Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-20

!, the great scale have begun to yielt
their preference and purpose, per.
haps their judgment also. in honorable
surrender.
Not to Hamper Business
What are we purposing to do
therefore, is, happily, not to hamper
or Interfere with business as enlfght'
ened business men prefer to do 1t, OIL
In any sense to put it under the ban
The antagonism between business and
government Is over. We are now about
to give expression to the best business
Judgment OF America, to what we
know to be the business conscience
and honor of the land. The govern
ment and business men are ready to
meet each other half way in COM
mon effort to square business meth
DDS with both public opinion and the
law. The best informed men of the
business world condemn the methods
and processes and consequences OF
monopoly as we condemn them; and
the instructive Judgment of the vast
majority of business men everywhere
goes with them. We shall now be
their spokesman. That Is the strength
OF our position and the sure prophecy
OF what will cnsue when our reason
able work is done.
When serious contest ends, when
men unite in opinion and purpose,
those who are to change their ways of
business joining with those who ask
for the change, it is possible to effect
| it in the way in which prudent and
thoughtful and patriotic men would
wish to see 1t brought about with as
slight n
business readjustments as possible in
the circumstances, nothing essential
disturbed, nothing torn up by the
roots, no parts rent asunder which
can be left in wholesome combination.
No Destructive Policy
Fortunately. no measures of sweep
Ing or novel change are necessary. 1t
will be understood that our object is
NOT to unSettle business or anywhere
seriously to break its established
courses athwart. On the contrary, we
desire the laws we are now about to
pass to be the bulwarks and safe
guards OF industry against the forces
that have disturbed 1t. What we have
to do can be done i'm a new spirit, in
thoughtful moderation, without reso-
luton of any untoward kind.
I'VE are all agreed that private
monopoly is indefensible and intol-
erable,' and our program Is founded
upon that conviction. 1t will be a
comprehensive but not radical or
unacceptable program and these are
its items, the changes which opinion
deliberately sanctions and for which
business waits
1T waits with acquiescence. in the
first place, for laws which will effec-
tually prohibit and prevent such inter-
lockings of the PERSONNEL of the
d1rectOrateS of great cOrpOrations-
banks and railroads, industrial, COM
merc1al and public service bodies-as
In effect result In making those who
borrow and those who lend practically
one and the same. those who sell and
those who buy but the same persons
trading with one another under differ
ent names and in different combi-
nations. and those who effect to COM
pete In fact partners and masters of
some whole field of business. Suffi-
Client time should be allowed, of
course. in which to effect these
changes OF organization without in
convenience or confusion
Better Methods
Such prohibition will work much
more than mere negative good by
correcting the serious evils which have
arisen because, for example, the men
who have been the directing spirits of
the great investment banks have
usurped the place which belongs to
independent Industrial MANAGEMENT
working In Its own behoof. 1t will
bring new men, new energies, n new
spirit initiative. new blood, into the
management OF our great business en-
terprtses. 1t will open the field of
industrial development and origination
to scores OF men who have been
oDnged TO serve when their abilities
entitled them to direct. 1t will i'm
mensely hearten the young men COM
ing on and will greatly enrich the
business activities OF the whole conn
try.
IN the second place, business men
as well as those who direct public
affairs now recognize, and recoRntze
with painful clearness, the great harm
and Injustice which has been done To
many, II not all. of the great railroad
systems Of the country by the way in
which they have been financed and
their own distinctive interests sub
ordinated to the interests of the mon
VINO financed them and of other blIsi-
ness enterprises which those men
wished to promote. The country is
ready, therefore. to accept, and accept
with relief as we'll as approval, a law
which will confer upon the Interstate
Commerce Commission the power to
superintend ana regulate the financial
operations by which the railroads are
henceforth to be supplied with the
money they need for their proper de-
velopment to meet the rapidly grow
ing requirements of the country for
increased and improved facilities of
transportation.
Dependent Prosperity
1--WE cannot postpone action in this
matter without leaving the railroads
exposed to many serious handicaps
and hazards; and the prosperity of the
railroads and the prosperity of the
country are inseparabfy connected.
Upon this question those who are
chiefly responsible for the actual
management and operation of the
railroads have spoken very plainly and
very earnestly, with purpose we
ought to be quick to accept 1t will
be one step, and very important one.
toward the necessary separation OF the