The Sentinel=record., 1914-01-21
PRESIDENT GIVES OUTLINE IF HIS
 CONSTITUTION
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

their abilities entitled them to direct. It will immensely hearten young men coming on and will greatly enrich the business activities of the whole country"
 Railroad Regulation.
 Tn the second place, the president said, the interests of many of the great railroad systems the interests of which have been subordinated to men who financed them and of other business enterprises which those men wished to promote. He declared the country is ready to accept a law which will confer upon the inter- state commerce commission the po% CT to superintend and regulate the | financial operations by which the railroads are henceforth to be sup piled with the money they need for | their proper development to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the country for improved facilities. We cannot postpone action in this mat ter" he continued without leaving | the railroads exposed to many se1i- ous handicaps and hazards; and the prosperity of the railroads and the prosperity of the country are insep- arably connected Upon this question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual management and operation of the railroads have spoken very plainly and very earnestly, with a | purpose we ought 10 be quick to ac- cept It will be one step, and very important one toward the necessary separation of the business of produc- | ion and the business of transporta- l tion."
 The business of the country the president said, has suffered because it could not obtain a more explicit l legislasive definition of the meaning of the existing antitrust law, but now that i've are sufficiently familiar with the actual processes and meth ods of monopoly and of the many hurtful restraints of trade to make definition possible, these prac- tices can he explicitly and item y item forbidden by statute in such terms as will practically eliminate uncertainty, the law itself and the penalty being made equally plain
 But business men of the country desire something more than that, the president declared, which desire would be met by an interstate trade commission.
 "The opinion of the country would instantly approve of such a commits sion" he said Tt would not wish to see it empowered to make terms with monopoly of any sort or tO as sume control of business as if the government made itself responsible, | It demands such a commission only as an indispensable instrument of in- formation and publicity, as a clear the public mind and the managers of. great business undertakings should be guided and as an instru- mentality for doing justice to busi- ness where the processes of the courts or the natural forces Of cor rection outside the courts are made quate to adjust the remedy to the wrong in a way that will meet all the equities and circumstances of the case.
 A Directing Commission.
 Producing industries, for example. which have passed the point up to which combinations may be consist ent with the public interest and the freedom of trade, cannot always be dissected into their component units as readily as railroad companies CT similar organizations o9p be. Their dissolution by ordinary legal pro- cesses may often times involve ti- nancial consequences likely to over whelm the security market and bring upon it breakdown and confusion. There ought to be an administrative commission capable of directing and shaping such corrective processes. not only in aid of the courts but also by independent suggestions, if neces- sary.
 Punishment for Individuals.
 "Inasmuch as our object and the spirit Df our action is to meet busi- ness half way as much as possible we ought to see to it, and the judg- ment of practical and sagacious men of affairs everywhere would applaud us if we did see to it, that penalties and punishments should fall not upon the individuals who use the in strumentalities of business to do things which public policy and sound business practice condemn. Ev- cry act of business is done as the command or upon the initiative of some ascertainable person or group of persons. These should be held 'n- dividually responsible and the pun ishment should fall upon them. not on the business organization of which they make illegal use. It should be one of the main objects of our laws to divest such persons of their corporate cloak and deal with