Middletown transcript., 1914-01-24

the equities and circumstances OF the
case.
Producing industries, for example,
which have passed the point up to
which combination may be consistent
with the public interest and the free
dom of trade, can not always be dis
sected into their component units as
readily as railroad companies or SINH
lar organizations can be. Their disso-
luton by ordinary legal process many
oftentimes involve financial conse-
quences likely to overwhelm the Sc
curity market and bring upon it break
down and 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
suggestion, if necessary.
Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit of our action in these matters
is to meet business half way in it's
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 to it, that
penalties and punishments should fall,
not upon business itself, to its confu-
sion and interruption, but upon the
individuals who use the instrumental
tiles of business to do things which
public policy and sound business prac-
tice 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 individually responsible and the
punishment should fall upon them, not
upon the business organization of
which they make Illegal use. 1t should
be one of the main objects Of our
legislation to divest such persons OF
their corporate cloak and deal with
them as with those who do not rep
resent their corporations, but merely
by deliberate intention break the law.
Business men the country through
would, am sure, applaud us If we
were to take effectual steps to see
that the officers and directors of great
business bodies were prevented from
bringing them and the business of the
country into disrepute and danger.
Other questions remain which will
need very thoughtful and practical
treatment. Enterprises, in these mod
ern days Of great individual fortunes,
are oftentimes interlocked, not by be-
ing under the control of the same dt-
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 intimate
ly related in interest. We are agreed,
1 take it, that holding companies
should be prohibited, but what of the
controlling private ownership of in
dividuals 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, l
suppose, to forbid 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 sale of stocks to bona
fide purchasers. Shall we require the
owners of stock, when their voting
power in several companies which
ought to be Independent Of one an
other would constitute actual control,
to make election in which of them they
will exercise their right to voter This
question l venture for your consideraS
tion.
There is another matter in which
imperative considerations Of justice
and fair play suggest thoughtful
remedial action. Not only do many
Of the combinations effected or sought
to be effected in the industrial world
work an injustice upon the public in
general; they also directly and seri-
GUS injure the individuals who are
put out of business in one unfair way
or another by the many dislodging
and. exterminating forces of combina-
ton. I hope that we shall agree in
giving private individuals who claim
to have been injured by these processes
the right to found their suits for re-
dress upon the facts and judgments
proved and entered in suits by the
Government where the Government
has upon its own initiative sued the
combinations complained of and won
it's suit, and that the statute of limita-
tions shall be suffered to run against
such litigants only from the date Of
the conclusion Of the Governments
action. 1t is not fair that the private
litigant should be obliged to set up
and establish again the facts which
the Government has proved. He can
not afford, he has not the power, to
make use of such processes of inquiry
as the Government has command Of
Thus shall individual justice be done
while the processes of business are
rectified and squared with the general
conscience.
I 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 man say of
the suggestions I have laid before you,
of the plain obligations of which l
have reminded you? That these are
new things for which the country is
not prepared? No; but that they are
old things, now familiar, and must !
of course be undertaken if we are to
square our laws with the thought
and desire of the country. Until these
things are done, conscientious busi-
ness men the country over will be
unsatisfed. They are in these things
our mentors and colleagues. We are
now about to write the additional ar
ticles of our constitution of peace, the
roaoa +ba+ 10 honor and freedom and