The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1914-01-23

out leaving the railroads exposed to
many serious handicaps and hazards;
and the prosperity OF the railroads and
the prosperity of the country are in
separably connected.
The business of the country awaits
also, has long awaited and has suf-
fered because 1t could not obtain, fur
ther and more explicit legislative de-
fnition of the policy and meaning OF
the existing antitrust law.
Surely we are sufficiently familiar
with the actual processes and meth
ods of monopoly and OF the many
hurtful restraints OF trade TO make de-
finition possible, at any rate, up to
the limits OF what experience has dis
closed. These practices, being now
abundantly disclosed, can be explicitly
and item by item forbidden by statute
in such terms as will practically elm
mate uncertainty the law itself and
the penalty being, adequately plain.
And the business men OF the coun-
try desire something more than that
the menace Of legal process in these
matters be made explicit and intelli-
gible. They desire the. advice, the
definite guidance and information
which can be supplied by administra.
| tive tody, and interstate trade COM
mission.
The opinion of the country would in
stanly approve Of such commission.
| 1t would not wish to see it empowered
to make terms with monopoly or in
any sort to assume control Of busi-
ness as IL the government made itself
responsible. 1t demands such COM
mission only as an indispensable in
strument of information and publicity,
as a clearing house for the facts by
which both the public mind and the
managers of great business underta-
kings should be guided, and as an in
strumentality for doing justice to busi-
ness where the process OF the courts
or the natural forces OF correction
outside the courts are inadequate to
adjust the remedy to the wrong in
way that will meet all the equities
and circumstances of the case.
Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit of our action in these matters
Is to meet business half way In its
processes Of selfcorrection and dis
turb it's 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 In
dividuals who use the instrumentali-
ties 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 per-
son 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.
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 greater
part of their corporate stock is owned
by single person or group Of persons
who are In some way intimately re-
lated in interest. We are agreed, I
take it, that holding companies should
be prohibited, but what of the control
ling private ownership Of individuals
or actually cooperative groups Of in
dividuals? Shall the private owners
of capital stock be suffered, them
selves in effect holding companies?
We do not wish, | suppose to forbid
the purchase Of stocks by any person
who pleases to buy them in such guam
titles as he can afford, or In any way
arbitrarily to limit the sale Of stocks
to bonafide purchasers. Shall we re-
quire the owners of the stock, when
their voting power in several companies
which ought to be independent OF one
another would constitute actual con-
troll, to make election in which OF
them they will exercise their right to
vote? This question | venture for
your consideration.
There is another matter in which
imperative considerations of justice
and fair play suggest thoughtful RENE.
dial action. Not only do many of the
combinations effected or sought to be
effected in the industrial world work
an injustice upon the public gener-
al; they also directly and seriously
injure the individuals who are put out
of business in one unfair way or an
other by the many dislodging and ex-
terminating force OF combination. 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 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-
tions 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