Government-sponsored enterprise

“ So the National corporation problem is largely one of the railways, and it involves the best way for the Federal Government to regulate these, and all the corporations, in the interest of trade, commerce and the people, and to do this without imposing unnecessary restrictions upon their legitimate operations and development. ”

“ As the implementing arm of the Government to carry out its part, pursuant to the economic program, a national, development authority charged with this function and with the supervision of government corporations is definitely needed. ”

“ The control reserved by the Government for protection of a governmental program and the public interest is not incompatible with the retention of the status of a private enterprise. See Federal Compress & Warehouse Co. ”

“ Yet state government itself is an 'enterprise' with a very substantial effect on interstate commerce, for the States spend billions of dollars each year on programs that purchase goods from interstate commerce, hire employees whose labor strife could disrupt interstate commerce, and act on such commerce in countless subtle ways. ”

“ For more than a hundred years corporations have been used as agencies for doing work of the government. Congress may create them 'as appropriate means of executing the powers of government, as, for instance, * * * a railroad corporation for the purpose of promoting commerce among the states.' Luxton v. ”

“ It is the policy of the United States Government that all department and agency heads and all Federal employees involved in the procurement of any and all goods and services shall assist SDBs, HBCUs, and MIs, as applicable, to develop viable, self-sustaining businesses capable of competing on an equal basis in the mainstream of the American economy. To that end, all Federal personnel shall commit to the letter and spirit of all laws promoting the participation of SDBs, HBCUs, and MIs in Federal procurement. ”

“ The action of the Attorney-General in enforcing the anti-trust and interstate commerce laws, and the action of the last Congress in enlarging the scope of the interstate commerce law, and in creating the Department of Commerce and Labor, with a Bureau of Corporations, have for the first time opened a chance for the National Government to deal intelligently and adequately with the questions affecting society, whether for good or for evil, because of the accumulation of capital in great corporations, and because of the new relations caused thereby. ”

“ The legislature, however, shall never enact any law permitting any public-service corporation to consolidate with any other public-service corporation organized under the laws of any other state or of the United States owning or controlling a parallel or competing line in the state. ”

“ In most countries, as in England, this form of industrial combination is sufficient for a business co-extensive with the parent country, but it is not so in America. Our Federal form of government making every corporation created by a state foreign to every other state, renders it necessary for persons doing business through corporate agency to organize corporations in some or many of the different states in which their business is located. Instead of doing business through the agency of one corporation they must do business through the agencies of several corporations. ”

“ The present Congress has taken long strides in the direction of securing proper supervision and control by the National Government over corporations engaged in interstate business and the enormous majority of corporations of any size are engaged in interstate business. ”

“ There is need for coordination of the policies and operation of our government corporations to increase their usefulness to the national economy. It may be necessary to’ re-examine their structure and organiza­tion, their policies and their objectives, the scope and nature of their activities, and to gear all these to new goals set by a coherent development program. I recommend serious consideration of the advisability of creating a national central body or department that can more effectively direct, supervise and control the operations of government corporations. ”

“ But they are far stronger to-day, in view of the enormous development of great business agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and supervision of these great corporations by State action. Such regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of the corporations—that is, by the National Government. I believe that this regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law by the Congress. ”

“ Minority business enterprise development plans shall be developed by each Federal agency having substantial procurement or grantmaking authority. Such agencies shall submit these plans to the Cabinet Council on Commerce and Trade on an annual basis. ”

“ Government outsourcing for services also raises special concerns. For decades, the Federal Government has relied on the private sector for necessary commercial services used by the Government, such as transportation, food, and maintenance. ”

“ The purpose of this order is to strengthen the economy and to improve the efficiency of the Federal procurement system by encouraging business development that expands the industrial base and increases competition. ”

“ The administration of our governmental departments, for instance, is confessedly obsolete and uneconomical, if judged by the best business standards. Thus, both an increase in our national revenues and a decrease in our national expenditures could undoubtedly be effected through the coöperation of expert business men in Congress with the heads of these departments in the introduction of the most approved business methods. In the management of the ordinary affairs of the country our Government had been well likened to a great corporation in which all the people of the country are stockholders. ”

“ If the interest of the Government in private companies is subordinate to that of individuals, the management and control of a portion of the public funds is delegated to an authority unknown to the Constitution and beyond the supervision of our constituents ”

“ A joint-stock company with limited responsibility cannot be formed without the express authorization of the department of government called the Conseil d'Etat, a body of administrators, generally entire strangers to industrial transactions, who have no interest in promoting enterprises, and are apt to think that the purpose of their institution is to restrain them ”

