Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1912-08-14
coneentratIon Of credIt.

But the problem and the difficulty
are much greater than that There
are not merely great trusts and COM
binations which are to be controlled
and deprived of their power to create
monopolies and dc.sroy rivals; there
is something bigger still than they
are and more subtle. more evasive.
more difficult to deal with. There are
vast confederacies las | may perhaps
call them for the sake of convenience)
of banks, railways. express compa-
MES. insurance companies, manufac-
turing corporations, mining corpora
tons, power and development COM
panies and all the rest of the circle.
bound together by the fact that the
ownership of their stock and the
members of their boards OF directors
are controlled and determined by com
paratively small and closely inter
related groups of persons who, by
their informal consederacy, may con-
troll. II they please and when they
will, both credit and enterprise
There is nothing Illegal about these
eonfederacies. so far as can per
ceive. They have come about very
naturally, generally without plan or
elaboration, rather because there
was so much money to be invested
and IL was in the hands, at great
financial centers. of men acquainted
with one another and intimately as
ISOLATED in business. than because
anyone had conceived and was carry
ing out a plan of general control;
but they are none the less potent a
force in our economic and financial
system on that account. They are
part of our problem. Their vary ex-
istence gives rise TO the suspicion Of
money trust" concentration of
the control of credit which may at any
time become infinitely dangerous to
free enterprise. If such a concentra-
ton and control does not actually ex.
ist, 1t is evident thai 1t can easily be
set up and USED at will. Laws must
he devised which viii prevent this. IL
laws can be worked out by fair and
free counsel that will accomplish that
result without destroying or serious
ly embarrassing any sound or legiti-
mate business Undertaking or neces-
sary and wholesome arrangement.
Question Of Conservation.
OF conservation and allied matters
Governor Wilson said;
do not know any greater question
than that of conservation. We have
been a spendthrift nation and must
now husband what we have left. We
must do more than that. We must
deyelop, as well as preserve. our wa
ter powers and must add great wa
terways to the transportation facili-
ties OF the nation, to supplement the
railways within our borders as well
as upon the lsthmus. We must revive
our merchant marine, too. and fiji the
seas again with our own fleets We.
must add to our present postoffce
service a parcels post as complete as
that of any other nation. We must
look to the health Of our people upon
every hand, as well as hearten them
with justice and opportunity.
With regard TO the development Of
greater and more numerous water
ways and the building up of mer-
chant marine. we must follow great
constructive lines and not fall back
upon the cheap device Of bousties and
subsidies. In the case of the Missis-
sippi river, that great central artery
of our trade, it Is plain that the fed
erai government must build and main
tain the levees and keep tho great
waters in harnes for the general use
1t is plain. too. that vast sums OF
money must be spent to develop new
waterways where trade win be most
served and transportation most read
lily cheapened by them. Such expen-
ditures are no largess on the part OF