X
The Commoner,
JANUARY 10, 1913
British minister, Choate, at their head to pro
tect him when it appeared necesary, from the
prying proboscis of tbo committee. His clearly
evasive answers to many of the questions showed
him merely as a skillful fencer crowding the lino
of falsehood so closely that it was hard to toll
whother ho had not in fact crossed It. Take
the following verbatim" report to questions and
answers of his testimony about his purchase of
the Equitable Insurance company stock from
Ryan and Harrlman:
Q. You may explain, if you care to, Mr.
Morgan, why you bought from Messrs. Ityan and
Harriman $51,000 par value of stock that paid
only $3,570 a year for approximately $3,000,0t)0,
that could yield you only one-eighth or one-ninth
of 1 per cent. A. Because I thought it was a
desirable thing for the situation .to do that.
Q. That is very general, Mr. Morgan. Will
you speak of the situation? Was not that stock
safe enough in Mr. Ryan's hands? A. I sup
pose it was. I thought It was greatly improved
by being in the hands of myself and these two
gentlemen, provided I asked them to do so.
Q. How would that improve the situation over
the situation that existed when Mr. Ryan and
Mr. Harriman held the stock? A. Mr. Ryan
did not have it alone.
Q. Yes, but do you not know that Mr. Ryan
originally bought it alone, and Mr. Harriman
insisted on having him give him half? A. I
thought if he could pay for it at that price, I
could. I thought that was a fair price. .
Q. You thought it was good business, did
you? A. Yes.
Q. You thought it was good business to buy
a stock that paid only one-ninth or one-tenth
of 1 per cent a year? A. I thought so.
Q. The normal rate of interest that you can
earn on money is about 5 per cent, is It not?
A. Not always, no. I am not talking about it
as a question of money.
Q. The normal rate of interest would bo from
4 to 5 per cent ordinarily, would it not? Where
is the good business, then, in buying a security
that only pays one-ninth of 1 per cent? A. Be
cause I thought it was better there than it was
where it was. That is all.
Q. Was anything the matter with it in the
hands of Mr. Ryan? A. Nothing.
Q. rt In "what respect would' it be better where
it is than with him? A. That Is the way it
struck me.
Q. .Is that all you have to say about it? A.
That is all I have to say about it.
Q. You care to make no other explanation
about it? A. No.
Q. The assets of the Equitable Life were
$504,465,802.01 on December 31, 1911. Did
Mr. Ryan offer this stock to you? A. I asked
him to sell it to me.
Q. Did you tell him why you wanted it?
A. No, I told him I thought it was a good thing
for me to have.
Q. Did he tell you that he wanted to sell it?
A. No, but he sold it.
Q. He did not want to. sell it, but when you
said you wanted it, he sold it? A. He did not
say that he did not want to sell It.
Q. What did he say when you told him you
would like to have It and thought you ought to
have it? A. Ho hesitated about it and finally
sold it.
Doesn't it look as though the feathers of Mor
gan's angel wings were pretty badly singed by
the fire of that examination? Denver News.
evon though the law they administer has not
awakened.
"Since I entered politics I havo chiefly had
men's views confidod to mo privately. Some of
the biggest men in the United States, in the field
of commerco and manufacture, aro afraid of
somebody; are afraid of something.
"American industry Is not free as onco it
was free; American enterprise is not froo; tho
man with only a little capital is finding it harder
to got into the field, more and more impossible
to compete with the big fellow. Why? Because
the laws of this country do not prevent the
Btrong from crushing tho weak. That is the
reason, and becauso the strong have crushed the
weak, the strong dominate the industry and tho
economic life of this country.
"There Is a great deal that needs reconstruc
tion in the United States. I should like to tako
a coubus of the business men I mean tho rank
and file of tho business men as to Whother
they think that business conditions in this
country, or rather whether tho organization of
business in this country is satisfactory or not.
"I know what they would say if they dared. If
thdy could vote secretly they would vote over
whelmingly that the present organization of
business was meant for tho big follows and was
not meant for the little fellows.
"What this country needs above everything
else is a body of laws which will look after tho
men who are on tho make rather than tho men
who .are already made. Becauso tho men who
already are made are not going to livo indefinite
ly, and they uro not always kind enough to loavo
sons as able and honest as they are."
The president-elect 'deplores the extent to
which government has become associated with
business and regards it as the "most alarming
phenomena of the time."
"Our government has been for the past few
years under the control of heads of great allied
corporations with special interests," he says. "It
has not controlled these interests and assigned
them to a proper place in tho whole system of
business; it has submitted itself to their control.
"As a result, there havo grown jp vicious
systems and schemes of governmental favoritism
(the most obvious being the extravagant tariff) ;
far-reaching in effect upon tho whole fabric of
life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of
the land, laying unfair, and Impossible handicaps
upon competitors, imposing taxes in every direc
tion, stifling everywhere the free spirit of Ameri
can enterprises."
WOODROW WILSON'S TRIBUTE TO
BUSINESS MEN
Woodrow Wilson has written for the January
issue- of the World's Work an article entitled
"The Now Freedom." Referring to the problem
of corporations, he says:
"What we have to discuss Is not wrongs which
individuals intentionally do for I do not be
lieve there are a great many of those but the
wrongs of the system. I want to record my pro
test against any discussion of this matter, which
would seem to Indicate that there are bodies of
our fellow citizens who are trying to grind us
down and do us injustice. There are some men
of that sort, I don't know how they sleep o'
nights, but there are men of that kind. Thank
God, thoy are not numerous. The truth is we
are all caught in a great economic system which
Is heartless.
