Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1911-04-13
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 It ought to
stay. That is the fat and unequivocal
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. 1t came conse-
Quently as a surprise. not only be-
cause of its novelty and squareness.
but also on account of the unqualified
acquiescence Of a board OF directors
comprising such eminent and conserv-
alive financiers 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 o.
public service corporations by perma
nent commissions" he says. has
come and come to stay. Control, oil
regulation. to be effective means pub
licity 1t means semi-public discus
sion and consideration before action
It means everything which is the op
posite OF and inconsistent with effec
tive competition. Competition-ag
gressive. effective competition-meani
strife, industrial warfare; it mean
contention; it oftentimes means tax
ing advantage of or resorting to an,
means that the conscience Of the con
testants or the degree of the enforce
Aggressive competition mean
duplication of plant and investment
The ultimate object of such compel
ton is the possession Of the feel
wholly or partially; therefore
means either ultimate combination o
such basis and with such prices a
will cover past losses. or it mean
- fnu
eventual loss of capital. However
results. all costs Of aggressive. III
controlled competition are eventual
borne, directly or indirectly, by tn
public. Competition which is not al
: gressive, presupposes cooperative a
,, ton, understandings. agreement
which result in general uniformity {
harmony OF action, which, in fact,
not competition but is combinatio
unstable, but for the time effectiv
When thoroughly understood it wi
be found that control" will civ
more of the benefits and public a
: vantages, which are expected to
/ obtained through such ownership. ar
8 will obtain them without the publ
e burden of either the public offic
y holder or public debt or operatir
deficit
q When through a wise and juC
q cious state control and regulation &
e the advantages without any of Il
J. disadvantages of state ownersh
e are secured. state ownership
% doomed"
n IF Mr.. Vail is right" says Harper
Weekly, In a concise summing-u
I then it seems pretty plain that '
'e are entered upon a new era in DO
IS economics and politics. And it is hi
n time we did If evolution is to ST
lie plant revolution as an efficient for
IN In the development of civilization. A."
n