The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1914-01-30

luton by ordinary legal process may
oftentimes involve financial conse-
quences likely to overwhelm the Sc
curity market and bring upon It break
Town and confusion. There ought to be
an administrative commission capable
of directing and shaping such correc-
tive processes not only in aid OF the
courts but also by Independent sugges.
ton, II necessary.
Meet Business Hallway.
Inasmuch as our object and the spir-
It Of our actionin 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 see to 1t, and the
judgment of practical and sagacious
men Of affairs everywhere would APP
plaud us if we did see to 1t that pen
alties and punishments should fall, not
upon business itself, to its confusion,
but upon the individuals who use the
instrumentalities of business to do
things which public policy and sound
business practice condemn. Every
act of business is done at the command
or upon the initiative Of some ascer-
tainable person or group of persons.
These should be held individually re-
sponslble and the punishment should
fall upon them, not upon the business
organization of which they make iIle-
gal 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 represent their corporations,
but merely by deliberate intention
break the law. Business men the
country through would, am sure, APP
plaud us if we were to take effectual
steps to see that the officers and direc-
tors of great bodies were prevented
from bringing them and the business
of the country into disrepute and dan
ger.
Other Questions.
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 d.
rectors, but by the fact that the great
er part of their corporate stock is
owned by 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 cooperate
groups of individuals. Should private
owners of capital stock be suffered to
b. themselves in effect holding com
panies. w do no 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 bonafide purchasers. Shall
we require the owners of stock, when
their voting power in several compa.
MES which ought to be independent OF
one another would constitute actual
control, to make selections in which
of them they will exercise their rights
to vote? This question venture for
your consideration.
Fair Play for All.
There is another matter in which i'm
perative considerations of justice and
fair play suggests thoughtful remedial
action. Not only do many of the corr
binations effected or sought to be eff
fected in the industrial world work
an injustice upon the public in gener-
al; they also directly and seriously in
jure the individuals who are put out of
business in one fair way or another
by the many dislodging and extermin-
ating forces of combination. I hope |
that we shall agree in giving private |
individuals who claim to have been in |
jured by these processes the right to |
found their suits for redress upon the |
facts and judgments proved and en-.
tered in suits by the government |
where the government has upon its |
own initiative sued the combinations
complained Of and won its suit, and
that the statute of limitations shall be
suffered to run against such litigants |
only from the date OF the conclusion
OF the governments action. II is not
fair that the private litigsnt should
be obliged to set up and establish
again the facts which the gos eminent
has proved. He cannot afford, he has
not the power to make use of such
processes of inquiry as the government
has command of. Thus shall individ-
ual justice be done while the processes