St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-11-29
PRESS COMMENT.
Regnlating the TRUSTS.

country as a member OF the inter
state commerce commission for the
past fifteen years have been meal
culable, delivered an address in
Brooklyn on the evening of Oct. %,
on 1.-The Trust Problem that con-
-stitutes valuable contribution to
this great question and that should
receive the widest possible circula-
ton.
The Standard regrets not being
able to give the address entire, but
the essential feature thereof, the
nub of Mr.. Prouty's suggestion, can
be briefly discussed.
After reviewing the history and
operations of some of the great
trusts and industrial organizations,
together with the attempts of the
government to regulate and control
them through the enforcement of the
Antitrust law, Mr.. Prouty comes to
the conclusion that the remedies now
being made use of to correct the
trust evil are largely Ineffective and
futile.
He is of the opinion that the cor
rect treatment of Big Business is bv
regulation, not by prohibition, and
he outlines what he believes should
be done to bring about adequate
anu tuIOuSn uldIIOn uAOOl C1O
following heads:
First. The law should be made
clear and unambiguous in it's terms.
Second. The penalties must be
such as will actually deter.
Third. Unfair competition should
be prohibited.
Fourth. The agencies of trans
portation must be the entirely dis
associated from the shipper.
Fifth. In some cases the govern
ment must deal with monopolies in
land by acting directly upon the
monopoly itself, by land meaning
the earth's surface and whatever is
upon it or under it.
Under the regulation which the
foregoing rules would insure, Mr..
Prouty does not believe that many
instances would be found where
harmful monopoly would exist. In
addition he believes that with the
trusts, as with the railroads, proper
and effective regulation should be-
gin with the organization of the
corporation and its capitalization.
Finally he emphasizes the essen
tial requirement, which is the crea-
ton of an administrative commits
sion, bearing somewhat the same re-
lation to the Antitrust act which the
interstate commerce commission
bears to the Act to Regulate Com
merce. And on this point we quote
Mr.. Prouty's concluding words:
at will finally become apparent
that the supervision and regulation
of Big Business is an administrative
and not a judicial function. These
trusts can not be controlled by the
courts, nor by court methods. Here,
L. lot ION
of railways is most significant.
For more than a quarter of CEN
tury the English people attempted
to supervise and regulate the opera
lions of their railways through the
courts. The result was failure, and
finally the attempt was abandoned
and a commission was created.
The United States had the same
experience. For 20 years it was
sought to administer the Act to Reg
ulaUe Commerce by judicial decree.
Experience showed the futility of the
attempt; it was abandoned and the
Commission was given administra-
tive authority.
So it is with the regulation of these
trusts. To begin suit today and
obtain a decree of dissolution five
years hence gets nowhere. The peO-
pie who might be benefited are al
ready gone. The true remedy is to
prevent You must lay your hand
on the thing itself and control that.
This is administrative in it's char
acter, not judicial, and we should
provide at the very outset the ma
chinery with which to exercise that
authority, granting the authority it
self just as rapidly as it can be safe
ly and intelligently DONE"
The principle of governmental reg
ulation thus clearly expressed by
Mr.. Prouty is exactly what the
Standard has believed in and advo-
Gated, and the development of which
it has followed with interest
since the essential features thereof
were first enunciated by President
Roosevelt and endorsed and elabor-
ated by President Taft.
1t is significant that this principle
is being generally, although tardily,
embraced by big business, as repre-
scented by such industrial leaders as
Judge Gary and George W. Perkins
and railway officials as President
McCrea of the Pennsylvania road.
In fact the captains of industry,
since the governm at suit against
the steel trust, particularly, are rum
ming to cover as fast as their legs will
carry them and are endorsing this
principle which, until they finally
perceived the handwriting on the
wall, they fought tooth and nail.
1t is a great honor to Vermont
that she can claim as her son and
have in the service Of the nation
and of the whole people a man of
the ability and statecraft of Charles
A. Prouty, whose words invariably
ring true.-[ Enosburg Standard.
TitCOmb.
We refer again to the annual
meeting of the Fish and Game
7 90 1,,o +O ba hold in Rur1inptOD