Show REPORTS THAT ARE NOT REPORTS In the discussion of publicity as a corrective on the exaction and evils Nof monopolies and combinations it Is always assumed that the publicity in view will In fact and in truth be a exhibit of tho actual rcccipta expenditures expend-itures operations and condition oC the property made In such a manner as is Intelligible to the public as well as the Stockholders Unless such a publication publica-tion as that Is made it is idle to make any point on publicity for a publication publica-tion that docs not nhow the actual workings of the corporation and what Us money was spent for Is not spent n publication pub-lication within the meaning of the argument ar-gument For Instance here is a case as censured by the Philadelphia Saturday Sat-urday Evening Post which we are requested re-quested to publish in these columns and comment upon A SERMON FOR STOCKHOLDERS A great railway corporation has Just Irued to Its stockholders and the public c I 3locJehoilers publc Its I regular annual report what professes to be a minute account of the steward ship of Its executive ofilcers It Is a Cxcculvo I I beautifully printed book on the finest paper voluminous MJI > d with Impressive arrayn of figures car fully Itemized tabu i lations pnlnoliMiiK explanations of Where thin thousand don cmo from and why that thousand dollar lhousand vur paid tol11r out At fIt glance you JL impressed by the air of frunkncns all on the part of tho directors of eagerneso to convince their employers tho stockholders and the pub lie lint tho business has boon wisely and honestly conducted from the Hirurcs to the left of the decimal point to tho c fig ures to tho rlcht of It ft Hut In your desire to find moro to ad mire you pass from generals to particu lars You ibid joveral portcu orl principal tables ot oiondltijro And under one or the other of tho four you find every conccivablo matter for mator which a railway company could or would legitimately l spend cmpnn money roadway and bridges and mils and ties tes and buUulnrpi rolling stock and vrharvei nnd boats salaries and wages and fuel nnt wnsc and rentals law and print Ing and adver tising and damage clamis and so on through the wholo railway Hat of necessi ties and luxurIes You find that tim ex the ecutives have Itemized 1 everything down cleaning to new jmall locomotives tools and cotton waste for each And then you are astonished to find In of the tabulations tabulatOs an Item called Other Expenses which mounts caled nearly a million dollars Your admiration for th admlrlon report your bnllff that It Is really I frank Instantly tanl vanlshcn What you wonder did the executives of the road do with thin larso roat wih lorbo sum lm which they pass over uo swiftly and Jauntily and which thev did not spend for any purpose that could bo classified that ao ieglthnate slled But there vlll be no Inquiry from stock holders Thnro will be Other wi no cusnlclon that Expenses Is a cover for careless management or for theft Moat of lhef o tho jlost stockholders will not road this report they aro merely to use Mr Rockefellers oxpivsslvo phrase olamoreia CrelLrS dcndp Those who do note Other B poiiBCa will divide Into two parties Ono party contains those l palLes conolns who shift the JnirrlPdly when they see such Items star eyes Irf at them and If l pass nervously on lam ruing thy door upon conscience who COl cllneo for nomo reason threatens to IUMJO unlo from ho dozoful bedroom and to say something disagree able The other party eomellllnc those who note such Horns and frown or lms Cynically grin as they say How tho politician did soak It to uj last year 1 thought we muot be paying well for those IlylnE 1 sCundiilous licenses qnd Immunities ThIH Immunilet 1hl particular corporation Is no hotter and considering Its 1 1 temptations no worso than scored of other of the Colossus family I is I no more entanukd In politics than they art it Is Ilolles ar i no more addicted to flxli dlctet fixing Iceslaiors nldennen nrosccu tprfl L Is no more bo et by and Involved vlth bosses lobbyist and 10h1I tJ Cnll campaign com ullttwi Tha annual 11Il roport therefore Is typical Jt Preaches a thereCoI n lowerul sermon to text lie Other whole American pcoplo from the Kxpeneca a sermon of solemn Irony against that substitute thlt conscience which corporate official and stockholders employ to relieve tluIr sonal aelvca of tho odium rlow sin of their per ant corporate nets a sermon oC solemn rUon warn lag against the mightiest JnG p mlhlCt engine ever con atiucfd for destroying the liberties people the character of Usi public officlulu of a the justice of its laws and Iu la purity of Us moral standards public and private That engine Is i pUblc lr1ute tionNow corrup Now Ils olain that the publication so Justly censured above la I not In fact publicity To enter luinp i sumo like those under a tItle that lln explains nothing noth-ing especially after every other conceivable con-ceivable legitimate expense haM been charged up Ig I a selfevident fraud or Imposition It docs not meet the case the stockholder Is not In fact told what was done with that nearly a I million dollars but he is I entitled to i know every dell of It and a publication publica-tion that would meet the case would i have to show that detail The beauty I of the argued publicity Is that no corporation I cor-poration would daro to publish such expenditure as Is broadly hinted at under its real title and consequently It would not dare to spend the money in that way And the secret corporation corruption which such blind entries cover ould be burred completely by the thorough and definite entries which I alone would cure the evils for which publicity Is I argued an a specific |