Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-01-22

Will be understood that our object Ii
not to ~lnsettie business or anywhere
seriously to break its established
courses athwart. On the contrary, Nc
desire the law we are now about ito
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 anew spirit, in
thoughtful moderation. without revo.
luton of any untoward kind.
Private Monopoly lntolerabie.w.
We are all agreed that private mo,
nopoly is indefensib1e and intolera.
bles and our programs founded upon
that conviction. II will be a conipre.
hensiye but not a radical or unaccept,
able program and these are Its items,
the changes which opinion deliberate,
" sanctions and for which business
waits:
1t waits with a~cauiesance in the
first place for laws which will effect.
nally prohibit and prevent such inter
lockings of the personnel OF the di-
rectorates 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,
" one and the same, those who sell
and those who buy but the same per
sons trading with one another under
different mi and in different com
binations and those who affect to com
pete in fact partners and masters of
some whole field of business. Stuff
Gent time should be allowed, of
course in which to effect these changes
of organization without inconvenience
or confusion. Such a prohibition will
work much mor than a mere mega
tive good by correcting the serious
evils which have arisen because. for
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 its own
behoof. 1t will bring new men, new
energies, q 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 well as those who direct public
affairs now recognize, and recognize
with painful ~clearness. the great
harm and injustice which has been
done to many, if 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.
The country is ready therefore to
accept, and accept with relief as well
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 fnseparably eonencted. 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.
~. with a purpose we ought to be
quick to accept. 1t Will be one step,
and a 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 ~discourages 1t Hike 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 snffi GENTLY familiar with the ac-
tua1 processes and methods OF mono
poly and of the man, 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.
All the business men of the country
desire something more than that the
menace of the legal process In these
matters be made explicit and intelligi-