“ Directing Private Investment. At the same time we must make sure that private entrepreneurs channel their energies and their funds in the ways that best promote economic development. We remain committed to free enterprise; controls are a cumbersome and an inefficient tool. Our method is simply to make certain industry lines attractive to private business as well as essential to development. In the encouragement of priority lines industries, the Board of Investments and the Presidential Economic Staff will take a leading part. ”

“ To enable the executive department to plan freely and systematically the crea­tion of such corporations, as the need for them arises, I urge Congress to enact a law setting forth the guidelines for their establishment at the earliest oppor­tunity. ”

“ However, the line between inherently governmental activities that should not be outsourced and commercial activities that may be subject to private sector competition has been blurred and inadequately defined. As a result, contractors may be performing inherently governmental functions. Agencies and departments must operate under clear rules prescribing when outsourcing is and is not appropriate. ”

“ I have made it a point to give first place to private enterprise and to transfer those activities formerly under State rule to autonomous enterprises in which the State has an interest. They are run by business men along business lines as business institutions. The State's principal function in them is to protect the native employes. The gold mines at Kilo are an example. ”

“ Not that it would be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal; but a public institution alone can supply those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country, and some of them to its preservation. ”

“ In order to encourage a coordinated development of investments, the High Authority may, in accordance with the provisions of Article 47, require enterprises to submit individual programs in advance, either by a special demand addressed to the enterprise concerned or by a decision defining the nature and the size of the programs which must be submitted. ”

“ The Realm may further legislate, in case of urgent necessity and in the interest of the national economy, to oblige business undertakings or associations to combine, on the basis of self administration, with a view to securing the co-operation of all the productive forces of the nation, to associating employers and employed in the administration, and to regulating production, manufacture, distribution, employment, prices, as also import and export of goods on principles of public economy. ”

“ When the corporation is said, at the bar, to be public, it is not merely meant, that the whole community may be the proper objects of the bounty, but that the government have the sole right, as trustees of the public interests, to regulate, control and direct the corporation, and its funds and its franchises, at its own good will and pleasure. ”

“ The objects for which corporations are created are universally such as the government wishes to promote. They are deemed beneficial to the country, and this benefit constitutes the consideration, and, in most cases, the sole consideration of the grant. ”

“ Corporate organization and management should be a department of the exposition. By the elimination of all the unnecessary risk in investments in corporation securities through effective governmental regulation and supervision the people may gain control and reap the large profits of capitalized industry. ”

“ Like private individuals and businesses, the Government enjoys the unrestricted power to produce its own supplies, to determine those with whom it will deal, and to fix the terms and conditions upon which it will make needed purchases. [15] Acting through its agents as it must of necessity, the Government may for the purpose of keeping its own house in order lay down guide posts by which its agents are to proceed in the procurement of supplies, and which create duties to the Government alone. It has done so in the Public Contracts Act. ”

“ Who is to say how private enterprise would come out if it tried its hand at State work? Those who have had most experience of joint-stock companies and their management, will probably be least inclined to believe in the innate superiority of private enterprise over State management. ”

“ To confer upon the National Government, in connection with the amendment I advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over big business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit them as it has benefited the national banks. In the recent business crisis it is noteworthy that the institutions which failed were institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the National Government. ”

“ When directed by the President, it shall be the duty of the Administration to consult and cooperate with governmental departments and agencies in the issuance of all orders or in the formulation of policy or policies in any way affecting small-business concerns. When directed by the President all such governmental departments or agencies are required, before issuing such orders or announcing such policy or policies, to consult and cooperate with the Administration in order that the interests of small-business enterprises may lie recognized, protected, and preserved. ”

“ The plan which the President adopted was simple enough,—just what would be done in any business organization—without asking for any additional legislation for additional employees, but by simply taking from the body of the employees, officials of the United States, those men especially qualified by knowledge and experience to act as his agents, and then creating the machinery through which they could transmit his policy and plan of unified business to the general organization. ”

“ The writer believes that, under one form of agreement or another, nearly every kind of public service can be more economically and better performed by a public service corporation than by the public itself through employees directly hired. But if America is not to pass speedily into Government ownership and operation of all public utilities, there must be a pronounced change of attitude on the part of the public toward capital now invested in public service corporations. ”

“ It is not too much to say that the wealth and business of the country are to a great extent controlled by them. And if, when composed of citizens of one State, their corporate powers and franchises could be exercised in other States without restriction, it is easy to see that, with the advantages thus possessed, the most important business of those States would soon pass into their hands. The principal business of every State would, in fact, be controlled by corporations created by other States. ”