Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-03-05

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general field Of industry in which such
corporation is engaged"
None can exist on whose board Of
directors there is any member who is
director in any other corporation en-
! gagged in the same line Of business and
dummy directors are specifically pro-
hibited.
None can own stock in any other
corporation.
| None can exist above ten millions in
capital in which any banker sits as
director.
| None can exist in which one person
owns more than 10 per cent of the
capital if he also owns as much as
10 per cent of the capital Of some COM
petitive business unless it is provided
| that his holdings are deprived OF their
voting power.
None can exist and engage in manu-
featuring or commerce if it also owns
or operates a common carrier.
None can exist which sells below cost
for period of exceeding two months
for the purpose Of inju-ins COM
petitor and the selling price must al
ways be alike in all parts Of the coun-
try. transportation excluded.
None can exist in which the capitali-
zation exceeds the actual value Of the
property more than 10 per cent unless
the property itself has shrunken in
value thru losses.
None can exist which has paid for
promotion more than l per cent on
fifty millions or more, ? per cent on
twenty to fifty millions. or per cent
on less than twenty millions of capital.
\ trade commission of three is ere
ated with wide power to investigate
and pass upon all corporations engaged
in interstate commerce. to which the
present bureau of corporations is trans
ferred and subordinated except that the
act expressly provides that common
carriers and corporations with an in
vested ca pital of less than five millions
are not TO be included within the pro-
visions of the law.
Thus would Senator Cummins de-
stroy monopoly by preventing mergers
thru holding companies and dummy d.
rectors He would put the railroads
out OF the coal mining business. He
~
merging monopolies by keeping bankers
off the boards OF directors adm by lin
iting J P. Morgan's sI0000.000 promo
ton fees. He would block Standard
Oil from eating up its competitors. He
would prevent watered capital and
consequent overcharging OF the public
to pay dividends upon ten dollars for
every one dollar invested.
Nearly all winter long his commit
tee has been conducting hearings upon
the subject and Senator Cummins has
thrown into a solution of this tremen
dous problem his whole life of legal
training and power of a commanding
intellect.
OF his work on this committee the
editor of the Review of Reviews, pub
lished in New York. says:
Nest consistent in attendance and
most closely informed as to the subject
of each days inquiry. Senator Cum
Minis has borne the brunt of the task.
Such an Office demanded a combination
OF erudition with large mindedness. To
this Senator Cummins responded ad-
.nirably. The printed testimony re-
veals a remarkable knowledge Of trust
cases on Senator Cumlnins' part. added
to broad and human sympathy even
more remarkable in view Of his own
positive and somewhat radical convic
tons regarding combination and COM
petition.
Yet there were no sparks, but only
that steady illumination, in his pro-
longed questioning of those whose
training, convictions and habits were
directly opposed. as for instance the
chairman of the largest corporation in
the world. Judge Gary. In fact the
member from Iowa seemed to speak
the language Of every witness. He
went 10 the point as directly with Prof
John B. Clark, the eminent professor
Of pure economic theory. as with Mr.
Joseph Bartles an Independent oil
merchant bristling with selling facts.
His fine courtesy was as marked
toward the representative Of the larg-
est association of manufacturers, who
urged that the distinction between
combinations of labor and combina-
tons of capital had no difference as
toward Mr.. Gompers. who came to urge
precisely the opposite. Not outdone in
militant spirit by that twentieth CEN
fury crusader. Louis D. Brandeis. Sen
ator Cunmins was yet able to empha-
size, while questioning Mr. G. W. Perk-
ms. vastly helpful results of the latter's
rare international business experience,
and still rarer ideas for the advanced
treatment Of employees.
Indirectly discussing the actual con-
duct Of corporations Senator Cummins
met on their own ground most highly
specialized lawyers, such as Victor
Morawetz, chairman Of the Atchison
railway, George H. Earle, Samuel
Untermeyer and others to whom the
| innermost doings Of great corporations
are no secret. Such familiarity with
| the home life of the trusts seems sur
prising in one who has served the pub
lie and on he firing line Of progress
since quarter Of a century past
"The characteristic feature Of all Of