The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1929-02-22
7he.-Cherry
" Where with our
roo Little Hatchet
we tell the truth
about many things. sometimes pro-
foundly, sometimes Nfiippantly.
sometimes recklessly.


into the limelight. There is the ia
nous proxy fight between Mr.. Stew
art and Mr.. Rockefeller, to find out
who is high gun in the Standard Oil
Company of Indiana, powerful
company that owns vast properties
at home and abroad, that taps the
midcontinent field with pipe lines and
| that rates its assets in the high mil
lions. There is the fight between Mr..
Childs and his opponents in the COR
| poration that owns the Childs res
taurants, where there is no walters
union.
One thing stands out clearly in
these proxy fights. They happen only
when big interests have falling out.
The owners of small lots of stock are
not engaged in any fight Big inter
ests are interested and the big inter-
ests fight their battles with the aid of
the votes of little fellows, through
proxies. A proxy is merely waiver
Of the right to vote. Smith gives
Jones a paper which allows Jones to
vote Smiths stock-to cast Smiths
votes.
1t was as if Mr.. Hoover and Mr..
Smith had gone around collecting
proxies, or waivers, which would have
allowed those two gentlemen to cast
all the votes, without the rest of us
ever going near the polls.
Mr.. Childs, in his fight, has adopt
ed slogan. He says "let every per-
son choose for himself what he will
eat" That is about as sensible as
most campaign slogans. 1t ought to
win any campaign. But that is not
; the real issue. The real issue is con-
troll, and control means the right to
, fix policies; and policies are fixed
with profits in mind.
Mr.. Rockefeller waged his fight to
unseat Stewart because he thought
Stewart had gained a reputation
through the Continental Trading Com
pany deal, that was bad for Standard
OIL 1t had the look of bringing eth
les into business. Maybe that was the
case, but the real issue was control
not whether the stockholders were tc
control, but whether Rockefeller OF
Stewart was to control.
This business of running corpora
tions through proxies, through having
! all the votes cast by committees ol
u directors, serves an excellent purpose
providing the proxy holders actual!
represent the wishes of the stockhold
= ers, and this they do in many cases
But eventually democracy in cor
;, poratei control will demand that
: stockholder be a man and not a piece
of paper-that he vote and know hov
6 and why he votes.
If there is an ethical issue involved
such as the Rockefeller Stewart issu,
in Indiana Standard Oil, why is no
. that ethical issue the concern of ever.
4 stockholder? Why must Mr.. Rookie
feller be uthe custodian of all ethics
Not even Rockefeller has earned tn
9 right to take the place of all tn
9 voters who believe in decency in cor
!, tporation control How can Mr.. Rookie
feller assume the moral obligation
:, which rests on all the individual mem
9 bers of the corporation? The fact i
= that he can not and the whole bust
ness is hokum affair arranged fo
the benefit of big interests who mus
either keep close control of corporal
die.
Eventually democracy will come j
some way and in some appreciable de
gree, into the management of tn
d corporate wealth of the country. TIL
l. sham of today will give place to
e reality tomorrow.
: We may look upon the great prox
/ wars of the. day as symptoms of
X disease and we may be sure enoug
e that the cure will be found when an
only when the individuals awake t
y their responsibility.
{ Union members go to meetings
IS they do not give proxies to thei
Il officers. Why should the. millions VIII
o own stocks, which are merely inter
l. ests in various enterprises, do dif
: ferently? There must be a bette