ITEMS OF INTEREST December 9, 1911 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Complete publicity of the affairs of great corporations, coupled with rigid laws defining the character of legitimate corporation business, will solve the trust problem in the United States, according to Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the board of directors of the United States Steel Corporation, who appeared before the Senate committee on interstate commerce to give his views on trust legislation. "The first great thing is publicity," said Mr. Gary. "The great corporation that is compelled to publish its facts and figures and to live up to the requirements of the law will prove a great thing for the entire country." Mr. Gary declared that the United States cannot give up the big corporation or the big combination of capital. They are necessary, he said, if the United States is to maintain commercial supremacy and industrial equilibrium, and the greatest public good will be secured by working out a system of federal control that will prevent the misuse of the power of corporations. As a curb for the trust evil he offered the following plan: Federal license of corporations, requiring full publicity, preventing overcapitalization and preventing discrimination in cases between persons and localities; the creation of a corporation commission with power to grant, suspend, and revoke federal licenses, subject to a right of appeal to a court; the corporation commission to have power to decide questions submitted by managers of business organizations who desire to avoid illegality in their actions and to regulate prices as far as necessary to prevent monopoly and restraint of trade.

The Amherst College faculty has taken another step in raising and broadening the educational standards of the college. Beginning with the present freshman class, every candidate for a B.A. degree must be able to read French and German. Examinations will be given twice every year, the applicants reading separately before two members of each department. Greek may be substituted for either French or German.

With only one dissenting vote the American Bankers Association in session at New Orleans, La., unqualifiedly approved of the Aldrich plan for reform of the monetary system of the United States. Congress was urged to deal with the proposal as an economic question outside the domain of party politics. Detroit was chosen unanimously as the convention city in 1912.

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