The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20
Notable Address on Our
Ineffective Methods of
Handling Big Indus
trial Problems

The address of George w. Perkins to
the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
last night entitled, Some Inconss-
tencies." was in full as follows:
I'm the discussion now going on 1t
may be worth while to call attention
to some of the Inconsistencies that
stand out prominently in the attitude
OF our government toward business and
In the reasoning of some of our men
OF public affairs and some of our law
makers. Some of these Inconsistencies
are SO glaring as to be really absurd
They cannot stand the test.of analysis
and must be reconciled in some way.
In our commercial life we are hav-
ing to bear the brunt of the burden of
these inconsistencies and in my judg-
mept this Is so largely because of the
fact that many of our men in public
life are too narrow in calibre, too self
isll in nature. too lacking in courage
and real patriotism to grapple with
| these Inconsistencies and properly ad-
:ust them.
Have Been Business Questions
tions that have claimed the attention
! cf our people for the last 10 years or
more have been business questions.
Most of the planks in the platforms
| of the leading parties have had to do
with business in some shape or form.
Gradually these questions have mar
| iowed down to three prominent head
ings; Tariff, currency corporations
Corporations and trusts are but 9TH
cr names for what is known as big
business, and big business is but a
name for the vast and natural expau-
sion in trade that has come to pass
because of the unprecedented improve
rpent in all forms of intercommunica-
sion drnng the last 80 or 40 years.
"Since the old world began. trade.
commerce. business, has grown so fast
and no faster than intercommunication
las developed and this is so because
mans ability to do business rests pri-
plarily on his ability TO reach custom
ers, which, in turn, rests on intercum-
munication. and as we have moved on
through the various periods of Inn
proved ntercommunication. from the
time when mans only method of get
ting about was with an ox-team until
we have reached the wireless message
trade has expanded, grown and central
led. 1t was inevitable. it is newt
able, ii will remain inevitable. No set
OF laws can turn back progress OF this
kind.
in the great discussion now going
on we find many our our most glaring
Inconsistencies. A number of years ago
our government realized the chaotic
condition of banking in this country.
Then there were local banks in vari-
efa r1, Atfa
rency, doing business in its own way
and a person in one city was unable
10 find out the value of money in an
other city without Thompson's bank
note detector. The government set
about to take hand in the regula-
lion and control of our banks and step
by step this programme has been car
rled out. Evils have been eliminated
from the banking business and great
strength has been given to our banks.
dollar issued by any bank in the
union is a good dollar in trade in ev-
cry state of the union. Regulation and
control proved a great success with our
banking institutions. Evils are erad-
icated, stability was secured and
growth and expension obtained.
our success in this matter was so
pronounced and so satisfactory to our
people that presently we undertook
substantially the same sort of regula-
We eradicated many of the evils in the
railroad business and secured many
benefits for the people: and this form
of regulation, while still in more or less
OF an experimental stage, on the whole
has proved worth while. If it has erred
at all 1t has not been in being lax with
the railroads.
Take the matter of our food. A few
years ago we found that adulteration
in articles of food had reached a point
where it was playing havoc with our
health. Our federal government took
up the question of regulating food
stuffs. and this form of regulation has
been d pronounced success
Three Striking Examples
Here are three. striking examples of
adoption by the federal government of the
principle of regulation and control of
great branches of our Interstate business
affairs; and yet we are being told that
we cannot regulate our large interstate
and International industrial concerns
one of the reasons given being that they
Cthe industrials) would obtain possession
of our governmental machinery and run