Middletown transcript., 1914-01-24

by the roots, no parts rent asunder
which can be left in wholesome COM
bination. Fortunately, no measures
Of sweeping or novel change are nee
essary. 1t win be understood that
our object is not to unsettle business
or anywhere seriously to break its
established courses athwart On the
contrary, we desire the laws we are
now about to pass to be the bulwarks
and safeguards of industry against the
forces that have disturbed it. What
we have to do can be done in a new
spirit, in thoughtful moderation, with
out revolution of any untoward kind.
We are all agreed that private
monopoly is indefensible and intoler-
able" and our programme is founded
upon that conviction. 1t will be a
comprehensive but not a radical or
unacceptable programme and these
are its items, the changes which opin-
ion deliberately sanctions and for
which business waits
It waits with acquiescence, in the
first place, for laws which will effectu-
ally prohibit and prevent such inter
lockings Of the personnel Of the d.
rectorates 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 un-
Ter different names and in different
combinations, and those who affect
to compete in fact partners and mas
ters of some whole field of business.
Sufficient time should be allowed, Of
course, in which to effect these
changes of organization without incon-
Venience or confusion.
Such a prohibition will work much
more than 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
independent industrial management
working in it's own behoof 1t will
bring new men, new energies, a new
spirit of initiative. new blood, into
the management Of our great business
enterprises. 1t viii open the field Of
industrial development and origiHa-
ton to scores of men who have been
obliged to serve when their abilities
entitled them to direct. 1t will i'm
mensely hearten the young men COM
ing on and will greatly enrich the
business activities Of the whole coun-
try.
In 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 rail
road systems of the country by the
way in which they have been financed
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 accept
with relief as well as approval, a law
which will confer upon the Interstate
Commerce Commission 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 de-
velopment to meet the rapidly growing
requirements of the country for in
creased and improved facilities of
transportation. We can not 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 and operation Of
the railroads have spoken very plain
ly and very earnestly, with purpose
we ought to be quick to accept. 1t
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,
further and more explicit legislative
definition of the policy and meaning
Of the existing antitrust law. Moth
ing hampers business like uncertainty.
Nothing daunts or discourages it like
the necessity to take chances, to run
the risk Of falling under the condemna-
tion of the law before it can make
sure just what the law is. Surely we
are sufficiently familiar with the act
ual processes and methods Of mon
opoly and of the many hurtful re-
straints of trade to make definition
possible, at any rate up to the limits
what experience has disclosed. These
practices, being now abundantly
disclosed, can be explicitly and item
by item forbidden by statute in such
terms as will practically eliminate un-
certainty, the law itself and the penal
ty being made equally plain.
And the business men Of the coun-
try desire something more than that
the menace of legal process in these
matters be made explicit and intelligi-
BILE. They desire the advice, the def
mite 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 commits
sion. It would not wish to see it en-
powered to make terms with monopoly
or in any sort to assume control Of
business, as If the Government made
itself responsible. 1t demands such a