Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1914-01-23


which have passed the point up to
which combination may be consistent
with the public interest and the free
dom of trade. cannot always be dis
sected into their component units as
readily as railroad companies or sim
liar organizations can be. Their dis
solution by ordinary legal process may
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 ca
pable OF directing and shaping such
corrective processes, not only in aid
OF the courts but also by lndepndent
suggestion, if necessary.
Make Punishment Certain.
Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit of our action In these matters
Is to meet business half way in its
processes of self-correetion and dis
| turb its legitimate course as little as
possible, we ought to see to il, and the
Judgment of practical and sagacious
men of affairs everywhere would APP
piaud us If we did see to it that pen
alties and punishments should fall,
moi 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 prae-
tice condemn. Every act of business
is done at the. command or upon the
initiative of some ascertainable per-
son or group of persons. These should
be held individually responsible and
the punishment should fall apon them,
not upon the business organization OF
which they make illegal use. 1t should
be one of the main objects of our leg
islation to divest such persons OF
their corporate cloak and deal with
4 them as with those who do not rep
resent their corporations. bat merely
/ by deliberate intention break the law.
Other questions remain which will
need very thoughtful and practical
treatment. Enterprises, in these mod
ern days of great individual fortunes,
are oftentimes interlockei, not by
being under the control of the same
directors, but by the fact that the
| greater part OF their corporate stock
Is owned by a single person or group
/ Of persons who are in some way in
timately related in interest.
Holding Companies.
1--WE are agreed, take II, that hold
ing companies should be prohibited,
| but what of the controlling private
\ ownership Of individuals or actually
cooperative groups of individuals?
Shall the private owners OF capital
stock be suffered to be themselves in
effect holding companies? We do not
wish, | suppose to forbid the pur-
chase of stocks by any person who
I pleases TO buy them in such quanti-
! ties as he can afford or in any way
arbitrarily to limit the sale of stocks
4 to bonafde purchasers. Shall we re-
quire the owners of stock, when their
voting power in several companies
! which ought to be independent Of one
another would constitute actual con-
troll, to make selection in which OF
| them they win exercise their right to
vote? This question l venture for
| your consideration.
There is another matter in which
/ imperative considerations of justice
and fair play suggests 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-
ously injure the individuals who are
put out of business In one fair way or
another by the many dislodging and
discriminating 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
upon the facts and judgments proved
and entered in suits by the govern.
ment where the government has upon
its own initiative sued the combina-
tons 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
Individual Justice.
1T is not fair that the private lti
CANT should be obliged TO set up and
establish again the facts which the
government 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 individual justice be done
while the processes of business are
rectified and squared with the general
conscience.
Il have laid the case before you, no
doubt as ii lies in your own mind as
it lies in the thought of the country
What must every candid man say OF
the suggestions have laid before you.
Of the plain obligations Of which /