay in prosperity. The busi-
ness of the country increases Is per
cent every year; the facilities for
handling this new business increase
only 1-6 of that. The difference
in the ratio is too great and balance
must be struck, sometime, else there
will be complete breakdown of SER
vice of prosperity.
"Why don't the facilities for hand
ling business increase more rapidly?
Because the men behind those facili-
ties are afraid to spend their. money
for extensions and improvements.
Mr.. Hill has long been an exponent
of publicity of corporation affairs and
looks upon that as one of the means
of bringing corporation and public
together.
''The people are entitled to know
what the public service corporations
are doing and the conditions under
which they transact business" he
says: 'I have believed in and have ad-
vocated, publicity of corporation re-
ports for many years. When the
public becomes conversant with cor
poration affairs and is convinced that
it is seeing from the inside, much
OF the feeling against the great busi-
ness concerns will pass away. That
will be one Of the effects of publici-
ty..'' -.
In the matter of public control Of
quasi-public concerns, Mr.. Hill is
firm advocate, but he. wants that
control to be intelligent; he wants
only trained men in the places of
control.
"A corporation is piece of pa
per bearing the stamp and seal Of
the state," he says, Its life is
created by the people and naturally
the people should have some word in
making the rules under which it
transacts business. That PROPOSE
tion is one have preached for years
and now am glad to see it making
headway among common carrier cor
porations. Last week President
Nudge of Rock Island railroad, de-
clared for public control of railroads;
George M. Reynolds. president OF
Continental and Commercial Nation
al bank Of Chicago, did the same
thing the week before; T. N. Vail,
president American Telephone and
Telegraph recently made an Official
report to his board of directors in
which he took firm stand for both
publicity and public control.
.But that control must be intelli-
gently administered. : Public control
simply because it is control by the
public, is not all. 1t must be intel
ligent, as l have always contended.
Intelligent people will ask and ex-
pect nothing more. Vail, Reynolds
and the others are right in advocat-
ing publicity and public control.
Both are things which eventually Will
20 far towards making good feel
ing between the corporations ana
the people, and will assist in settling
much Of the antagonism which now
seems to prevail"