The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-21


5 Monopoly Indefensible
We are all agreed that private monop-
oily Is indefensible and intolerable, and
. our programme is founded upon that con-
viction. 1t will be a comprehensive, but
not radical programme, and these are
Its items, the changes which .opinon de-
: liberately sanctions and for which busi-
ness waits:
ut waits with acquiescence, in the first
place, for laws which will effectually
prohibit and prevent such interlockings
of the personnel of the directorates of
great orporations-banks, railroads, in
dustrial, commercial and public service
bodies-as in effect result in making those
who borrow and those who lend practi-
cally one and same; those who sell and
those who buy but the same persons trad
ing with one another under different
names, and in different combinations, and
those who affect to compete In fact part
ners and masters of some whole field of
business. Sufficient time should be al
lowed, of course, in which to effect these
changes of organization without incon-
| Venience or confusion. .
"Such prohibition will work much
/ more than mere negative good by cor
recting 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 it's own
+, behalf. 1t will bring new men. new
| energies, a new spirit of initiative, new
| rlood into the management of our grea.
| business enterprises 1t will open the
| field of industrial development and oris;-
| nation to scores of men who have been
| Obliged to serve when their ability enti-
! tied them to direct. 1t will immensely
! hearten the young men coming on and
|
| of the whole country.
Recognize Great Harm
in the second place, business men as
well as those who direct public affairs
now recognize, and recognize with pain
ful olearress, the great harm and injustice
which has been done to many, if not all,
| of the great railroad systems of the coun-
| try by the way in which they have been
financed and their own distinctive int.,-
| ests subordinated to the interests of the
men who financed them and of other busi-
. ness enterprises which those mel wished
| to promote. The country Is ready there-
fore, to accept and accept with relief as
well as approval, a law which will co,i-
| fer upon the interstate commerce COM
mission the power to superintend and
| regulate the financial operations by which
| the railroads are henceforth to be sup
piled with the money they need for their
| proper ueNelOpUenI TO meet IEG rapid
! growing requirements of the country for
| increased and improved facilities of trans
| portation. We cannot postpone action In
/ this matter without leaving the railroads
| exposed to many serious handcaps ard
| hazards; and the prosperity of the rail-
roads and the prosperity of the countrv
are inseparably connected. Upon this
| question those who are chiefly respor-
sible for the actual management and oper-
alton of the railroads have spoken ve-y
plainly and very earnestly, with a pu~-
pose we ought to be quick to accept. It
will be one STEP and a very important
enc, toward the necessary separation oe
the business of production from the busi
ness of transportation.
The business of the country awaits
also, has long awaited and has suffered
because it could not obtain, further and
more explicit legislative definition of tn,
policy and meaning of the existing anti
trust law. Nothing hampers business
! like uncertainty. Nothing daunts or dis
: courages it like the necessity to tal.e
chances. to run the risk of falling u1-
Ter the condemnation of the law before il
can make sure just what the law is
) Surely we are sufficiently familiar with
! the actual processes and methods of
monopoly and of the many hurtful re
straints of trade to make definition pos.
sble at any rate up to the limits of wha,
experience has disclosed. These prac
tices, being now abundantly disclosed, can
be explicitly and item by item forbidden
by statute in such terms as will practi-
cally eliminate uncertainty. the law itself
and penalty being made equally plain
And the business men of the country
desire something more than that the
menace of legal process in these matters
be made explicit and Ineligible. They
/, desire the advice, the definite guidance
and information which can be supplied
by an administrative body, an interstate
J trade commission.
Would Approve Commission
The opinion of the country would i'll
stantly approve of such a commission
1t would not wish to see 1t empowered to
make terms with monopoly or in any
sort to assume control of business, as If
the government made itself responsible.
1t demands such a commission only as an
+ indispensable instrument of information
and publicity, as a clearing house for the
, facts by which both the public mind and
the managers of great business undertake
ings should be guided, and as an instru-
| mentality for doing justice to business
where the processes of the courts or the
natural forces of correction outside the
courts are inadequate to adjust the rem
edy to the wrong in way that will meet
all the equities and circumstances of the
case.
| Producing Industries, for example
| which have passed the point up to which
| combination may be consistent with the
public interest and the freedom OF trade
cannot always be dissected into theil
. component units as readily as railroad
companies or similar organizations cal
be. Their dissolution by ordinary legal
process may oftentimes involve financia
consequences likely to overwheln the
security market and bring upon it break
down and confusion. There ought to e
an administrative commission CAPABLE of
directing and shaping such corrective
processes, not only in aid of the courts,
but also by Independent suggestion, il
necessary.
Meet Business Half Way
"Inasmuch as our object and the spirit
of our action in these matters is to meet
business half way in its processes OF
self correction and disturb it's legitimate
course as little as possible, we ought to
see to it and the Judgment of practical
and sagacious men of affairs everywhere
would applaud us If we did see to 1t, that
penalties and punishments should fall
not upon business itself, to its confusion
and interruption, but upon the individuals
who use the instrumentalites of busl-
ness 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
ascertainable person or group of persons
| These should be held individually respon-
sible and the punishment should fall
upon them. not upon the business organi-
zation of which they make Illegal use
| 1t should be one of the main objects Il
cur legislation to divest such persons OF
their corporate cloak and deal with them