Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-04-28
FOR PUBLIC CONTROL
VAIL FOR REGULATION AS WELL
As PUBLICITY.
SAYS BOTH HERE TO STAY
Frank Recognition OF Public Rights
by the President Of Western
Union and Telephone
Companies.

Public regulation of public service
corporations has come to stay. II
ought to have come and 1t ought to
assertion Of Theodore N. Vail, presi-
dent of both the American Telephone
and Telegraph company and the
Western Union Telegraph company.
1t came in the form of his annual re-
port to the seventy thousand stock
holders OF the two great corporations.
Although Mr.. Wallis advocacy Of full
publicity in connection with the affairs
Of such concerns was we'll under
stood, nobody in financial circles had
anticipated SO frank an avowal of
full public rights in the shaping OF
their general conduct. II came conse-
quently as q surprise, not only be-
cause of its novelty and squareness,
but also on account of the unqualified
acquiescence Of board of directors
comprising such eminent and conserv-
alive fnanciers as Robert Winson Of
Kidder, Peabody & Co., and Henry l..
Higginson OF Boston, Henry p. Davi-
son of ]. p. Morgan & Co.; Senator
w. Murray Crane. George F. Baer, T.
Jefferson Coolidge Jr.. Norman W.
Harris. John l. Waterbury and others.
President Wallis declaration is her
aided as the first recognition by those
in high corporate authority of the Jus
tice of the demand that the public
be regarded as virtual partners in all
matters that pertain to the common
welfare. He goes directly to the
point
Public control or regulation of
public service corporations by perma-
nent commissions" he says, has
come and come to stay. Control, or
regulation, to be effective means pub
licity; 1t means semi-pubIic discus
sion and consideration before action
1t means everything which is the op-
posite Of and inconsistent with effec
tive competition. Competition-ag
gressive, effective competition-means
strife, industrial warfare; 1t means
contention; 1t oftentimes means TAX
ing advantage Of or resorting to any
means that the conscience of the con
testants or the degree of the enforce
ment of the laws will permit.
Aggressive competition means
duplication of plant and investment
The ultimate object Of such competi
ton is the possession of the fielC
wholly or partially; therefore /
means either ultimate combination oil
such basis and with such prices a.
will cover past losses. or 1t mean
loss OF return on Investment AM
eventual loss of capital. However
results, all costs Of aggressive, ur
controlled competition are EVENTUAL
borne, directly or indirectly, by tn
public. Competition which is not az
gressiVe, presupposes cooperative az
ton. understandings, agreements
which result in general uniformity O
! harmony of action, which, in fact,
r not competition but is combination
: unstable, but for the time effectiv,
. When thoroughly understood 1t wi
be found that control" will Civ
more of the benefits and public al
|. vantages, which are expected to b
n obtained through such ownership, an
n will obtain them without the publ
9 burden OF either the public offic
holder or public debt or operatin
deficit
y When through a wise and jud
9 cious state control and regulation q
T. the advantages without any of Il
= disadvantages of state ownersh
t. are secured, state ownership
doomed"
IF Mr.. Vail is right" says Harper
q Weekly, in q concise summing-u
E. then 1t seems pretty plain that '
lie are entered upon a new era in DO
k economics and politics. And it is hi
time we did IL evolution is to su
plant revolution as an efficient for
70 in the development Of civilization"