Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-01-17
'6CRAM or COVER
NOR N ADDRESS



resort to subterfuge. A duty is exact.
ed & him which he must perform sim.
ply. directly. Immediately. The gate
OF opportunity stands wide open. Ii
W. are foolish enough to be UNWILLING
10 pass through It the whip Of opinior
will drive us through.
Nc wise man will say, of course
that he sees the whole problem OF re-
form lying plain before him or knows
how to frAms the entire body OF law
that will he necessary to square bust
ness with the general interest ana put
right and fairness ana public spirit IN
the saddle again In all the transactions
OF our e society. but some things
afe plain enough, and upon these we
can act.
Warts Liability lsw.
In the first place, 1t Is plain that ou1
laws with regard to the relations OF
employer and employee are in many
respects wholly antiquated and impos
sibie. They were framed for another
age which nobody now living remem
bers, which Is indeed SO remote from
our life that 1t would be dificult for
many OF us to understand 1t IL It were
described to u The employer is now
generally a corporation or huge com
pany of some kind. The employee Ia
n Of hundreds or Of thousands
brought together, not by individual
masters whom they know and with
whom they have personal relations,
but by agents of one sort or another.
Workingmen are marshaled in great
numbers for the performance of a mul-
titude Of particular tasks under a com
mon discipline. They generally use
dangerous and powerful machinery,
over whose repair and renewal they
have no control. New rules must be
devised with regard to their ohltga-
lions and their rights, their obligations
TO their employers and their RESPONSE
bflities to one another. New rules
must be devised for their protection,
fer their compensation when injured,
for their support when disabled.
We call these questions of employ
ers' liability, questions OF working
mems compensation, but those terms
do not suggest quite the whole matter.
There is something very new and very
big and very complex about these new
relations OF capital and labor. A new
economic society has sprung up, and
we must effect a new set Of adjust
ments. We must not pit power against
weakness. The employer is generally
In u day, as / have said, not an In
dividual, but a powerful group of In
dividuals, and yet the workingman is
still, under our existing law, an indi-
yidua] when dealing with his employer
In case of accident, for example, or OF
loss or Of illness, az well as in every
~contractual relationship. We must
have a workingman's compensation act
which will not put upon him the bur-
den Of fighting powerful composite EN-
ployers to obtain his rights, but which
will give him his rights without suit,
directly and without contest, by auto
matte operation OF law, as Ii of a law
Of insurance.
Tfss ~ I'M adjustment needed
because 1t affects the rights, the hap
pfness, the lives ana fortunes of b
idIX6St uulQDCE duQ DcCuuSt II ID ltE
adjustment for which Justice cries
1oudest and with the most direct ap-,
peal to our hearts as well as to our
consciences. |
But there Is regulation needed which
lies back of that and is much more
fundamental The composite employer
himself needs to have his character
sd orya,, or,nr-Inr41oH bic ao.an{4tu- I
ton and rights RECONSTRUCTED. read
Justed to the fundamental and abiding
interests Of society. If | may speak
very plainly, we are much too free
with grants OF charters to corporations
In New Jersey. A corporation exists
not OF natural right, but only by IL
cense of law, and the law, Ii we look
at the matter In good conscience, Is re-
sponsible for what IT creates. 1t can
lea rightly authorize any kind Of
fraud or imposition. 1t cannot right
eously allow the setting Hp of a busi-
ness which has no sound basis or
which follows methods which tn any
way outrage Justice or fair dealing or
the principles OF honest industry. The
law cannot give its license to things
OF that kind. 1t thereby authenticates
what it ought Of right to forbid.
/ would urge, therefore, the impera-
tive obligation Of public policy and of
public honesty WI are under to effect
such changes in the law of the state
as viii henceforth ef~fectually prevent
the abuse Of the privilege OF incor-
poration which has In recent years
brought so much discredit upon our
state. In order TO do this it VIII be
necessary to regulate and restrict the
Issue Of securities, to enforce regula-
lions with regard to bona fide capital,
examining very vigorously the basis Of
capitalization, and to prescribe meth
ODDS by which the public shall be safe
guarded against fraud, deception, ex-
tortion and every abuse of its conf
dence.
His View OF Corporations.
And such scrutiny and regulation
ought not TO be confined to CORPORA
items seeking charters. They ought
also to be extended to corporations
already operating under the license
and authority OF the state. for the
right to undertake such regulation Is
susceptible OF easy and obvious justi-
fication. A modern corporatlan-that
Is, q modern joiut stock conpany-is
In no proper sense an Intimate or pri-
yate concern. 1t Is not set up on the