"When I hear judges reason upon the analogy
of relationships that used to exist between work
men and their employers a generation ago, I
wonder if they have not opened their eyes to
the modern world. You know we have a right
to expect that judges will have their eyes open,
AN IRRESPONSIBLE AUTOCRAT
There are nearly 7,500 national banks in the
United States, with a capital of more than
$1,000,000,000 and resources of fully $6,000,
000,000. They are all under the authority of
government.
There are more than 17,000 state banks, sav
ings banks, trust companies and loan companies,
with resources approximating $14,000,000,000.
They are all under the authority of government.
There are 214 life insurance companies, with
assets of approximately $4,000,000,000. They
are all under the authority of government.
There are 240,000 miles of railroad, capi
talized at more than $20,000,000,000. Practi
cally all these roads are under the authority of
government.
In addition, there are hundreds of millions of
dollars invested in traction lines, in gas plants
and in various other corporations affected with
a public interest. All this capital la under the
authority of government.
Nobody questions the wisdom of such super
vision. It is accepted as a matter of course,
because there is no other means of safeguarding
the general welfare, though government may be
weakly and badly and foolishly administered.
Even Wall street has come to admit the neces
sity of a certain degree of government regula
tion, and among its captains of industry aro
men who have seriously advanced the radical
socialistic suggestion that government should
supervise not only the capitalization and conduct
of great corporations, but should fix prices as
well.
It is only when somebody proposes to regu
late the New York Stock Exchange that a wild
chorus of dissent arises. The whole world of
big business is agreed that the institution which
manipulates prices.which fixes the rate of Interest
that legitimate industry must pay for loans,
which can commandeer hundreds of millions of
other people's money to juggle for Its own
profits, which sets aside tho laws against usury
and the laws against over-certification of checks,
which can plunge the country into a panic, and
is responsible only to itself, is the one institu
tion that is too sacred for government to meddle
with.
Could anything bo more ridiculous or absurd?
If tho Now York Stock Exchange Is not affected
with a public interest, as tho courts say, nothing
is affected with a public interest. It should no
longer remain tho groat anarchist of organized
wealth, but it should bo incorporated by the
legislaturo of Now York and subjected to tho
supervision of tho superintendent of banking.
No body of men Ib fit to bo trusted with tho Irre
sponsible power over prosperity that is now
-vv'r '-(! by tho stock oxchango. Now York
World. .
OxSE PHASE OF CARNEGIE "PHILAN
THROPY" Omaha (Neb.) Chancollor; There is anothor
phase to this Carnegie "philanthropy" that
should bo repeatedly emphasized. Let it novor
be forgotten that his so-callod gifts aro never
actual gifts of wealth In such form that It will
easily bo dissipated. It is always In tho form
of stocks or bonds in such Institutions, say,
as tho American steel corporation. Every per
son knows tho character of tho corporations in
which Carnegie not only has secured his ill-gotten
gains, but in which even now his wealth is
invested and upon which his millions still pile
up. Now ho proposos to "give" to a few favorod
persons certain sums represented in these stocks
and bonds. In other words, ho proposes to give
to a fow, for tho purpose of winning their sup
port for these modern forms of piracy, an
economic interest In the fruits thereof that they
. may become supporters of the dishonest
economic system by which they wero at first
socured. For let It not bo forgotten that none
of these stocks and bonds represent any wealth
already produced, but aro In fact liens upon
wealth yet uncreated, upon wealth which un
born generations are to earn, and which they
will never receive, so long as wo continue the
present policy of not only looting tho weak of
our timo, but of tho generations yet unborn.
To support such piracy shows either ignorance
or infamy, and Carnegie is not Ignorant.
Several years ago ho announced that ho would
attempt to dispense his wealth, or what the
law considers his, before ho dies, for, said ho,
"it is a disgrace to die rich." It Is not a dis
grace cither to live or die rich, if those richos
aro honestly earnod, but riches socured through
influencing legislators to pass lawB transferring
to your pockets the wealth which others produce
is not honestly earning your wealth, and to pos
sess such wealth living or doad ic a disgrace.
Carnegie is that man, and ho knows it. Yet
what is ho doing or what has ho ever signified ho
would do to change tho infamous system by
which ho secured his filthy, blood-stained
wealth? Not ono thing. On tho contrary, ho
has done all he could to perpetuate that system,
and so long as that conduct is tho ruling course
of his life, let his very name bo an anathema
among high-minded, honorable men.
J I!
TJIE LITTLE FELLER ,
Little feller, little feller, 'I
Runnln' all around tho ranch'
Playln' with the calves and chickens,
Sailln' boats down In tho branch,
Ridin' on your saddle pony,
'Cross the breezy prairie ways
Little feller, little feller,
How you brighten up our days.
V -
Little feller, when we hear you,
Laughin' that clear, childish note,
How it makes the worries scatter
How like mist our troubles float;
How tho frowns wo wore aro vanished,,
How tho harsh thoughts die away;
- Little feller, little feller,
How you heal us In your play.
How you bring the good that's in us
To the forefront of our souls;
How you keep the days unfoldin'
Like a wealth of golden scrolls;
Live without you, little feller?
Why, the thought jest makes us sick;
You're the sun of our existence
On this ranch at Lonesome crick.
Arthur Chapman In the Denver Republican.
Q
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