The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-10-17
GIVES HIS PLAN
Gove,nor wilson Thinks The Way to Reg
ulats Lawlessuess Of trusts is to
PUT One DUMMY In JAIL


my Directors to Hire Out to the
Large Corporations and Trusts
That Prey Upon the People.
George E. Miller, special, cor.
respond ent of the Detriot News, in
a letter to his paper from Sea Girt,
N. j., the summer capital Of that
state, says If Gov. Woodrow VII
son becomes President Of the Unit
cd States,} his message on the sub
ject of trust busting will 10 to con-
gress with the decisive emphasis OF
the rifle shots which echo through
his library from the range as you
sit in conversation with him in the
State Executives summer home
here. They will If the Governor
retains the opinions he now holds
on the illegal things done by the
people characterized by Mr.. Roose-
velt as malefactors of great wealth.
Gov. Wilson is no hopeless despond-
ent. He disagrees utterly with those
who believe the law cannot be made
to reach such as seek to adjust the
business machinery Of this country
SO that all the wealth will fall into
a few hoppers His ideas are sharp
ly defined and his plans simplicity
itself.
He would send violators Of the
law to Jail. That is the whole or the
antidote he prescribes. Fines, he
saws. place too much burden of the
punishment upon the innocent. And
he SCOTS at the idea that the guilty
cannot be detected and convicted. 1t
will be seen that Gov. Wilson's plan,
quoted below, for trust busting dit-
fers very radically from the blus-
ter and do nothing plan of Taft and
Republicans generally, but agrees
with Bryan's plans. Here is Gov.
wilson's plan as outlined to the
correspondent:
"The managers Of corporations
themselves always know the men
who originated the acts charged
against them as done in contraven-
tion of the law; is there no means
by which their names may be dis
closed to the officers OF justice!
Every act, every policy, i'm the con-
duct of the affairs of corporation,
originates with some particular Of
ticer, committee or board. The Of
ficer. the committee, the board, or
dering an act, or originating pol
icy, contrary to the law, or intended
to neutralize or coutravene 1t, is
a serious offender against society
and must be PUNISHED If our instl-
tutions are to staLc.
It is neither sensible or affec-
tive to a.tsmpt to punish :he >cr-
poration. We do not indict the gun,
hut the man behind the gun. il is
a fatuous and unnecessary fiction to
treat corporation as in all respects
a legal person. To control such OF
its acts as are against public policy
we must cease to deal with it by
means of the law as if it were only
a single individual, a responsible
individual, and must handle 1t for
what it is--an artificial agency.
You cannot punish corporation.
Fines fall upon the wrong persons.
Fines fall opon the wrong persons,
and more heavily upon the innocent
than the guilty. Those who know
nothing whatever of the offense for
which the fine is inflicted must pay
as we'll as those who originated and
carried through the illegal act. SO
the real punishment falls upon -ie
stockholders and the customers.
"If you will but put one or two
conspicuous dummies into the penl-
tentiary, there will be no more dunn
mics for hire. You can stop the traI-
fic in dummies, and then, when the
idea has taken root in the. corporate
mind that dummies will be contis-
Gated. the custom of the business
will change. Modern business enter
prise make the corporations indis-
pensable. None of us, l take it, has
any quarrel with business success,
but all of us ought to have an ire
cincilable quarrel with business law
lessness. AS I told the lawyers OF
the American Bar Association in an
address last year, corporations do
not do wrong. Individuals DO
wrong. When we stop that wrong
doing we have taken from the
corporation all the power o. evil or
which the people so justly COM
>1o;r