The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1911-04-29
j. S. NEEDS
SAYS HILL
More Publicity. Business In
creases 1870 Yearly; Handling
Facilities Only One-sixth.
Public Control Favored.

St. Paul, April ~. James ]. Hill,
the Great Northern Northern Pacific rail-
road masnate sees in publicity of cor
poration matters and intelligent public
control of the corporations themselves, a
long step toward the solution of the
present era of business stagnation.
''And the United States needs a
saviour" says Mr.. Hill. THE people
have demanded not only the best but ali
improvement on the best, and they will
now have to pay accordingly. If they
don't pay in money they must pay in
prosperity. The business of the country
increases IS per cent every year; the
facilities for handling this new business
increase only one-sixlh of that. The
difference in the ratio is too great and
balance must be struck, sometime.
else there will be complete breakdown
of service or prosperity.
why don't the facilities for handl-
ing business increase more rapidly? Be-
cause the men behind those facilities
are afraid to spend their money for ex-
tensions and improvements
Mr.. Hill has long been an exponent of
publicity of corporation affairs and looks
upon that as one of the means of bring
ing corporation and public together.
THE people are entitled to know
what the public service corporations are
doing and the conditions under which
they transact business, he says. II
have believed in, and have advocated,
publicity of corporation reports for many
years. When the public becomes con-
versant with corporation affairs and is
convinced that it is seeing from the
inside, much of the feeling against the
great business concerns will pass away.
That will be one OF the effects of
publicity
In the matter of public control of
quasi-public concerns. Mr.. Hill is firm
advocate, but he wants that control to be
intelligent: he wants only trained men
in the places of control.
"A corporation is a piece of paper
bearing the stamp and seal of the
state,' he says. Its life is created
by the people and naturally the people
should have some word in making the
rules under which it transacts business.
That proposition is one have preached
for years and now am glad to see it
making headway among common carrier
corporations. Last week President
Nudge of the Rock Island railroad de-
clared for public control of railroads;
George M. Reynolds, president OF the
Continental and Commercial National
bank Of Chicago, did the same thing the
week before; T. N. Vail. president of
the American Tele phone and Telegraph
recently made an official report to his
board of directors in which he took a
firm stand for both publicity and public
CONTROL
but that control must be intelliaently
administered Public control simply
because il is control by the pbulic. is
not all. 1t must be intelligent, as l
have always contended. Intelligent
people will ask and expect nothing
more. Vail, Reynolds and the Others
are right as advocating publicity and
public control. Both are things which
eventually will 60 far towards making
good feeling between the corporations
and the people, and will assist in settl-
ing much of the antagonism which now