The Lever | Page 7

do say that he may properly be so actuated--and the public receives the benefits."
"But think of the power which this corporation must eventually possess, and the powerlessness of any individual or organization, business or otherwise, to oppose it."
"Why should they wish to oppose it?" Gorham continued. "As I have said, the combinations suggested can but result in economies in production and consequent reductions in the living expenses of the masses."
"Yet you would hardly suggest that the Consolidated Companies has been launched as a philanthropic enterprise?"
Gorham's smile returned. "Not primarily, yet the people have already been benefited in no small degree. It is entirely possible to conduct it along lines which will reduce the cost of all public utilities and necessities, and yet secure large financial returns to the Companies."
"I was thinking--" Kenmore began, and then stopped.
"Well?" Gorham encouraged, interrogatively.
"I was thinking what an easy thing it is to mistake a temptation for an opportunity."
"Or the reverse," Gorham remarked, significantly, flushing slightly. "Does it not all depend upon the basis on which the corporation is administered?"
As the Senator ventured no reply, Gorham continued, with more feeling than he had as yet displayed:
"You and I, Mr. Kenmore, are familiar with the contention made by our great captains of industry that they are entitled to the vast fortunes which they have amassed as a return for the benefits which the public enjoys as a result of their energy and the risks they have taken. They have opened up new sections of the country, provided transportation facilities which were previously lacking, or have increased those which already existed; they have multiplied industries which promoted increase in population and trade, and have thus largely contributed to the prosperity enjoyed by the communities themselves and by the country at large."
"All of which the Consolidated Companies claims to be doing, or about to do, upon a scale which makes similar past achievements seem insignificant," interrupted Kenmore.
"Yes," Gorham assented, "but with a fuller appreciation that these accomplishments are not the results alone of individual ability, but far more of the exercise of the corporate power placed in its hands, not for its unlimited personal gain, but intrusted to it by law for public advantage. The law confers upon a corporate organization a power far beyond that which any individual himself could obtain; it enables him to make use of capital which thousands have contributed, toward whom he stands in a relation of trust, and without whom he could not accomplish the individual triumphs which become so magnified in his own mind, and for which he demands so great a recompense. The Consolidated Companies considers itself bound to use franchise privileges and corporate organization for the equal benefit of all those who contribute of their capital, with due regard for those public interests which corporations are created to serve, and to rest content with a fair return upon its own capital and a reasonable compensation for their services, on the part of the officers of the enterprises of which it assumes the responsibility and direction."
"How long do you think the Consolidated Companies can be run upon such altruistic principles?"
"As long as Robert Gorham remains its president and as long as those men whose names you have seen there remain its directors. This is my pledge. When the Consolidated Companies, intrusted with the power, credit, and resources of the many corporations which are and will be included in it, but which are not agencies of its own creation and do not belong to it, begins to take advantage of these for personal profit beyond legitimate return upon investment and fair compensation for services rendered, it will be guilty of a gross betrayal of trust. When it issues securities in excess of the requirements of its business and manipulates them for its own profit; when it makes use of its power, its funds, or its credit in enterprises which are not for the equal benefit of all who have contributed to its capital or in the interest of the public, which gives it its power; when it employs its profits so as to affect the market value of securities and then speculates in these for its own advantage,--then it will be flagrantly abusing a power which has been given to it in trust, and its unique position in the business world will be destroyed."
There was another long silence, which this time was not broken until the Senator was quite ready to speak. When the moment came the question was asked abruptly:
"How much can you consistently tell me of any of the corporation's transactions? I know of them, of course, by hearsay, but I should be glad to receive more intimate information."
"Nothing, without assurances of your serious interest, provided I can demonstrate to your satisfaction the strength of the facts I have