Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-01-30

be supplied by an administrative body,
an interstate trade commission.
1.-The opinion of the country would
instantly approve Of such a commits
sion. 1t would not wish to See it emu
powered to make terms with monopoly
or In any sort to assume control of
business as if the government made it
self responsible. 1t demands such a
instrument of information and pub
licity, as a clearing house for the facts
by which both the public mind and the
managers of great business undertake
ings should be guided, and as an in
~strumentality for doing justice to BUSH
or the natural forces of correction out
side the courts are inadequate to adj
just the remedy to the wrong in a way
that Will meet all h equities and cir
cunlstances of the case.
"Producing industries, for example,
which have passed the point up to
which combination nay be consistent
with the public interest and the
freedom of trade cannot always be dis
sected to their component units as
readily as railroad companies or sim
liar organizations can be. Their dis
SOluIlOu ny ordinary ISSdi PROCESS may
often times involve financial conse-
quenceS likely to overwhelm the secur-
ity market and bring on its breakdown
confusion. There ought to be an
administrative commission capable of
directing and shaping such corrective
processes. not only in aid Of the
courts, but also by independent sug-
sestlon, If necessary.
No Immunity Baths.
"Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit of u action in these matters is
to meet business half way in it's pro-
cesses. of self correction and disturb
it's legitimate course as little as pos
sible, We ought to do it and the judg-
ment of practical n sagacious men OF
affairs everywhere would applaud us
If we did see to it, hat penalties and
ness itself, to its confusion n inter-
ruption. but on the individuals who
use h Instruments of business to do
things which public policy and sound
business practice condemn. Every act
of business is done at the nd
or on the initiative of some ascertain
able person or group Of persons. These
should be held individually RESPONSE
BILE and the punishment shout fall on
them. not on the business organization
of which they have made illegal use.
1T should be N of the main objects of
JUL lCSiSIdllOl " OiV0Sl SUCH PERSONS
OF their corporate cloak and deal with
them as with those who do not repre-
sent their corporations, but merely by
deliberate intention violate the law.
Businessmen the country through
would. l am sure. applaud us Ii we
that the officers and directors of great
business bodies were prevented from
bringing them and the business of the
country into disrepute and danger.
lnterIockina Direetorates.
Other questions remain which will
need Very thoughtful and practical
treatment. Enterprises, in these mod
ern days of great individual fortunes
are often times interlocked, not by be-
ing under the control OF the same di-
rectors, but by the fact that the great
err part of their corporate stock is
owned by a single person or group of
persons who are in some way intimate
ly related in interest. We are agreed,
l take it, that holding companies should
be prohibited, but what of the con-
trolling private ownership of individu-
ais or actually cooperative groups of
individuals? Shall private owners of
capital stock be suffered to be them
selves in effect holding companies? I
don't propose to prohibit the purchase
of stocks by any person who pleases
to buy them in such quantities as he
can afford, or in any way arbitrarily
to limit the sales of stocks to bonafide
purchasers. Shall we require the own
ers OF stock. when their voting power
in several companies which ought to
be independent of one another, would
constitute actual control, to make cleo
ton in which of them they will exercise
their right to voter This question /
venture for your consideration.
Right of Redress.
There is another matter in which
imperative considerations OF Justice
and fair play suggest thoughtful rem
edial action. Not only do many OF lne
combinations effected, or sought to be
erected IN the industrial world. work
an injustice on the public in general;
they also directly n seriously injure
the individuals who are put out of
business in n unfair way or another
by the many d~islodging and exter-
minating forces of combination. l hope
that we h agree in giving private
individuals who claim to nave been
injured by these processes the right 10
found their suits for redress on the
facts and judgments proved and en-
tered in suits by the government
where the government has on it's own
Initiative sued the combinations COM
planned Of and won it's suit, and that
the statute of limitations shall be suf-
fered to run against such %litigants
only from the date of the conclusion
of the governments action. It is not
fair that the private litigant should be
obliged to set up and establish again
the facts which the government has
proven. He cannot afford. he has not
the power to make use Of such pro-
cesses Of inquiry as the government has
command of. Thus shall Individual
justice be done while the processes of
business are rectifed and squared with
the general conscience
II have laid the case before you, no
doubt as it lies in your own mind. as
it lies in the thought OF the country.
What must every candid mar say of
the suggestions l have laid before you,
of the plain obligations OF which / re-