Evening star., 1933-12-25
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

A Federal incorporation law is re-
garded in governmental quarters as the
only solution and check upon some Of
the evils which have been uncovered
by the Senate Committee on Banking
and Currency in It's two-year inquiry
into Stock Exchange operations. opera
tions by the banks and by the bankers
The Senate committee, headed by Sen
ator Duncan U. Fletcher Of Florida, Is
expected to draft report to the Sen
ate and submit recommendation for
further legislation during the coming
regular session Of the Congress. Presi-
dent Roosevelt has taken a keen In
terest in the problem of better regula-
ton of the stock and grain exchanges,
too, and 1t has been generally expected
that he would deal with this question
in a message to Congress. He has had
a committee of officials in the Depart
ment of Commerce working on the mat
ter, and it is expected that he will have
the report Of this committee before him
when he drafts recommendations.
u X X
At present each State has Its own
incorporation laws. Some Of the States
are far more lenient than others In the
matter Of these incorporate laws, ana
where q State is so lenient, as Tor ex-
ample, Delaware, thousands Of corpora
tions are set up under its laws, although
the corporations do business and have
their principal offices and plants far
from the State in which they have been
legally incorporated. Delaware has long
been Z kind of corporation Gretna
Green. And it is Of interest that only
| the other day, when the President an
nounced that new agency, the Electri-
NAL Home and Farm Authority, would
be set up to finance the people OF the
Tennessee Valley in their purchase OF
all kinds of electrical appliances in or:
der to make use of the power developed
there by the Government plants, 1t was
TO be incorporated in Delaware. Even
the Federal Government, it appears, Is
| not ayerse to the favorable terms OF in
/ corpation granted by Delaware.
4 X X X
This is not the first time that Fed
eral incorporation law has been sug-
gested. The late President and Chief
f, Justice Howard Taft urged the enact
ment Of such a law, in order to bring
the country and to give the Govern
ment a better chance to deal with cor
porations than at present exists. But
States rights and q Discrimination 10
| further GENERALIZATION of government In
Washington in part prevented favorable
, action on the proposal. AS things stand
today, States rights-and States duties
seem to be merely topic OF conVer-
sation. The people have become more
| and more used to seeing everything
( under the sun operated from Washing :
ton. They did rebel, however. against
the recent attempt to have the FED
eral Government prohibit the manu-
| facture and sale of alcoholic beverages.
The repeal of the eighteenth amend,
ment and the restoration Of the control
Of the liquor traffic 10 the States seems
TO have been q step toward decenVall-
zation of government. But it was only
| vinced that the Federal Government
Just could not enforce prohibition. Even
now. however, the Federal Government
| is still keeping a finger in the pie OF
control of the liquor traffic, through the
| constitutional provision contained In
| the twenty-first amendment, making 1t
| the duty of the Federal Government to
protect dry territory against lmporta-
! tions of liquor from wet territory.
The country will await with keen in
terest the draft Of proposed law to
regulate the stock and grain exchanges.
| 1t is realized that such regulation by
! the Government Is tough nut to
crack: that there is always the danger
of going so far as to hamstring busi-
| ness. Nevertheless, the public has
been aroused by its huge losses, sus-
tained on the Stock Exchange in the
last four years, and also by the reve-
lations before the Senate Investigating
Committee of the agile operations-to
say the least-of some of the cleverest
and most highly regarded operators
and bankers in Wall Street. For that
reason the demand for some outside
control-some control beyond that
exercised by the exchange itself-has
grown. So far, 1t is said, the Senate
committee has not formulated any
legislation whatever, although its men,
bers have been giving some considera-
ton to the problem. The committee
has q vast amount Of information and
testimony before it in relation to the
operation OF the Stock Exchange and
| the Grain and Cotton Exchanges. It
must be digested before comprehen-
sive and fair measure can be drafted.
| X 4
President Roosevelt, on the day that
| Congress opens or shortly thereafter
will be expected to send to that body
a message-usually called a report on
the state Of the Union. How compre-
hensive is this message to be? Will 1t
tain the seeds of the legislative program
advocated by the President for the
coming session? At the special session
Of Congress, called by the President
| almost Immediately after he entered
the White House last March, the Pres
ident adopted plan of sending short
terse messages dealing with one topic
at a time. He may, If he thinks flt
| continue such a practice, although it
| is expected that he will send to Con-
| greSS a message discussing the steps
already taken by the administration tc
aid in recovery. The plan Of sending
| the legislative program piecemeal to
| Congress has its merits. 1t serves to
| focus attention of the country right
on particular measure which the
President advocates. Furthermore, it
! gives the administration more time to
| develop various features of the pro-
gram, and to add new features as oc-
| CcSlOu dIlScS.
The President last week did just what
Senator Pittman Of Nevada. chairman
| of the Senate Foreign Relations Com
mittee, predicted he would do-he rati-
fed the so-called silver agreement en-
! tered into at the London Economic
Conference, by which the United States
agrees to purchase 24,00oo00 ounces
of silver plus annually for four years
from the silver mines of this country
The Congress already having given
the President power to deal with the
| currency of the country in practically
any way he sees fit. the Chief Execu'
tive was in a position to ratify this
agreement, which otherwise might haV'
required congressional action. Sena-
tor Pittman, after the Indian govern:
ment had ratified the silver agreemen,
weeks ago, said that the President
| - LII .y.I fInf a