The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-01-22

Il 1NAAl INV uG t1GlE SpOkEHHIGWs AL - Nn -
the strength OF u position and the
sure prophecy OF what win ensue when
our reasonable work Is done.
When serious contest ends, when
men unite In opinion and purpose, those
who are to change their ways Of BUSH
ness joining with those who ask for
the change, II Is possible TO effect Il In
the way in which prudent n thought
ful n patriotic men would wish to
see II brought about. with as few, al
slight, as easy and simple business
establishments as possible In the cir
cumstances, nothing essential dis
turbed, nothing torn up by the roots,
no parts rent asunder, which can be
left In Wholesale combination.
Not Revolutionary. 3
Fortunately no measures Of
sweeping or novel change are neo-
essary. IL will be understood that
our object is NOT to unsettle bust
ness or any where seriously to
break its established courses
athwart. On tho contrary we desire
the laws we are now about to PASS
TO be the bulwarks and safe guards
Of industry AGAINST tho forces that *
have disturbed IL. What we have TO
90 can DO done in q new spirit. in
t~houdhtful moderation without rev.
olution OF untoward kind.
We are all agreed that private mon
opoly Is ipdefensible and intolerabIe'
and U Program Is founded on that
conviction. 1t will be a comparative,
but not a radical or unacceptable pro-
gram and these are its items, the
changes which opinion deliberately
sanctions and for which business waits:
1T waits with acquiescence, in the
first place for laws which will effectu-
ally prohibit and prevent such inter
lockings or the personnel of the d.
r~ectorates of the great corporations
n M railroads, Industrial COM
mercial and public service bodies--as
IN effect result In making those who
borrow n those who lend practical
ly one and he same, those who sell
and those who buy but the same per-
sons trading with. one another under
different names and In different COM
oinattons and those who affect to COM
pete In fact partners and masters of
some whole field of business. Suffi-
Client time should be allowed, Of course,
In which to effect these changes of
orga% imitation without inconvience or
confusion. .
Such a ~~rohibition 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
usurped the place which belongs to in
Il H IHdnaKeInGnT
working In its own behoof.
Develop New Blood. III.
G"lt will BRING new men, new ener-
pies, a new spirit Of initiative, new
blood, into the manaqement Of our
great business e-nterprisss. II Will
open tho field Of Industrial deveI-
opment and o~riGination to scores
OF men who have been obIiaed 20
serve when their abilities entitled
them to direct. 1t will immensely
nearten, tho youna men coming on
n VIII greatly enrich the business
activities OF the whole country.
In the c place. business men
as Wei as those who direct public at
fairs now recognize, and recognize with
painful clearness. the great harm and
injustice which has been done to many.
II M all. OF the great railroad systems
OF the country by the way in which
they have been financed and their own
distinc tive interests su~bordinated to
the. II. arests Of the men who financed
them, and of other business enterprises
which those men wished to promote
The country is ready, therefore, to ac-
cept. and accept with relief, as well as
approval, a law which will confer on
the Interstate Commerce commission
the power to superintend and regulate
the financial operations, b. 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 improved facilities Of
transportation. We cannot postpone
action in this matter without leaving
the railroads exposed to many serious
handicaps and hazards: and the pros
perity OF the railroads and the pros
perity of the country are inseparably
connected. Upon this question, those
who are chiefly responsible for the
actual management of the railroads
have spoken very plainly and very
earnestly, with a purpose we ought to
be quick to accept. It will be one step,
and a very important one toward the
necessary separation of the business Of
production from the business of trans
~portation.
Defining Antitrust Law.
"The business of the country awaits
also, has long awaited and has suffered
because II could not obtain further and
more explicit legislative definition of
the policy and meaning of the existing
antitrust aw. Nothing hampers bust
ness like uncertainty. Nothing daunts
Or discourages 1t like the necessity to
a * chances, to run the risk Of falling
under the condemnation of the law be-
fore 1t can make sure just what the
Jaw is. Surely we are sufficiently ia
mfliar with the actual processes and
methods 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 explicitly
and item by item forbidden by statute
in such terms as will practically elm
mate uncertainty, the law itself and the
penalty being made equally plain.
'. Trade Commission.
And the business men Of the country
desire something more than that the
menace Of legal process in these mat
tiers be made explicit and ineligible.
They desire the advice, the definite
guidance and information which can
be supplied by an administrative body,
an interstate trade commission.
The opinion of the country would
instantly approve OF such a commits
sion. 1t would not wish to see it en-
powered to make terms with monopoly
or In any sort to assume control of
business as IL the government made it,
self responsible. It demands such a
commission only as an indispensable
instrument OF information and pub
lioi4x- 90 a nlao ripor ho,1aa POr fho facts