Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-21

or novel change. arc necessary. IL
will he understood that our object IL
not to unsett1e business or anywhere
seriously to break its established
courses athwart. On the contrary, we
desire the law we are now about to
pass to be the bulwarks and safe
guards Of industry against the forces
that have disturbed it. What We have
to do can be done in a new spirit, In
thoughtful moderation, without revo-
luton of any untoward kind,
"Private Monopoly Into'erab'e."
We are all agreed that private mo.
nopoly is indefensible and intolera.
ble' and our program is founded upon
that conviction. 1t will be a cornpre-
hensive but not a radical or unaccept'
able program and these are It's items,
the changes which opinion deliberate
ly sanctions and for which business
waits:
1t waits with ac%quiesanCe in the
first place for laws which will efect
ually prohibit and prevent such intet
lockings of the personnel OF the dr
rectorates of great corporations
banks and railroads, industrial. COM
mercial and public service bcafes-as
in effect result in making those who
borrow and those who lend, practical
" one and the same, those who SEX
and. those who buy but the same per-
sons trading with one another under
different names and in different com
binations and those who affect to CON-
pete in fact partners and masters d
some whole field Of business: Suth'
Gent time should = be. allowed, OF
course in which to. effect thcse>changes
Of organization without Inconvenience
or confusion. Such a prohibition will
work much more than a mere mega
tive good by correcting the serious
evils which have arisen because, Tor
example the men who have been. the
directing spirits of the great invest
ment banks have usurped the place
which belongs to Independent indus
trial management working in It's oWn
behoof. 1t will bring new men, new
energies, a new spirit Of initiative,
new blood, into the management OF
our great business enterprises. 1t
will open the field of industrial de.
velopment and %origination to scores
of men who have been obliged to
serve when their abilities entitled
them to direct. 1t will immensely
hearten the young men coming on and
will greatly enrich the business activi-
ties of the whole country.
Injustice to Railways:
In the second place, business men
as we'll as those who direct public
affairs now recognize, and recognize
with painful clearness, the great
harm and injustice which has been
done to many, il 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 men
who financed them and of other bus
mess enterprises which those men
wished to promote. s.-c Il
: 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 com
mission the power to superintend and
regulate the financial operations by
which the railroads are henceforth to
be supplied with the money they need
for their proper development to
meet the rapid growing requirements
of the country for increased and i'm.
proved facilities of transportation. We
cannot postpone action in this matter
without leaving the railroads exposed
to many serious handicaps and haz.
ards and the prosperity Of the rail.
roads and the prosperity Of the coun-
try. in~separably c%onencted. Upon this
question those who are chiefly re.
sponsible for the actual management
and. operation. of the railroads have
spoken very plainly and very earnest
ly, with a purpose we ought to be
quick to- accept. It will be one step,
and 4 very important one, toward the
necessary separation Of the business of
the production from the business of
the Transportation.
Business Awaits Also.
The business Of the country awaits
also, has long awaited and has suffer.
ed because it could not obtain further
and more explicit legislative definition
of the policy and meaning of the exist.
ing antitrust law. Nothing hampers
business like uncertainty. Nothing
daunts or di%scourages it like: the
necessity to take chances, to run the
risk of falling under the condemna-
ton of the law before it can make
sure just what the law Is. Surely we
are sufficiently familiar with the ac.
tual processes and methods of mono.
poly and of the many hurtful re.
straints of trade to make definition
possible, at any rate up to the limits
of what experience has disclosed.
These practices being now abundantly
disclosed, "a be explicitly and item
by item forbidden by statute in such
terms as will practically eliminate
uncertainty. the law itself and the pen.
atty being made quite plain.
AL the business men of the country
desire something more than that the
menace of the legal process in these