Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-01-29

dustry E.--lst The forces enat have
disturbed il. What re have to do can
be done in a new spirit, n thoughtful
moderation, without revolution Of an
untoward kind
Private Monopoly IntcIershIe
I'VE are all agreed that private
monopoly is fndefensible and intoier-
able. and our program is founded upon
that conviction. Il will be a conpre-
hensiye but not a radical or unaccept-
able program. and these are its items,
the changes which opinion deliberately
sanctions and To- which business
waits
1T awaits with acquiesence in the
first place for laws which viii eff
fectually prohibit and prevent such
interI0ckings OF the personnel OF the
directorates Of great corporations
banks ard railroads, industrial, com
mercial and public service bodies-as
in effect result In making those who
borrow and those who lend practically
one and the same, those who sell and
those who buy but the same persons
trading with one another under diff
ferent names and in different combina-
tons, and those whose affect TO com
pete. IN fact, partners and masters O.
some whole field of business. SUI
icient time should be allowed, OF
course, in which to effect these
changes Of organization without in
convenience or confusion.
Such a prohibition will work much
more than a mere negative good by
correcting the serious evils which
have arisen because, for example, the
men who have been the directing
spirits of the great investment banks
have ursurped the place which be-
longs TO independent industrial man
agement working in its behoof. Ii
will bring new men. new energies.
new spirit OF initiative. new blood
into, the management Of our great
business enterprises.
Harm and Injustice Done.
IN the second place, business men.
as we'll as those who direct public af-
fairs, now recognize and recognize
with painful clearness. the great harm
and Injustice which has been done TO
many. if not ALL of the great railroad
! systems OF the country by the way
in which they have been financed and
their own distinctive intereste SD
bordinated to the interests of the men
who financed them and Of their bust
ness enterprises which those men
wished to promote.
THE country is ready therefore to
accept and accept with relief as well
as approval, a law which will confer
upon the interstate commerce COM
mission the power to superintend and
regulate the financial operations by
which the railroads are henceforth to
be supplied with the money they need
for their proper development to meet
the rapidly growing requirements of
the country for increased and i'm
proved facilities Of transportation. We
cannot postpone action in this matter
without leaving the railroads exposed
to many serious handicaps and haZ-
ards; and the prosperity of the rail-
roads and the prosperity Of the cOun-
try are inseparably connected. Upon
responsible for the actual manage
ment and operation OF the railroads
have spoken very plainly and very
earnestly, with purpose we ought to
be quick to accept it. It will be one step
and very important one, toward the
necessary separation of the business
of production from the business of
transportation.
The business Of the country awaits
also, has long awaited and has suf-
fered because it could not obtain fur
Their and more explicit legislative def
milton of the policy and meaning of
the existing antitrust laws. Nothing
hampers business like uncertainty
Definition Now Possible.
Surely we are sufficiently familiar
with the actual processes and meth
DDS Of monopoly and Of the many
hurtful restraints of trade to make
definition possible, at any rate up to
the limits of what experience has dis
closed. These practices, being now
abundantly disclosed, can be explic-
lily and item by item, forbidden by
statute in such terms as will prac-
tically eliminate uncertainty, the law
itself and the penalty being made
equally plain.
And the business men Of the
country desire something more than
that the menace Of legal process in
these matters be made explicit and in
telligible. They desire the advice. the
definite guidance and information
which can be supplied by an admin
istrative body, an interstate trade
commission
The opinion of the country would
instantly approve of such q commits
sion. 1t would not wish to see it en-
powered to make terms with monop-
oily or in any sort to assume control
of business, as if the government
made itself responsible. It demands
such commission only as an indis-
pensible instrument of information
and publicity as clearing house for
the facts by which both the public
mind and the managers of great bust
ness undertakings should be guided,
and as an instrumentality for doing
Justice to business where the process
es Of the courts or the natural forces
of correction outside the courts are
inadequate to adjust the remedy to
the wrong in a way that will meet all
the equities and circumstances of the
case.
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