Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-01-29

PRODUCING industries, Io- l4-.lAt 4a
which have passed the point up to
which combination may be consistent
with the public interest and the free
don Of trade, cannot always be dis
sected into their component units as
readily as Tailro-- companies or sim
liar organizations can be. Their dis
solution By ordinary legal process may
oftentimes involve financial conse-
quences likely 70 overwhelm the Sc
curity market and bring uPon Il break
/ down and confusion. There ought 70
be an administrative commission ca
pable Of directing and shaping such
corrective processes, not only in aid
Of the courts but also BY indepndent
suggestion, if necessary.
Make Punishment Certain.
-'Inasnuch as our object and the
spirit OF cur 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 10 see to it, and the
| judgment OF practical and sagacious
men Of affairs everywhere would ap-
plaud US if We did see to Il that pen
alEies 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-
! tee condemn. Every act OF business
/ iS done az the oor1poo16 mr. ,,pon tha
! 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 It should
| be one OF the main objects of our leg
| islation 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.
| 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
| 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.
I'VE are agreed, take it, 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, l suppose, to forbid the pur-
chase Of stocks by any person who
pleases to buy them in such quanti-
| ties as he can afford, or in any way
| arbitrarily to limit the sale of stocks
to bonaf1de 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 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 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
exterminating forces 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-
tons complained Of and won its suit,
and that the statute Of limitations
shall be suffered to run against such
Iitigants only from the date of the
conclusion of the governments action.
Individual Justice
at is not fair that the private liti-
CANT should be obliged to set up and
establish again the facts which the
government has proved lie 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.
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 | have laid before you,
Of the plain obligations Of which I
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 bust
nessmen the country over will be un-
satisfied. They are in these things
our mentors and colleagues. We are
now about to write the additional arti-
c1es of our constitution Of peace, the
peace that is honor and freedom and
prosperity"