The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-04-16
George NJ. Reynolds, Big Bank Presl-
dent and Former Iowa Citizen is
in Favor of Such
Supervision.
WILL AID CONSERVATISM
Public Confidence in Great lnstitu.
tons viii be Assured by Such a
System and Work no
Harm.

CHICAGO, April 15.-George NJ,
Reynolds, president of the Continental
Commercial National bank, declares
that public regulation of public service I
corporations has come to stay Mr.. /
Reynolds regards governmental super |
vision as inevitable and necessary /
Conservatism would be fostered, he |
said, by the publicity necessarily at
tending supervision of railroads and |
public utility corporations
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
Telephone & Telegraph company in
his declaration recently that public
control of public utilities has come
and come to stay Experience also
has demonstrated that this 'supervis-
ion should stop at control and 'regu-
lstion' and not manage operate nor
dictate what the manag ement or oper-
alton should be beyond the require
ments of the greatest efficiency and
| economy said Mr. Vail. This state
ment by President Vail referred par
ticularly to the class known as pub
lie service corporations"
Mr.. Reynolds said: There is no
doubt about the fact that capital has
not always been handled conserva-
! lively and economically in the past.
This must be remedied. The bank of
which am president has under its
control quarter of billion dollars,
.and five times year must let the
public know through It's published
I statements just what it is doing. In
addition to these examinations by Fed
eral bank examiners there is an ex
animation by the Chicago clearing
house and a voluntary public state
ment by the bank ITSELF
Supervision of the public utility
corporations would mean publicity.
Publicity necessarily insures greater
conservatism am convinced that
reasonable national supervision is not
far off these statewide discussions
laws and theories which are interest
ing every thinking American today
are natural development in our
financial history Sentiment is slowly
and surely forming along that line;
those of us who have studied the prob
lem know that public utility corpora
] lions will be supervised by the gov
eminent 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 for
the federal authorities to say to the
railroads just what they can do year
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. II
railroads in the past had been retard
ed through too stringent legislation III
entering territory which was sup
rosedly barren, great sections of the
west would not have been opened ant
the stocks of those roads would MOI
be paving dividends. A board Of
supervision, a state body, whatever
plan was adopted could not possibly
absorb all the data. figures, plans
and estimates of which every new
railway project necessitates the mas
tering. There is a wide difference be
tween supervision and control, but
this big feature of the problem viii
be whipped out and solved in time.
1--WE Americans are pretty thorough
in our method of adjusting economic
conditions; our only trouble is thai
we are likely to go off half-cocked
Sometimes we fail to discriminate
THE getting rid of what is bad il
Wall street will be accomplished by
Intelligent supervision but in thu
1 discussion of corporations we should
! not condemn the good with the bad
"The dovetailing of the state laws
\ and the method of national supervis
/ ion into one harmonious, intelligen
! whole is sure to come. The onl.
question now before us is the prope
e education of the American public t.
( the real needs of the situation Hys
e terra and soap-box oratory must b.
L supplanted by intelligent reasoning
d when this is accomplished, all tn
netty details of difference will b.
d swept away and the big utility cor
Il porations will be properly and cor
servatively supervised and the day 0
publicity in big corporations will b
at hand
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