The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1914-01-29

now about to pass to be the bulwarks
and safeguards of industry against
the forces that have disturbed 1t.
What we have to do can be done in
new spirit, in thoughtful modera-
ton. without revolution Of any I'M
| toward kind.
I'VE are all agreed that private
monopoly is indefensible and intoler-
able and our program is founded on
| that conviction. 1t will be compar-
alive but not a radical or unaccept-
able program and these are its items,
| the changes which opinion deliber-
ately sanctions and for which bust
ness waits:
1T awaits with acquiescene, in the
| first place, for laws which will et-
| fectually prohibit and prevent such
inter-locking Of the personnel OF the
directorates of great corporations
banks and railroads, industrial. COM
mercial and public service bodies
as In effect result in making those
who borrow and those who lend prac-
tically one and the same, those who
sell and those who buy but the same
persons trading with one another I'M
der different names and in different
combinations, and those who effect to
compete in fact partners and mas
tiers of some whole field Of business.
Sufficient time should be allowed, of
course, in which to effect these
changes of organizations, without in
convenience or confusion.
Time for Readjustment
Such a prohibition will work
much more than a mere negative
good by correcting the serious evils
HI nh hor orfCA foR
ample, the men who have been the
directing spirits of the great invest
ment banks have usurped the place
which belongs to Independent indus
trial management working in its own
behalf. 1t will bring new men, new
energies, a new spirit of initiative, |
new blood, into the management of
our great business, enterprises, de- |
velopment and organization to scores
of men who have been obliged to
serve when their I abilities, entitled |
them to direct 1t will Immensely |
hearten the young men coming on |
and will greatly enrich the business |
activities of the whole country.
'Ih the second place, business men |
as well 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 system of the country by the |
way in which they have been financ-
ed and their own distinctive interests
subordinated to the interests of the
men who financed them and of other
business enterprises which those men
wished to promote. The country is
ready, therefore, to accept, and ac-
cept with relief, as we'll as approval,
a law which will confer on the inter-
state commerce commission the
power to superintend and regulate
the financial operations by which the
railroads are henceforth to be sup
piled 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 can
not 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 [
this question those who are chiefly
for the actual manage /
ment and operation of the railroads
have spoken very plainly and very
earnestly, with purpose we ought
10 be quick to accept 1t will be one 4
step. and a very important one, to-
ward the separation of business of |
production from the business of pro-
luction.
To End Uncertainty. {
The business of the country I
waits also, has long awaited and has !
suffered because it could not obtain.
urther and more explicit legislative
iehnltion of the policy and meaning !
u the existing antitrust law. Moth |
ng hampers business like uncer- L
alnty. Nothing daunts or discour- l
Iges 1t like the necessity to take !
to run the risk of falling q
lnder the condemnation of the law s
'efore 1t can make sure Just what
he law Is Surely we are sufficiently I
amlliar with the actual processes
nd methods of monopoly and of the '
many hurtful restraints of trade TO I
make definition possible, at any rate
lp TO the limits of what experience |
las disclosed. These practices. be- a
ne now abundantly disclosed can be t
EXPLICITLY and item by item forbid. a
ZEN by statute in such terms as will 4
Practically eliminate uncertainty. the a
aw itself and the penalty being made I
qually plain.
And the business men of the s
ountry desire something more than Q
nat the menace of legal process in i
ne matter be made explicit and Il
steiiigfble. They desire the advice. t
he definite guidance and information {
'hich can be supplied by an admins. h
rative body, an interstate trade com.
lission.
The opinion OF the country
'ould instantly approve of such
1t would not wish to =
ee II empowered to make terms with {
monopoly or In any way to assume n
ontrol of business. as If the govern. {
tent made itself responsible. h
1t demands such commission ,
My as an indispensable instrument :