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Show SJTHUST LAWS CLEARLY DEFINED i ' President in Sp;ial Message Declares It Is Not His Policy to Hamper Busiess Experience Has Pointed Out Harmful Pratices Which Can Now Be Forbidden. Washington, an. 20. President Wilson appeared before a joint ses-ilon ses-ilon of both houas of congress and delivered the folowing message on trusts: "Gentlemen of tie congress: "In my report on the State of the Union, which J had the privilege of reading to you on the 1st of December Decem-ber last, I ventured to reserve for discussion at a later date the subject of additional legislation regarding the very difficult and intricate matter of trusts and monopolies. The time now seems opportune to turn to that great question; not only because the currency cur-rency legislation, which absorbed-your attention and the attention of the country in December, is now disposed of, but also because opinion appears u De clearing about us with singular rapidity in this j other great field of action. ' j Business o1 Interpretation. "Legislation hiks its atmosphere like everything else alnd the atmosphere of accommodation I and mutual understanding under-standing which jfwe now breathe with so much refreshment is matter of sincere sin-cere congratulation. It ought to make our task very rr iuch less difficult and embarrassing th' ftn it would have been had we been olrpliged to continue to act amidst the .atmosphere of suspicion suspi-cion and antagr jraism which has so long made it ir. ppossible to approach such questions v Srtth dispassionate fairness. fair-ness. Construe live legislation, when successful, is ah, ways the embodiment of convincing ei 'xperience and of the mature public k opinion which finally springs out of if that experience. Legislation Leg-islation is a busJLjness of Interpretation, not of origlnatiojjf n ; and it is now plain what the opinio ft is to which we must give effect in'thOL m .ttor n in not re cent or hasty cpinion. "The great br isinessmen who organized organ-ized and finance jd monopoly and those who administer ed it in actual everyday every-day transaction s have year after year, until now, eithi r denied its existence or justified it a w js necessary for the effective ef-fective maintenif 'ance and development of the vast hussl iness processes of the country in the fl modern circumstances of tradf and vi-'.i .'nifartnre and finance; but all the while opinion has made headway against them. The average businessman is convinced that the ways of liberty are also the ways of peace and the ways of success as well; and at last the masters of business busi-ness on the great scale have begun to yield their preference and purpose, perhaps their judgment also, In honorable honor-able surrender. Will Not Hamper. "What we are purposing to do, therefore, there-fore, is happily not to hamper or Interfere In-terfere with business as enlightened business men prefer to do it, or in any sense to put it under the ban. The antagonism between business and government gov-ernment is over. We are now about to give expression to the best business Judgment of America, to what we know to be the business conscience and honor of the land. The government govern-ment and business men are ready to meet each other half way in a common effort to square business methods with both public opinion and the law. The best informed men of the business world condemn the methods and processes and consequences of monopoly mo-nopoly as we condemn them; and the instinctive judgment of the vast majority of business men everywhere goes with tbem. We shall now be their spokesman. "When serious contests ends, when men unite in opinion and purpose, those wjju are tochange their wayB of business, joining vTth choiie who ask tor the change, it is possible to effect It in the way in which prudent and thoughtful and patriotic men would wish to see It brought about, with as few, as Blight, as easy and simple business busi-ness readjustments as possible in the circumstances, nothing essential disturbed, dis-turbed, nothing torn up by the roots, no parts rent asunder which can be left in wholesome combination. Fortunately, For-tunately, no measures of sweeping or novel change are necessary. It will be understood that our object is not to unsettle business or anywhere seriously serious-ly to break its established courses athwart. On the contrary, we desire the laws we are now about to pass to be the bulwarks and safeguards of industry in-dustry against the forces that have disturbed it. What we have to do can be done in a new spirit, in thoughtful moderation, without revolution of an untoward kind. Private Monopoly Intolerable. "We are all agTeed that private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable, intoler-able, and our program is founded upon that conviction. It win be a comprehensive compre-hensive but not a radical or unacceptable unaccept-able program, and there are its items, the changes which opinion deliberately panctions and for which business waits. "It awaits with acquiescence in the I first place for laws which will effectually ef-fectually prohibit and prevent such interlocking of the personnel of the directorates of great corporations banks and railroads, industrial, commercial com-mercial and public service bodies as in effect result in making those who borrow and those who lend practically one and the same, those who sell and those who buy but the same persons trading with one another under different dif-ferent names and in different combinations, combina-tions, and those who affect to compete, com-pete, in fact, partners and masters of some whole field of business. Sufficient Suf-ficient time should be allowed, of course, in which to effect these changes of organization without inconvenience in-convenience or confusion. "Such a prohibition will work much more man a uieie iic&aLive t,ulJU correcting the serious tv.ls which have arisen because, for example, the men who have been the directing spirits of the great investment banks have usurped the place which belongs, be-longs, to independent industrial management man-agement working in its behoof. It will bring- new men, new energies, a new spirit of initiative, new blood into the management of our great business enterprises. Harm and Injustice Done. "In the second- place, business men, as well as those who direct public affairs,- now recognize and recognize with painful clearness, the great harm and injustice which has been done to many, if not all, of the great railroad systems of the country by the way in which they have been financed and their own distinctive interests subordinated sub-ordinated to the interests of the men who financed them and of their business busi-ness enterprises which these men "The country is ready therefore to accept and accept with relief as well as approval, a law which will confer upon the interstate commerce commission com-mission the power to superintend and regulate the financial operations by which the railroads are henceforth to be supplied with money they need for their proper development to meet the rapidly growing requirements of tUn ,,Ti .i7 fnr iroroncpit Jinrl im- tho country for increased and improved im-proved facilities of transportation. We cannot postpone action in this matter without leaving the railroads exposed to many serious handicaps and hazards; haz-ards; and the prosperity of the railroads rail-roads and the prosperity of the country coun-try are inseparably connected. Upon this question those who are chiefly responsible for the actual management