The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-26

| ti SdlcIS ana SdHlhdhlOHs IUt idDOE
| conditions of .corporation-contro
industries are subject to grave criti-
cism and are a menace to the weeTare
! of the nation.
I'm order to prevent the organiza-
ton of employees for ,le improvement
of working conditions, elaborate sys-
! TENS of espionage are maintained by
| the larger corporations which refuse
to deal with labor unions and en-
,ployes suspected of union affiliation
are discharged.
THE domination by the men In
whose hands the final control of a
large part Of American industry rests
is not limited to their employees, but
is being rapidly extended TO control
the education and social service of
the nation.
This control is being extended
largely through the creation of enor-
nous, privately managed funds for
indefinite purposes. hereinafter des-
ignated foundations by the endow-
ment of colleges and universities, by
the creation of funds for the pension
ing of teachers, by conditions to pri-
yate charities as well as through con-
trolling or influencing the public
press"
The Rockefeller Foundations en-
trance into the field OF industrial re-
Iations, through the creation of spe-
tcial division, II is declared. "consti-
tutes a menace to The national well
fare to which the attention not only
of Congress, but OF the entire country,
should be directed. Backed by the
500, 600, 900 of the Rockefeller Foun-
dation. this movement has the power
to influence the entire country in the
tAT... ytn1 low
Mr. Rockefeller is charged with
planning to utilize literature which
was known TO him at the time
to be untrue and misleading in a So
called UNCONVENTIONAL campaign
There Is developing, says the report
a degree of control over the teaching
Of professors in our colleges and
universities which constitutes a mos
serious menace.
URGES CONGRESS TO ACT.
Congress Is urged to enact a statute
providing that all incorporated non
profit making bodies. whose presen
lcharters empower them to perform
more than a single specific function
and whose funds exceed 500, 100000
shall be compelled to secure Fedora
charter.
The charter, it Is urged, should con
initely and exactly specifying the pow
.ers. providing rigid inspection OF fl
nance. providing complete publicity
and providing that no line of work no
specifically mentioned in the articles
of incorporation shall be entered upoi
without the unanimous consent and ap
proval of the Board of Trustees no.
unless Congress is directly informed
Fof such intention.
0 Congress Is further urged to maxi
provision for thorough investiga
lion of all endowed institutions boil
secular and religious. whose propeft!
Q holdings or income exceeds moder
ate amount.
The third recommendation touch
ing upon the work of foundations !
that governmental activity along tn
lines of education and social service
should be increased as the only effec
, tive means of counteracting me in
y fluenc of the foundations as long a
they are permitted to exist.
n = The report says in full regarding
concentration of wealth:
n ''The evidence developed by tn
D hearings and Investigations OF the com
mission is the basis for the following
statements:
l. The control Of manufacturing
! mining and transportation industrle
] is 10 an increasing degree passing int
the hands of great corporation
- through stock ownership. and contro
2 OF credit is centralized in compare
] lively small number of enormous
+ powerful financial institutions. Ihes
financial institutions are in turn dom
{ mated by a very small nhmpef
, powerful financNers.
2. The final control OF American
industry rests. therefore, in the hand
of a small number of wealthy an
: powerful financiers.
, The concentration of ownership
: and control Is greatest in the pasi
= industries upon which the welfare o
the country must finally rest.
: a. WITH few exceptions each Of tn
e great basic industries is dominate
e by a single large corporation. an
4 where this is not true. the control
: THE industry through stock ownership
I in supposedly independent corporation
: and through credit Is almost. II no
: qnite. as potent.
u &. In such corporations, in spite O
: the large number of stockholders. tn
: control through actual stock owner
!. s,,ip rests with very small numbe
!. of persons For example, in the United
States steel Corporation. which hat
lin 1911 approximately 100000 share
holders, 1.5 per cent of the stock
: holders held 81 per cent of the stock
+ while the final control rested with
: single private banking house
: Similarly in the American Tobacco
Company, before the dissolution, thel
a stockholders owned 80 per cent of tn
!. stock.
; 6. Almost without exception the EN-
: ployes OF the large corporations ar
! unorga nized. as a result of the activ
: and aggressive ''nonunion' policy
e the corporation arrangements.
nj Furthermore, the labor policy o
!. the large corporations almost inevi
a tabfy determines the labor policy o
( the entire industry"
r EXTENT OF CONTROL
e 7. "A careful and conservative stud
= shows that the corporations controlled
by six financial groups and affiliated
e interests employ 2.S6i,6S4 age earn
: ers and have total capitalization o
4 s1s,s75, 400. 600, These six financia
groups control 2s per cent OF the tota
. number Of wage earners engaged II