Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-21

) lOtHL NllScH, anu otHdJol Dliith
{ related the story to the bankers at {
the Clearing House luncheon Mon
day.
This man." said Senator Smith,
said that If Mr.. Roosevelt should
meet lion in the road he would
Immediately kill the lion, but II
: President Wilson were to meet a
( lion he would reason with the lion,
( then put saddle and bride on it
and ride it home
before it can make sure Just what
the law is.
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
aburdantly disclosed, can be explicit
ly and, item by item, forbidden by
statute in such terms as will pract-
cally eliminate uncertainty the law
itself and the penalty being made
equally plain.
Business Desires Guidance.
And the business men of the
country desire something more than
that the menace of legal process in
these matters be made explicit and
Ineligible. They desire the advice,
the definite guidance and informa-
ton which can be supplied by an ad-
ministrative body and interstate trade
commission.
THE opinion of the country would
instantly approve of such a commits
sion II would not wish to sec it en-
powered to make terms with mo-
nopoly or in any sort to assume con-
troll of business, as If the Government
made itself responsible. 1t demands
such a commission only as an lndls-
pensable instrument of Information
and publicity, as a 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 pro-
cesses of the courts or the natural
forces of correction outside the courts
are inadequate to adjust the remedy
to the wrong in way that will meet
all the equities and circumstances of
the case.
Producing industries, for exam
pie, which have passed the point up
to which combination may be consis-
tent with the public interest and the
freedom of trade, can not always be
dissected into their component units
as readily as railroad companies or
similar organizations can be. Their
dissolution by ordinary legal process
may oftentimes involve financial con-
sequences likely to overwhelm the Sc
curity market and bring upon it
breakdown and confusion. There
ought to be an administrative COM
capable of directing and
shaping such corrective measures,
not only in aid of the courts. but also
by independent suggestion, if neces-
sary.
Fer Individual Guilt.
"Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit of our action in these matters
is to meet business halfway in its
processes of self-correction and dis
turb its legitimate course as little as
possible, we ought to see to it, and
the judgment of practical and saga
cious men of affairs everywhere would
applaud us if we did see 20 it. that
penalties and punishments should
fall, not upon business itself, TO its
confusion and interruption. but upon
the individuals who use the instru-
of business to do things
which public policy and sound bust
ness practice condemn.
Every act of business is done at
the command or upon the initiative of
some ascertainable person or group of
persons. These should be held indi-
vidually responsible, and the punish
ment should fall upon them, not upon
the business organization of which
they make illegal use.-
1T should be one of the main OBJ
iects of our legislation to divest such
persons of their corporate cloak and
deal with them as with those who do
not represent their corporations, but
merely by deliberate intention break
the law. Business men the country
would, ! am sure, applaud us
If we were to take effectual steps o
see that the officers and directors of
great bodies were prevented from
them and the business of the
country into disrepute and danger.
Menace of Stockholdine.
"Other questions remain which will
need very thoughtful and practical
JIedlTnent. enterprises, IN tneSe MOD
ern days of great individual fortunes,
are oftentimes interlocked not by be-
ing under the control of the same di-
rectors, but by the fact that the great
er part of their corporate stock is
owned by a single person or group of
persons who are in some way init
mately related in interest. We are
agreed, take It, that holding compa-
MES should be prohibited, but what
of the controlling private ownership
of individuals or actually cooperative
groups of individuals? Shall the pri-
vate owners Of capital stock be suf-
fered TO be themselves in effect hold
ing companies? We do not wish,
suppose. TO forbid the purchase of
stocks by any person who pleases TO
buy them in such quantities rs he
can afford, in any way arbitrarily 20
limit the sale of stocks to bona fl ie
purchasers.
Shall we require the owners of
stock. when their voting power in
several companies which ought to be
Independent of one another would
constitute actual control, to make
election in which of them wifi exer-
else their right TO vote? This ques-
ton I venture for your consideration
Redress for Trust Victims
There is another matter in which
imperative consideration Of justice
and fair play suggests thoughtful
action Not only do many
Of the combinations effected or sought