The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-20

by foreign nations in addition to the loans which have been made since last August.
 President Vail and Business
 The vigorous communication which has recently been made by President Theo- dore N. Vail and which supplements his annual report to the American Telephone and Telegraph company demonstrates that President Vail has recovered his health. although there was not the slight est impairment of his mental health when certain physical ills, not serious. made 1t advisable for him to spend the greater part of the winter in a summerlke cli- mate which an island near the mouth of the savannah river always enjoys. Pres- dent Vail has sometimes been spoken of as true dynamo. mentally and physical ", whose various activities are of kind which many men who are 20 years his junior could not have sustained without breakdown.
 When the government at Washington reached the opinion that certain features or the organization of the company of which President Vail is the supreme exec utive officer were not in harmony with the federal statutes, he did not hesitate a moment about the proper action of the case. He said to his associates and to
 
 learl from the department of justice wherein the company was not acting in accord with the antitrust law. When he did get this information he would at once inform the government that the organ izaton would be rectified so that it colld be regarded by the department as oper- ating in conformity with the statute. This was done.
 At the time, President Vail, in private and informal conversation, said that he was in thorough accord with the princi- pie of government regulation and super vision. It was, he believed, policy which was in sympathy with the advancement of general business in the United States. It was best both for business itself and for the people that the government should su- pervise, and when necessary regulate, business operations of great corpora tion. He furthermore said that experience had already shown that although there had been defects in the methods adopted by some of the supervising boards. yet those were incident to the establishment of a system of this kind, and he was sure would ultimately be eliminated.
 He had no other doubt of the success of governmental regulation and super vision than that which was occasoned sometimes by the fear that politics or in- competent commissioners might dominate governmental boards. President Vail naS not cnanSeu the opinion ne expressed a few years ago. He now says that reg ulation and control by commissions are to be part of the permanent policy of the government, and that already business men of the United States who are broad minded and competent acknowledge that these commissions have shown that they contain possibilities for great good.
 One paragraph in his letter confirmed statements made by leaders in our busi- ness and commercial life which were sum- marized and reported in this column few days ago, for he says that elemental con- ditions in this country are better now than they have ever been, and that for this reason there should be a speedy res- toration of normal business conditions. Co operation in an effort to bring about correct understanding will surely, in his opinion, tend to restore normal con ditions. and it is already evident that the public mind, which. President Vail says, has been excited by exaggerated and in- correct statements of irregularities, now realizes that most of these accusations had no foundation in fact. It must have beer with qualification that President Vail was able to report the financial condition of the corporation and to say that the property is now owned by lit tie over 100000 persons of whom nearly one third are employees.