The Washington herald., 1913-11-17


not relate to the slouchy girl with the
.noppy skirt, nor TO the sappy fellow who
Is her companion. Neither she nor he i
it II is an "it," a thing without
gender, without soul, without natural
death-in other words, the artificial per-
son created by law: a corporation.
The genius of organized society made
1t possible. Now social order is ques-
tioning its own creation and the arti-
ficial person" is passing through period
of almost human trepidation. II looks as
though the lawmakers and the law en-
forcers intend to begin a new inquisition
in which the agonized victim. without a
soul but possessed of much sensitive feel
ing, will be compelled to answer a very
personal question: What good are your
Upon the answer depends billions Of
values.
President Wants Facts.
In a speech made by Joseph E. Davies,
Commissioner OF Corporations. in Octo-
ber. he frankly stated that the Bureau
Of Corporations is to search out. by di-
rection OF the President. the facts as TO
whether the artificial person is render
Ing a service in the industrial world
whether a small corporation is safer than
a large one-whether the very large ones
are sacrificing efficiency to size-in other
"OAuos " ltSN OhN dSAlNlAg vi
the line o: service TO society. II il serves.
it is good; II it does not. it is bad and
its end would be a service.
Two Steps Toward Being.
Let US look at this thing created by
law and see il it has a worthy place in
Cur activities. A sequence led up to its
creation:
One man toiling alone had the lim-
itations of his own one mind. body.
and estate. The lonesome one at the
end of his day let everything drop
from his nerveless hand. and that
which he had painfully brought to-
gether was in danger of complete diff
fusion.
Two men. partners. supplemented
each others powers, and had more
opportunities for adequate returns
than either working alone. The part
ners came at last to the fork in the
road. where the Silent Partner of all
endeavors took one, and then there
was a division and settlement with
those entitled to share. This coming
together and flying apart of partner
ships had two great drawbacks-one,
that II did not serve the natural hu-
man desire to leave behind a monu-
ment to life's efficient work; the other.
that development of resources. the
use of opportunities, became a jolting
process. instead of a continuous one
The Corporate Creation.
Without going into history for origins
and thus standing in the way OF a quick
arrival at the end of this sequence. let us
say that a group of men saw this pos
sibility: II many Joined together capi-
talized their possessions or their business
idea, sold shares evidences of participa-
tion) to some who wanted their money
to work, though knowing nothing of the
business themselves. all then electing ex-
ecutives, then IL one executive died an
other could be elected. or II one share
holder died his evidences of participation
could change hands. Thus an artificial
person. made up OF the lives and invest
ments of real persons. would be death
defying and life-eXtendinE. no matter
what happened to its constituent living
members. The laws Of States and OF ma
tons have legalized the idea.
The Corporation Idea.
The corporation idea strikes its roots
deep into the same human desire to live
q gain or longer that made the Egyptians
preserve their dead in readiness for a
next life.
The corporation idea is a great idea.
n very VIII snow
that the idea was good: A trust company
IS a useful executor; IL stays alive as an
artificial person to administer an estate
DR. execute a will, whereas a merely hu-
man executor may drop OF before his
task is ended.
The corporation idea proved its useful
ness, in the earlier periods Of its develop
ment, by increasing the scope Of an ef-
tort, by making many become interested
n one success, by enabling tasks to be
that were beyond the lone
Ian or the partners with their personal
limitations of time and strength and CAPT.
tai. The corporation at last rendered
nassed capital possibility and thus
brought to bear on one problem the Krupp
gun of united effort rather than the pop
gun OF temperatures and ineffectiveness.
The satisfactory Results.
So far. so good. and still more good
% mention. With out massed capital it
would have been impossible to accom-
olish all that We have done as a nation
n gridironing the plains, in tunneling
he hills, in corkscrewing the noun
aims, in flashing messages from city to
,ity, in extending our vocal radius by
thousands of miles. The light in our
houses. the gas in our ranges, the cars
IN our streets, the thousand and one
of life come, in largest
BART. from the corporation-the artificial
person that men high and men low are
low CUNNING for. So strenuous is the
,hase that the migratory duck escaping
/ hundred blinds" on Chesapeake Bay
has joy-tine in comparison.
The Present Attitude.
Bearing in mind that corporations
have done much service and are still
ioing so. it is natural to question the
present purpose to bare to the world the
horrible deeds Of ''the vampire and the
eech, the buzzard, and the octopus in
modern day affairs.
The purpose is due to several causes
hat cannot be enlarged on In the small
space available. Two causes will be
,asily understood-wrongdoln by selfish.
corporations: innocency, to
lse very mild word. In the Legisla-
i've mind.
Evil Corporate Deeds.
Some corporations have done these bad
hings. deceived the public as to values
when selling shares. depressed their own
'tock values on the market by intention,
bought In their own stocks low to sell