Mountain advocate., 1914-01-23

understood that our object Is not to
unsettle business or anywhere serious
ly 10 breakgits. established courses
athwart On The contrary. we desire
the laws we are now about to pass to
be the bulwarks and safeguards Of In
dustry against the forces that have
disturbed Il. What we have to do can
be done in a new spirit, In thoughtful
moderation, without revolution OF an
untoward kind.
Private Monopoly Intolerable
I'VE are all agreed that private
monopoly is indefensible and intoIer-
able, and our program is founded upon
that conviction II will be a compre-
henslve but not a radical or unaccept-
able program and these are its items,
the changes which opinion. deliberately
sanctioks ;and for (which business
waits 5r,i 'f'>- ~ -: - = $50 l~f.'
1T awaits with acquiesence In the
first place for laws which Will ef'
fectually prohibit and prevent such
interlockings OF the personnel of the
directorates of great corporations
banks and railroads. industrial, com
mercial and public service bodies-as
in effect result in making those who
borrow and those who lend practical
ly one and the same, those who sell
and those who buy but the same per
sons trading with one another under
different aiapiss and in different com
binations, and those whose affect TO
compete, in fact, partners and masters
Of some whole field of business. Suf-
ficient time should be allowed, OF
course, in which to effect these
changes Of organization without incon-
veniencs or confusion.
such a prohibition will work much
more than a 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 behoof. II will bring
new men, new energies, a new spirit
of initiative, new blood into the man
agement of our great business enter
prises. It will open the field of In
dustrlal development and origination
to scores OF men who have been
obliged to serve when their abilities
entitled them to direct. II will i'm
mensely hearten the young men COM
Ing on and will greatly enrich the
business activities of the whole coun-
try. =:
Harm and Injustice Done. \
In the second place, business men,
as well as those who direct public af-
fairs now recognize, and recognize
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 subordi-
mated 10 the interests of the men
who financed them and of other bust
ness enterprises which those meh
wished 10 promote.
1The country is ready therefore 10
accept and accept With relief as well
| as appJOyal, law which will confer
upon the interstate commerce com
mission the power to superintend and
regulare the financial operations by
which the railroads are henceforth to
be supplied with the money they need
for tyYeir proper development To meet
the rapidly growing requirements of
the country for increased snd i'm
proTad facilities of transportation. We
| canE0t 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 Hre inseparably connected. Upon
this question those who are chiefly
responsible. for the actual manage
mRnt and operation of the railroads
have spoken very plainly and very
| earnestly, with a purpose we ought to
bsquick to accept it. IL viii Ge,One step
and a very important one, toward the
necessary separation of the business
OF production. from the business of
transportation.
The business OF the country awaits
also, has long awaited ana has suf-
'fered because it could not OBTAIN fur
Their and more explicit Legislative def
nitA1n of: the policy and meaning of
the eEisting antitrust laws. Nothing
hampers business like uncertainty.
Nothing daunts or diseouTages it like
the necessity to take chances, to run
the risk of falling under the condem-
nation of. the law before it CAD make
sure just what the law is.
Definition NOV Possible.
';Sunaly Ae-are' Sufficiently familiar
with vthe sctual processes and meth
DDS. of monopoly and OF the many
hurtful RESTRAINTS I3g7-tfAde to snake
definition possible, at any rate up to
the,llmits OF What Experience has dis
closed. THESE practices, being BOW
abundantly disclosed. can be explic.
lily and item by item. forbidden by
statute in such terms as will prae-
tically eliminate, pnseSainty. the Law
itself and TIE penalty being Inade