The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1914-01-30

COURTS
rection outside the courts are made
ouate to adjust the remedy 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 free
dom OF trade. cannot always be dis
sected into their component units as
readily as railroad companies or simi
lar organizations can be. Their dis
often times involve financial conse-
Quences likely to overwhelm the Sc
curity market and bring on its break
down and confusion. There ought to
be an administrative commission capa-
BILE OF directing and shaping such cor
receive processes. not only In aid OF
the courts, but also by Independent
suggestion. II necessary.
'Inasmuch as our object and the
spirit Of our action in these matters Is
to meet business half way In Its pro-
its legitimate course as little as posi-
BILE. we ought to see to 1t, and the
Judgment Of practical and sagacious
men Of affairs everywhere would ap-
plaud us If we did see to 1t, that pen
alties and punishments should fall, not
on business itself. to its confusion and
interruption, but on the individuals
who use the Observation-Disclosures Of bust
ness 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
ascertainable person or group OF per-
sons. These should be held individually
responsible, and the punishment should
fall on them, not on the business or
ganization Of which they made illegal
use. It should be one of the main OBJ
tects of our legislation to divest such
persons Of their corporate cloak and
deal with them as with those who do
not represent their corporations, but
merely by deliberate intention break
the law. The business men, 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 were prevented
from bringing them and the business
of the country into disrepute and dam.
ger.
"Other questions remain which WI,
need very thoughtful and practical
treatment.
Enterprises in these modern days OF
great industrial fortunes, are often
times interlocked. 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 sim
gle person or group OF persons who are
in some way intimately related in In
terest. We are agreed. I take it. that
holding companies should be prohibited,
but what Of the controlling private
ownership Of individuals or actually
cooperative groups Of individuals?
Shall the private owners of capital
stock be suffered to be themselves In
effect holding companies? We don't
wish, l suppose, to forbid the purchase
of stocks by any person who pleases to
buy them in such quantities as he can
afford, or In any way arbitrarily to
limit the sale of stocks to bona f1de pur-
chasers. Shall we require the owners
of stock, when their voting power in
several companies which ought to be
Independent OF one another would con-
stitute actual control, to make election
in which Of them they will exercise
their right to vote? This question
venture for your consideration.
There is another matter In which I'm
perative conditions Of justice and fair
play suggest thoughtful remedial ac-
ton. Not only do many OF the comb1-
nations effected or sought to be ef-
fected in the Industrial world work an
Injustice on the public in general; thky
also directly and seriously injure the
INDIVIDUALS WHO are put Out VI UuSAA0So
in one unfair way or another by the
many dislodging and exterminating
forces Of combination. I hope that we
shall agree in giving private individ-
uals who claim to have been injured by
these processes the right to found their
suits for redress on the facts and judy
ments proved and entered In suits by
the Government, where the Govern
ment has on its own initiative sued the
combinations complained OF and won
it's suit and that the statute OF limita-
lions shall be suffered to run against
such litigants only from the date of the
conclusion OF the Governments action.
1t is not fair that the private litlgant
should be obliged to set up and estab-
lish again the facts which the Govern
ment has proved. He cannot afford. he
has not the power, to make use of such
processes of inquiry as the Government
has command of. Thus shall individual
justice be done while the processes OF
business are rectified and squared with
the general conscience.
ST have laid the case before you. no
doubt as 1t lies in your own mind, as it
lies In the thought OF the country.
suggestions I have laid before you. OF
the plain obligations Of which 1 have
reminded you? That these are now
things for which the country is not pre-
pared? No: but that they are old
things now familiar, and must Of course
be undertaken, II we are to square our
laws with the thought and desire OF the
country. Until these things are done,
conscientious business men the country
over will be unsatisfied. They are In
these things our mentors and coll
leagues. We are now about to write
the additional articles of our constitu-
ton Of peace. the peace that is honor
and freedom and prosperity"
Game Treaty Is Desired.
Ottawa, Ont.-The Canadian con-
servation committee, at its annual
meeting here, was asked to aid the
American Game Protective association
in obtaining an international treaty to
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