manage-ment and operation of the railroads have spoken very plainly and very earnestly, with a purpose we ought to be quick to accept. It will be one step, and a very important one, toward the necessary separation of the business of production from the business of transportation. "The business of the country awaits also, has long waited and has suffered suf-fered because it could not obtain further fur-ther and more explicit legislative definition defi-nition of the policy and meaning of the existing anti-trust laws. Nothing hampers business like uncertainty. Nothing daunts or discourages It like the necessity to take chances, to run the risk of falling under the condemnation condem-nation of the law before it can make sore just what the law is. Definition Now Possible. "Surely we are sufficiently familiar with the actual processes and meth ods of monoply and of the many hurtful restraints of trade to make definition possible, at any rate up to the limits of what experience has disclosed. dis-closed. These practices, being now abundantly disclosed, can be explicitly explic-itly and Item by item, forbidden by stable in such terms as will practically prac-tically eliminate uncertainty, the law itself and the penalty being made "And the business man of the country desire something more than that the menace of legal process in these matters be made explict and Intelligible. In-telligible. They desire the advice, the definite guidance and information which can be supplied by an administrative admin-istrative body, an interstate trade commission. "The opinion of the country would instantly approve of such a commission. commis-sion. It would not wish to see It empowered em-powered to make terms with monopoly monop-oly or in any sort to assume control of business, as if the government made iteslf responsible. It demands such a commission only as an indis- pensible instrument of Information and publicity, as a clearing house for the facts by which both the publio mind and the managers of great business busi-ness undertakings should be guided, as an instrumentality for for doing justice to business where the processes process-es of the courts or the natural forces of correction outside the courts are inadequate to adjust the remedy to the wrong in a way that will meet all the equities and circumstances of the case. "Producing industries, for example, which have passed the point up to which combination may be consistent with the public interest and the freedom free-dom of trade, cannot always be dissected dis-sected into their component units as readily as railroad companies or similar sim-ilar organizations can be. Their dissolution dis-solution by ordinary legal process may oftentimes involve financial consequences conse-quences likely to overwhelm the security se-curity market and bring upon it breakdown break-down and confusion. There ought to be an administrative commission capable ca-pable of directing and shaping such corrective processes, not only in aid of the courts but also by independent suggestion, if necessary. Make Punishment Certain. "Inasmuch as our object and the spirit of our nation in these matters is to meet business half way in Its processes of self-correction and disturb dis-turb its legitimate course as little as possible, we ought to see to it, and the judgment of practical and sagacious men of affairs everywhere would applaud ap-plaud us if we did see to it that penalties pen-alties and punishments should fall, not upon business itself, to its confusion confu-sion and interruption, but upon the individuals who use the instrumental ities of business to do things which public policy and sound business practice prac-tice condemn. Every act of business is done at the command or upon the initiative of some ascertainable person per-son or group of persons. These should be held individually responsible and the punishment should fall upon them, not upon the business organization of which they make illegal use. It should be one of the main objects of our legislation leg-islation to divest such persons ol their corporate cloak and deal with them as with those who do not represent rep-resent their corporations, but merely by deliberate intention break the law. "Other questions remain which will need very thoughtful and practical treatment. Enterprises, in these modern mod-ern days of great individual fortunes, are oftentimes interlocked, not by being under the control of the same directors, but by the fact that the greater part of their corporate stock is owned by a single person or group of persons who are In some way intimately in-timately related in interest Holding ' Companies. "We are agreed, I take it, that holding hold-ing companies should be prohibited, but what of the controlling private ownership of individuals or actually co-operative groups of individuals? Shall the private owners of capital stock be suffered to be themselves in effect holdine eomnanies? We do not wish, I suppose, to forbid the purchase pur-chase of stocks by any person who pleases to buy them In such quantities quanti-ties as he can afford, or in any way arbitrarily to limit the sale of stocks to bonafide purchasers. Shall we require re-quire the owners of stock, when their voting power in several companies which ought to be independent of one another would constitute actual control, con-trol, to make selection in which of them they will exercise their right to vote? This question I venture for your consideration. "There Is another matter In which imperative considerations of ' Justice and fair play suggests thoughtful remedial action. Not only do many of the combinations effected or sought to be effected in the industrial world work an injustice upon the public in general; they also directly and seriously seri-ously Injure the individuals who are put out of business in one fair way or another by the many dislodging and exterminating forces of combination. I hope that we shall agre In giving private individuals who claim to have been injured by these processes the right to found their suits for redress upon the facts and judgments proved and entered in suits by the government govern-ment where the government has upon its own initiative sued the combinations combina-tions complained of and won its suit, and that the statute of limitations shall be suffered to run against such litigants only from the date of the conclusion of the government's action. Individual Justice. "It Is not fair that the private litigant liti-gant should be obliged to set up and establish again the facts- which the government has proved. He cannot afford, he has not the power to make use of such processes of inquiry as the government has command of. Thus shall Individual justice be done while the processes of business are rectified and squared with the general conscience. "I have laid the case before you, no doubt as it lies in your own mind, as it lies in the thought of the country. What must every candid man say of the suggestions I have laid before you, of the plain obligations of which I have reminded you? That these are new things for which the country is not prepared? No; but that they are old things now familiar, and must of course be undertaken if we are to square our laws with the thought and desire of the coutry. Until these things are done, conscientious business busi-ness men the country over will be unsatisfied. un-satisfied. They are in these things our mentors and colleagues. We are now about to write the additional articles arti-cles of our constitution of peace, the peace that is honor and freedom and prosperity." |