Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-11-18
By NATHAN ROBERTSON

WASHINGTON (LPA)-On impressive list
of small businessmen have appeared before
the Celler investigating committee of the
House to warn against the dangers of monop-
oily and big business. But the sharpest warning
has come from big businessman
He was 7. K, Quinn, former vice president
of General Electric who resigned from this
giant concern 13 years ago in protest over its
monopolstic policies. Quinn told the commit
tee that such tremendous concentrations of
economic power as GE and GIN discourage
constructive competition, creative enterprise
and new equity investment and are the
major cause of the trend that Herbert Hoover
recently said is 'blissfully driving us down the
back road at top speed :, on the last mile to
collectivism,
Speaking as man who has seen big busi-
ness from the inside, Quinn used forceful Ian
guage in describing its dangers. He said one
million dollar business is a good sized business
a ten million dollar business is big "When we
come to corporation which is from a hundred
to a thousand times bigger than million or
ten million dollar company Zone with tens or
hundreds of thousands of employees and stock
holders), we have Frankenstein creature on
our hands, and these are the monsters which
threaten our democracy"
I'm my judgment" Quinn added, unless
they are controlled and restrained they are
evil because they constitute too much power
in too few hands Human beings, including
you and me, are simply not good enough to be
entrusted with so much power over others.
The fact that some corporation officials in
positions of great power are good and able
men is no anSwer-not any more of justifi-
cation than the occasional appearance of
good king justified the system of monarchy"
There are now Quinn said more than 100
of these monsters in America and 50 of
them with gross assets of more than a billion
dollars Many of them are richer than many
states Their arrangements are self-perpetuat-
ing; the officers are not elected but merely
favored or picked from close associates for
their position; and the individual stockholders
have no more voice or control in them than
Russian peasants"
"Plans to cut governmental expenditures,
reduce taxes and regulate trade unions may
be noble enough in intent" Quinn added "but
the place to strike first is at excessive concen-
trated private economic power, which is the
cause of big government and big unions, and
the trend toward Socialism"
Quinn denounced as simply not true" the
claim that business must be big to be effic-
ent. He said that GM was not a more efficient
automobile manufacturer because it owns
Frigidaire and truck lines and diesel and air
craft engines and electric motors and washing
machine plants. 1t doesn't have to own more
than 100 factories to be efficient in making
automobiles. Efficient production, even mass
production, is keyed to the efficiency in a
single plant.
General Motors doesn't have to own
Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick Oldsmooile. GMC
Truck, Cadillac, etc. to be efficient" he added
And 1t doesn't have to be controlled by bill
lionaire dupont which has scores of factories
of its own, and, incidentally, also controls huge
United States Rubber, Socially, and in the
long run economically, the control is ineffici-
ent and nationally dangerous"
Quinn denounced as nonsense statistics
showing that the number of small firms is
greater today than few years ago. Most of