Advisory Councils to Government

• Author: Nathan B. Williams
• DOI: 10.1177/000271623014700119
• Published date: 01 January 1930
• Date: 01 January 1930
• Subject Matter: Articles

146

Advisory

Councils

to

Government

By

NATHAN

B.

WILLIAMS

Former

Associate

Counsel,

National

Association

of

Manufacturers,

Washington,

District

of

Columbia

BOTH

business

and

professional

men,

laymen

and

legislators,

ex-

ecutives

and

entrepreneurs,

often

privately

profess

both

distress

and

dis-

turbance

as

to

what

they

apprehend

has

happened

or

is

going

to

happen

to

the

relation

of

government

to

business.

So-called

anti-trust

laws

are

discussed

much

as

is

the

weather,

but

as

Mark

Twain

once

remarked,

&dquo;Nobody

seems

to

do

anything

about

it.&dquo;

PROBLEM

OF

THE

LEGISLATOR

Legislators,

while

vociferously

voic-

ing

their

determination

to

cause

to

be

invoked

the

law,

every

now

and

then

take

out

from

the

application

of

these

laws

varying

groups:

railroads,

public

utilities,

farmers,

laborers,

and

so

forth;

while

the

courts

are

called

upon

to

revise

decrees

against

packers

and

these

find

support

for

their

plea

from

erstwhile

opponents.

Meanwhile,

the

merger

movement

under

strong

economic

urge

goes

striding

forward

and

the

stock

market

gets

frenzied

support

from

twenty

million

small

speculator-investors

who

are

deter-

mined

to

own

a

few

shares

in

our

great

industries,

confident

in

the

destiny

of

our

great

business

enterprises.

Like-

wise

the

advance

of

scientific

attain-

ment,

and

the

growth

of

new

economic

conception

that

high

earnings

for

the

individual

are

in

accord

with

the

possibilities

of

wider

markets

and

lower

costs,

daily

presents

a

new

picture

in

which

legal

prohibitions

take

a

constantly

diminishing

part.

The

American

legislator

understands

no

better

than

other

legislators

the

new

technical

sciences

with

which

he

has

to

deal,

and

he

is

puzzled

and

un-

comfortable

in

passing

laws

he

does

not

understand

to

remedy

conditions

he

cannot

explain.

Government

is

political.

Quite

likely

it

must,

and

always

should,

so

remain.

Mass

government

will

probably

be

a

full

test

for

its

capacities.

Modern

mass

production,

mass

distribution,

mass

credit

and

mass

enterprise

are,

generally,

and

must

remain,

without

the

scope

of

government,

except

as

to

most

general

rules

and

specific

kinds

of

malevolence.

But

the

political

theory

comprehends

and

asserts

that

only

ordinary

intelligence

and

average

equip-

ment

are

necessary

for

one

to

make

a

success

in

administering

the

affairs

of

government.

President

Jackson,

in

his

first

message

to

Congress,

wrote:

The

duties

of

all

public

offices

are,

or

at

least

admit

of

being,

made

so

plain

that

men

of

intelligence

may

readily

qualify

themselves

for

their

performance.

GOVERNMENT

AND

BUSINESS

C OOPERATION

Modern

government

and

modern

business

call

for

a

higher

degree

of

knowledge

for

successful

functioning

than

in

the

simple

times

of

Jackson.

They

call

for

the

assembly

of

facts,

for

the

experience

and

keen

judgment

of

many

experienced

and

thoughtful

per-

sons,

for

far-flung

technical

knowledge,

not

only

of

home

conditions

but

of

distant

peoples

and

other

governments

as

well.

They

call

for

perspicacity,

for

vision

and

for

the

full

realization

that

neither

business

nor

government

may

continue

to

grow

and

prosper

on

principles

or

methods

not

to

the

advantage

of

the

whole

body

of

individuals

who

compose

the

nation