The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-11-17

4
| OHIO. Ny information. which l have
every reason to believe is accurate and
not successfully TO be challenged. is
! that of these Southern iron ores the
| Steel Corporation has, including the
property gained from the Tennessee
! Coal and Iron Company, less than 20
per cent.-perhaps not over Is per cent.
rms Is very much smaller percentage
thon the percentage IL holds of the
| Lake Superior ores. which even after
the surrender of the Hii lease, will
| ing to my view, therefore, and UNI
less-which 1 do not believe possible
,hese hSures can be successfully chal-
| ienged. the acquisition OF the Zen
| nessee Coal and Iron Company's ores
! In no way changed the situation as
regards making the Steel Corporation
monopoly. The showing as to the
percentage of reduction OF all kinds
OF steer ingots and steel castings in
the United States by the Stee, Cor
poration and by all other manufacture
er case. 1t makes the case even stronger
man ! put 1t in my testimony be-
Iore the investigating committee, sor
1 was scrupulousIy careful to make
| statements that erred, Il at all against
| my own position"
| Returning to the main subject, Mr..
roosevelt continues:
J Law Suits Not Remedy.
To attempt to meet the whole prob
ltm not by administrative government
al action. but by & succession of law
| ri1s ~ hopeless from tho standpOin I
or worklng out n permanently salts
! factory solution.
Moreover, the results sought to DO
achieved are achieved only in extreme
~ insutiicient and fraEmentary meas
ure by breaking up all big corpora.
lions, whether they have behaved well
or III. into number OF little corpora
tons. which It is perfectly certain will
be largely and perhaps altogether. un-
| DER tho same control. Such action ia
nareh and mischicvous II the corpora
son Is guilty OF nothing exNpt it's
4 STANDARD OIL, and especially the to-
oaGco trusts. the corporation has been
Eulity OF immoral and antisocisl prac-
ices there is need for far moro
Drastic and thoroughgoing action than
ahY that has been taken. under the
recent decree Of the Supreme Court.
| In the case of the tobacco trust, for
instance the settlement in the cir
cult Court. in which tho representa-
eEes OF the government seemed in
cilned to concur: practically leaves all
or the companies stlll substantially
under the control of twenty-nine orig
MAJ defendants. Such result js la
men Of, PIE from the standpoint OF JUS
| N allowed to stand means that the
tooacco trust has merely been Obliged
70 change Its clothes; that none OF
/ real punishment.
surely. miscarriage of justice is not
coo strong a term to apply to such
z result when considered in connec-
ton with what the Supreme Court
! said OF this trust
THE effort to prohibit ali combtna
uons, good or bad, is bound to fall
~ means that some OF the worst com
pinatcns are not checked and that
nos business is checked Our pur-
pose pose should be. not 70 strangle bust
bihations. but to regulate big corpora-
IONS In demonstrating and effective
ness a so SO as o, to help legitimate bust
completely safeguarding the Luerests
o. the People as whole.
| , situation Not Satisfactory.
rev viii dispute the fact that the
present situation is not satisfactorv
ano cannot, rs put en- a permanently
81. 81; 'i tha basis unless we put an end
for 'ne peri Psri9o no Of cropping and declare
shall clearly define and punish w w1t
doing, which shall put u stop 10 .he
ihiquities done in the name of bust
ness, but which shall be strict equity
10 business. We demand that big bus
mess give the people square deal:
IN return we must insist that when
any one engaged in big business hoE-
ssuS endeavors to do right he shall
F., himself be given square deal; and
the hrst ana most elementary kind Of
Sauare zeal Is 10 give him in advance
iull information as to just what ho
can, and what he cannot legally ana
properly 10.
Not only should any huge corpora
ton which has gained its position by
uhlalr methods and by Interference
win the rights of others, by demoral-
= 80 sss rs 49, " q hSsllcs -s1sssi, ;ssss'
by sneer baseness and wrong doing be
broken up, but 1t should be made the
business of some administrative gov
erninental body, by constant suDer-
VISION to see that 1t does not come to-
control as shall insure the community
against all repetition of the bad con-
duct-and 1t should never be permitted
thus to assemble its parts az lonr as
these parts are under the control OF
the original Offenders. for actual ex-
perienc6 has shown that these men
are, from the standpoint OF the people
at large, unfit to be trusted with the
power implied in the management of
a large corporation. But nothing of
Importance is gained by breaking IN n
nngh interstate and international in
austrian organization which has no.
oHended otherwise than by It's size
INTO number of small concerns with
out any attempt to regulate the way
shall do business. Nothing Is gained
by deprivinS tho American nation of
good weapons. wherewith 30 fight I'm
the great field of international Indus
trial competition.
Premium on sharp Practice.
10 sum up, then: 1t Is practically
Impossible, and. ii possible 1t would
be miscnievous and undesirable m fry
to break up all combinations. merely
| because they are large and successful.
and to put the business of the country
back into the middle of tho eighteenth
century conditions of unregulated COM
petition between small and weak bus
mess concerns. Such an effort repre-
sents not progresslveness. but an un-
intelligent. though doubtless we'll
meaning terrorism. Moreover the ef-
fort to administer n law merely BIZ
lawsuits and court decisions is bound
TO end In signal failure. and meanwhile
to be attended with delays and uncer-
families. and TO put q premium upon
legal sharp practices.
such an EFFORT does not adequately
punish the guilty. and yet works great
/ harm to the innocent
Moreover. 1t entirely fails to give
the publicity which is one OF the best
by-prOducts Of the system OF control