The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-01-28

solution by ordinary legal process
NAV oftentimes involve financial con-
sequences likely to overwhelm the
security market and bring upon 1t
breakdown and confusion. There
ought to be an administrative COM
mission capable of directing and
shaping such corrective processes,
not only in aid Of the courts but also
by independent suggestion, If neces'
sary. -
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 dis
turb it's legitimate course as little as
possible, we ought to e to 1t, and
the judgment Of practical and saga
cious men of affairs everywhere
would applaud US if we did see to it,
that penalties and punishments should
fall, not upon business itself, to it's
confusion and Interruption, but upon
the individuals who use the instru-
mentalities of business to do things
which public policy and sound bust
ness practice condemn. Every act Of
business is done at the command or
upon the initiative Of some ascertain
able person or group Of persons.
These should be held Individually re-
sponsible and the punishment should
fall upon them, not upon the business
organization of which they make IL
legal use. 1t should be one Of the
main objects of our legislation to di-
vest such persons of their corporate
cloak and deal with them as with
those who do not represent their cor
porations, but merely by deliberate
intention break the law. Business
men the country through would, I am
sure, applaud us if we we're to take
effectual steps to see that the off,
GERS and directors Of great business
bodies were prevented from bringing
them and the business of the country
into disrepute and danger.
Other questions remain which will
need very thoughtful and practical
treatment. Enterprises. in these
modern days of great individual for.
tunes, are oftentimes i~nterlocked, not
by being under the control of the
same directors, but by the fact that
the greater part Of their corporate
stock Is owned by. a single person or
group of persons who are in some
way intimately related in interest.
We are agreed, I take it, that holding
companies should be prohibited, but
what of the c. trolling private OWL
ership of individuals o actually CO.
operative groups Of individuals? Shall
the private owners of capital stock be
suffered to be themselves in effect
holding companies? We do not wish,
I suppose, to forbid the purchase OF
stocks by any person who pleases to
GUY them in such quantities as he
can afford, or in any way arbitrarily
to limit the sale Of stocks to bona
fde purchasers. Shall we require the
owners of stock, when their voting
power in several companies which
ought to be independent Of n an
other would constitute actual control,
to make election in which Of them
they will exercise their right to vote?
This question I venture for your con-
s%ideration.
There Is another matter in which
imperative considerations of justice
and fair play suggest thoughtful
remedial action. Not only do many
of the combinations effected or sought
to be effected in the Industrial world
work an injustice upon the public in
general; they also directly and SER
iously injure the individuals who are
put out of business In one unfair
way or another by the many dislodg-
ing and discriminating forces Of com.
bination, 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 upon the facts and
judgments proved and entered n suits
by the Government where the Gov
eminent has upon it's own initiative
sued the combinations complained Of
and won its suit, and that the statute
Of limitations shall be suffered to
run against such litigante only from
the date Of the conclusion OF the
Government action. It is not fair
that the private litigant should be
obliged to set up and establish again
the facts which the Government has
proved. He a not afford, he has
not the power, to make use Of such
processes of inquiry as the Govern
ment has command Of. Thus shall
individual justice be done while the
processes of business are rectifed
and squared with the general con-
science.
I have laid the case before you, no
doubt as it lies in your OWL mind, as
it lies in the thought Of the country.
What must every candid man say OF
the suggestions I have laid before
you, of the plain obligations Of which
I have reminded you? That these
are new things for which the coun-
try is not prepared? No; but that
they are old things, O. 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, conscien-
tious business men the country over
will be unsatisied. They are in these