OCR Text |
Show CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY. The report of the Judiciary committee commit-tee of the House of Representatives, against the authority of Congress to control Insurance or other State corporations, corpor-ations, other than railroads, will not be accepted by the country na conclusive of tho matter. In the way It Is reported. First of all, If railroads are to bo excepted, ex-cepted, these being State corporations, there would seem to be no Inherent reason why other Stale corporations doing business In moru than one State, might not also bo subject to the jurisdiction juris-diction of Congress. Two methods suggest themselves as remedial with respect to these corporations, corpora-tions, bosldes .tho railway companies, tho Federal control of which Is thus pronounced against by the committee. First and most obvious, would be tho requirement that concerns doing an Interstate business should, as Commissioner Commis-sioner Garfield suggests, be required to take out a national charter or franchise. fran-chise. This, of course, would meet the point precisely. We believe that It is entirely within the power of Congress to require of any concern doing business busi-ness in two or more States that it shall be Incorporated under national laws. But 1n case It wero found that the House committee Is generl'cally right, and that Congress has no jurisdiction over corporations other than railroads that are chartered by the States, and cannot acquire it, then the way Is easy. That remedy would do away with the vast accumulations of money In ono place, subject to one control, which tho insurance companies have paraded before be-fore the public and have wasted so shamefully. This remedy Is for each State to require any Insurance company doing business within its borders to be a home corporation, keeping Its main office In the State In which It does business, making Its Investments there and being entirely subject In all matters mat-ters related to Its State business, to State control. Thus, every corporation would have to be exclusively a State corporation, separate and Independent In eacli State. As between these two methods of doing do-ing business, the complete segregation of tho business of any interstate concern con-cern Into fragments according as it does business in the several States, and on the other hand the Incorporation under national statutes, we believe that insurance nnd other Interstate concerns would gladly avail themselves of the national law. The question Is a burning one at this time, and every new light of importance that is thrown upon It is so much of public gain. We therefore welcome the House committee commit-tee report as a most important one, and as certain to force definite and unlooked-for results. |