Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-01-29
courts, but also by Independent sug-
gestion, If necessary.
No Immunity eaths,

~
'InasInuch as our object and the
spirit of u action in these matters is
to meet business half way in its pro-
cesses of self correction and disturb
Its legitimate course as little as pos
Sible, we ought to do it and the judg-
ment OF practical and sagacious men OF
affairs everywhere would applaud us
If we did see to it, hat penalties n
punishments should all. not on busi-
ness itself, to it's confusion and 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 lone at the command
or on the initiative of some ascertain
able person or group of persons. These
should be held individually RESPONSE
Ole and the punishment houl fall on
them, not on the business organization
of which they have made Illegal use.
1t should be n of the main objects OF
u legislation TO divest 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, 1 am sure. applaud us If we
were to take effectual steps to see
that the officers and directors of great
business bodies We're prevented from
bringing them and the business of the
country into disrepute and danger.
lnterIockina Directorates.
"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
er part of their corporate stock is
owned nv a CjnC1n pnccnp Nr Y.n1 M
persons who are in some way intimate
ly related in interest. We are agreed,
I 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 p 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 h sales of stocks to bonaflde
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 vote? This question I
venture for your consideration.
Right Of Redress.
There is another matter in which
imperative considerations of Justice
and fair play suggest thoughtful rem
edlal action. Not only do many of the
combinations effected, or sought to be
effected 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
in one unfair way or another
by the many dislodging and exter-
minating forces of combination. 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 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 n won it's suit, and that
the statute of limitations shall be suf-
ffred to u against such %litiganta
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 II establish again
the facts which the government q
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
are rectified and squared with
the general conscience.
Il 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 l have laid before you,
of the plain obligations of which I re-
minded you? That these are new
things for which the country is not
yNtnyo ~n1 ? Nc I,,A AL-A ~
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 I'M
satisfied. They are in these things our
Int colleagues. We are now
about to write the additional articles
of constitution of peace, the peace
that is honor and freedom Inc pros
perity."
President Wilson left the White
Hous at 1910 o'clock to deliver his
message on trust legislation to a Joint
and Senate met at noon and recessed
while the senators two by two, filed to
the hall of the House for the presi-
dents address about 1890 o'clock.
House galleries were packed. Mrs.
Wilson and others Of the presidents
'tAAy OSNoplCo places Willie the Q1DlO-
matte corps was we'll represented and
the floor was crowded with various
government officials. A joint COM
mittee met the president in speaker
Clark's office to conduct him to the
rostrum.
The president arrived at the capitol
at 1926 O'Clock. Both houses We're as
sembled and waiting for his appear
ance.
Colorfui Scene.
The president was ushered into the
crowded chamber at 1929 o'clock
while the audience rose and gave him
prolonged applause and cheers. The
president took his place at the clerks
desk n began reading promptly at
1890 o'clock. His auditors gave rapt
attention.
The secene was a colorful one and
no less dramatic than on any of the
previous occasions when the president,
setting aside precedent that had pre-
vailed since George W~ashington's time,
am to the halls of congress to adj
dress the national legislative BODY in
person. The high banked galleries
presented a wave of color. On the
floor the legislators in somber, con-
ventionai garb, packed the hall to its
utmost corners. Secretaries Garrison,
Daniels and Wilson and Postmaster
General Burleson had seats on the
floor and the other officials were clus-
tered about the speakers dais. Hun
dreds OF people straining for a glimpse