Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/279

 THE GREEN BAG taining the miscalled soulless being's soul. For the period of punishment not a dollar of the corporate cash should be circulated; not a bond should bear interest, not a share of •stock pay a dividend, not a single franchise should be operative, not a wheel of machinery should be turned." The snug man roused to a financial senti ment would expostulate: "Think of the in finite harm you would do, think of the thou sands out of employment, think of the money lying idle." The convict would reply: "I am out of employment, my family is deprived of my support — because I committed a crime. If I had employed ten thousand men and been convicted of crime I should have been sent to jail just the same. You say, 'think of the money lying idle.' I say, 'think of the thousands of men idle (to all intent of the community) in prisons to-day. Are their misapplied lives a greater loss to the public than the loss of misapplied dollars? Can the government to-day prevent a corporation from spending $50,000,000 in Europe or Asia if it chooses? Is not that money lost to our people?" The snug man might answer rather stu pidly: "What do you think would be the result •of such a theory of yours being put into practice?" The convict would answer : " I am not om niscient but I can foretell one certain result.

The directors and managers of corporations would be forced to obey the laws we have to-day, which are amply sufficient to prevent wrongdoing. Nowadays wrong is done, why? Because the dividends must be produced. If they are not, new officers will be chosen. The director is forced to disobey the law. Why? Because his competitor does, because his com petitor does, and so on around the circle. "Suppose one corporation should be im prisoned for five years. Then what a wail would go up from the 'widow-and-orphan' stockholders for their imprisoned money! There would come a demand for conservative, lawful management of corporations from every stockholder in the country and the day of reckless defiance of law and order would be past. "Let me add," the convict would conclude, "that all public franchises would be forfeited on imprisonment of the corporation. Of course even at present a public official loses his office when imprisoned for crime. I think under my little theory that the public service corporation would be the most carefully and beneficently administered of all." This is a brief letter on a subject of breadth inestimable. To forestall the hasty critic it should be stated in conclusion that not all the arguments for or against the convict's proposition have been discussed herein. DONALD R. RICHBERG.