The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-01-29
courts. but also by independent sug
gestion. il necessary.
No Immunity Bath

lna6InucQ as our object ana tho
spirit OF Dur action In these matters is
to meet business half way In its pro-
cesses Of self correction and disturb
Its legitimate course as little as pos
sibie, we ought to do it and h judg-
ment of practical and sagacious men OF
affairs everywhere would applaud us
II We did see to 1t, that penalties and
punishments should fall, not on bush
ness itself, to its confusion and inter-
lruption, but on the individuals who
use the instruments OF business to do
things which public policy and sound
business practice condemn. Every act
OF business is done at the command
or on the initiative of some ascertain
able person or group of persons. These
should be held individually RESPONSE
BILE and the punishment should fall on
them. not on the business organization
of which they have made Illegal use.
1t should be n of the main objects OF
our legislation to divest such persons
of their corporate cloak and deal with
them as with those who do not repre-
sent their corporations, but merely by
deliberate intention violate the Law.
Businessmen the country through
would. I am sure, applaud us If we
were to take effectual steps to see
that the officers and directors Of great
business bodies We're prevented from
bringing them and the business of the
country into disrepute and danger.
interlockina Directorates.
Other questions remain which will
need very thoughtful and practical
treatment. Enterprises, in these mod
ern days of great individual fortunes
are often times interlocked, not by be-
ing under the control of the same d.
rectors. but by the fact that the great
er part of their corporate stock Ia
owned by a single person or group of
persons who are in some way intimate,
ly related in interest. We are agreed,
l take 1t, that holding companies should
be prohibited, but what of the con-
trolling private ownership of individu-
ais or ctually cooperative groups OF
individuals? Shall private owners of
capital stock be suffered to be them
selves in effect holding companies? I
don't propose to prohibit the purchase
to buy them in such quantities as he
can afford, or In any way arbitrarily
to limit the sales Of stocks to bonafide
purchasers. Shall we require the own
ers of stock. when their voting power
In several companies which ought to
constitute actual control, to make cleo
tlon In which Of them they will exercise
their right to vote? This question I
venture for your consideration.
Right of Redress.
There is another matter In which
imperative considerations of justice
ana fair play suggest thoughtful rem
edial action. Not only do many Of the
combinations effected, or sought to be
in the industrial world, work
an injustice on the public in general;
they also directly and seriously inture
the individuals who are put out Of
in n unfair way or another
by the many dislodging and exter-
mlnat1ng 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 on the
facts and judgments proved and en-
tered in suits by the government
where the government has on it's own
initiative sued the combinations COM
planned of and won It's suit, and that
the statute of limitations shall be suf-
Tered to run against such ~litigants
only from the date of the conclusion
of the governments action. 1t is not
fair that the private litigant should be
obliged to set up and establish again
the facts which the government has
proven. He cannot afford, he has not
cesses of inquiry as the government has
command of. Thus shall Individual
Justice be done while the processes Of
busines are rectified and quared with
the general conscience.
Il have laid the case before you, no
doubt as 1t lies in. your own min as
it lies in the thought OF the
What must every candid man say of
the suggestions 1 nave laid before YOU,
of the plain obligations Of which I re-
minded you? That these are new
things for which the country is net
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 BUSH
ness men. the country over, will be un-
satisfied. They are in these things our
mentors and colleagues. We are now
about to write the additional articles
Of our constitution of peace. the peace
that is honor and freedom and pros
perity."
President Wilson left the White
house at 1910 o'clock to deliver his
message on trust legislation to q Joint
session of congress. Both the House
and Senate met at noon and recessed
Whlle the senator's two by two, filed to
the hall of the House for the presi-
dents address o 1880 o'clock.
Wilson and others of the presidents
family occupied places While the diplo-
matte corps was we'll represented and
the floor was crowded with various
government officials. A Joint COM
mittee met the president In speaker
Clark's office to conduct him to the
roStrum.
The president arrived at the capitol
at 1925 o'clock. Both houses We're as
sembled and waiting for his appear
ance.
ColorfuI Scene.
The president was ushered into the
chamber at 1929 o'clock
while the audience rose and gave him
prolonged applause and cheers. The
president took his place at the clerks
desk and began reading promptly at
1890 o'clock. His auditors gave rapt
attention.
The secene was a colorful one and
no less dramatic than on any of the
previous occasions when the president.
setting aside precedent that had pre-
vailed since George Washington's time,
came to the halls of congress to ad-
dress the national legislative body in
person. The high banked galleries
presented q wave of color. On the
floor the legislators in somber, CON
Ventional garb, packed the hall to its
utmost corners. Secretaries Garrison,
Daniels and Wilson and Postmaster
Camera R11r1aCnn h,l ,1.t. ~